139TH BRITISH OPEN: PHILIP REIDon why defending champion Stewart Cink yet again chose Ireland for his British Open warm-up

IT WORKED last year, so Stewart Cink – the man who ruined the Tom Watson fairytale at Turnberry – stuck to a similar formula of playing links golf in Ireland ahead of setting out in defence of his British Open title.

Only, this year, he swapped the Irish west coast for the east coast. So, instead of using Lahinch, Doonbeg and Ballybunion as preparation as he did last year, Cink based his family in Dublin where he played Portmarnock (twice) and Baltray.

It remains to be seen if Cink’s pre-British Open family trip to Ireland can result in him repeating the feat, but he was cheered by the fact he was far from an anonymous figure during his time spent in the capital. Indeed, Cink yesterday recounted a brief interaction with a Dublin taxi driver from last week which left him uplifted.

He recalled: “Driving through town one day, there was a taxicab that stopped and left a gap. I pulled out to make a right turn. With my American sense of driving on the wrong side of the road, I’m always a little careful driving into right turns.

“So, as I looked around and started to ease out, the taxicab (driver) laid on his horn. I thought I’d done something wrong and I got embarrassed.

“I looked at the driver and he was pointing at me, thumbs up, and he was going ‘good luck, good luck’. I went from being embarrassed to being honoured. It was neat.”

Cink, though, enjoyed his year as the British Open champion which included filling the Claret Jug with Guinness – “the first thing that went in it, I reserved the right to put in Guinness, my beer of choice” – and coca-cola as well as using it to baste a barbecue.

In fact, Cink – who’d used the jug to hold the barbecue sauce for his July 4th party last Sunday week – only noticed it hadn’t been cleaned properly on arriving in Dublin.

“My buddy cleaned it out when we were at our 4th of July celebration back in the States. I thought he cleaned it out, when I went and put it in the case, I noticed on the flight over to Dublin that some of it leaked out into the Styrofoam. I found there was still sauce in it, so I went and cleaned it and got it all nice and fresh and shined the outside. It was in fit condition when it went back (to the RA).”

Cink actually brought the trophy back in person and handed it over on Tuesday evening, just before attending the Champions’ Dinner.

Although he didn’t believe the win was necessarily life-changing, Cink admitted he found it difficult to believe he was worthy of being the British Open champion. “It’s hard to look at the names and feel worthy because I grew up seeing some of those players. To know what some of those great players have done over history, it’s hard to feel like you fit in . . . (but) I’m one of those guys that has worked hard for a long time.

“Do I feel worthy? Do I feel like my name matches up to everyone on that list? No way, I’m not going to be Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods. Bobby Jones. These guys are the best ever that have played. We can go back a long time. But am I worthy to be on the Claret Jug? Yes. Because I played as well as I played for 72 holes at Turnberry, (and) when it counted I was able to come through and polish it off.”