AKRON, Ohio - The last man picked for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, then first at Firestone from start to finish.
No wonder Stewart Cink says his confidence is at an all-time high.
Six days after U.S. captain Hal Sutton added him to the team, Cink completed the best performance of his career by turning the final round of the NEC Invitational into a showcase of poise and putting. He never let anyone within two shots of the lead to become the first wire-to-wire winner on the PGA Tour this year.
"This is huge," Cink said after a 15-foot birdie on 18 for par 70 and a four-shot victory over Tiger Woods and Rory Sabbatini. "It means so much to win in this style ... and never really make it close."
He had been 0-6 when he had a lead going into the final round, a statistic that wore on him even with a five-shot cushion during the final round.
"I know I can be a front-runner just like anyone else," he said. "And I can polish it off."
Cink finished at 11-under 269 and earned $1.2-million for his first World Golf Championship title.
Woods was merely a bystander. He bogeyed the first hole by chipping through the green and into a bunker, and never got closer than five shots. He finished with 69, but kept alive his streak of never finishing worse than fifth at Firestone in seven appearance.
PGA: Rookie Vaughn Taylor claimed his first tour victory, rolling in an 11-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win a four-way playoff at the Reno-Tahoe Open in Nevada. Taylor made a 14-foot birdie putt on the last hole of regulation for 3-over 75 and tied Scott McCarron (71), rookie Hunter Mahan (74) and Australia's Steve Allan (74) at 10-under 278.
LPGA: Catriona Matthew rolled in a short par putt on the first playoff hole to beat defending champion Hee-Won Han and win the Wendy's Championship for Children in Dublin, Ohio.
Matthew shot 4-under 68 to finish at 10-under 278 for her second tour title.
Matthew and Han, playing in the same group, each parred the 18th in regulation to force the playoff. Han's 4-footer barely slid in the side of the cup.
Han wasn't as lucky on the first extra hole, missing a 5-footer for par that would've extended the playoff.
Han, who led by as many as three shots and was the leader throughout the final round, closed with 72.
Amateur Michelle Wie, 14, had a strong finish, shooting 69 to get to 6-under 282 and tie for sixth.
U.S. AMATEUR: Ryan Moore won the last four holes to beat Luke List 2-up in the 36-hole final at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Moore birdied Nos. 15, 17 and 18 to win his fourth prestigious amateur event of the year. The UNLV senior, who won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in July, is the fifth golfer to win two USGA championships in the same year, joining Chick Evans, Bob Jones, Jay Sigel and Pearl Sinn. He also won the NCAA Division I and Western Amateur titles this year.
CHAMPIONS: In Conover, N.C., Doug Tewell rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win the Greater Hickory Classic title with a final-round 8-under 64. Tewell finished at 14-under 202, one shot ahead of second-round leader Bruce Fleisher, who shot 68.
RYDER CUP: Luke Donald made a late bid to make his first European team, but he now must wait one week to see if Bernhard Langer finds him worthy of a captain's pick. Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Lee Westwood officially qualified for the team. Donald, a 26-year-old Englishman who plays almost exclusively on the PGA Tour, needed to finish second at the NEC Invitational for a chance to surpass Westwood. Donald was tied for second through seven holes, then bogeyed four of his next five holes to finish at 72, tied for 16th.
FUTURES: Jenny Gleason of Clearwater tied for 51st at 228 in the Hunters Oak Classic at Queenstown, Md., 15 strokes behind winner Smriti Mehra.
