Advertisement

Cink turns to Mickelson family for counsel on wife's cancer fight

Stewart Cink made a last-minute decision to play at Colonial in this week's Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

Last month, Cink announced he was stepping away from the PGA Tour as he and his wife, Lisa, learned she had breast cancer and would be starting treatment. Now weeks into what will be a difficult fight for Lisa, Stewart came back inside the ropes with a slightly better idea of how the treatment will unfold.

“Circumstances are improved because we can predict a little bit more about how she’s feeling. So that’s going to be why I come out and play a little bit here and there,” Cink said Thursday, according to Golf Channel. “But as far as her circumstances of fighting cancer, they’re not all that great. She’s got advanced cancer, and it’s going to be a difficult fight.”

The 2009 British Open winner shot 2-over 72 in his first round in Ft. Worth, Texas.

“I don’t think I went one hole today without thinking about her 10 times,” he said. 

Cink credited Amy and Phil Mickelson in getting Lisa near immediate access to some of the best oncologists in the country through the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Amy Mickelson successfully overcame breast cancer after being diagnosed in 2009.

“Amy really was the one who got us in touch with the doctors at M.D. Anderson. You can imagine, they have quite a bit of pull,” he said. “When you throw around the name Amy and Phil Mickelson, you know, things happen. It was Thursday when we found out, and Monday we were meeting with the top people in the field.”


Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: Talking tracking golf performance with Game Golf CEO John McGuire