Stewart Cink rocks Kevin Durant Jersey at WM Phoenix Open

There is a party going down in Phoenix, Arizona, this week. The PGA Tour is in the midst of playing its first full-field ‘elevated’ event of 2023 at this year’s WM Phoenix Open, the Super Bowl will be staged in nearby Glendale on Sunday, and Phoenix’s NBA team, the Suns, just acquired one of basketball’s biggest stars.

TPC Scottsdale’s famous Par 3, 16th hole, with its colosseum-like atmosphere is the site for some of the most raucous crowds in sports. It has also been a platform for some of the world’s best golfers to cater to the wild crowds on hand throughout the years.

The 16th at the WM Phoenix Open has witnessed everything from Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs removing their shirts and dancing around last year, to players like Justin Thomas and Tony Finau paying homage to the late great, Kobe Bryant.

Stewart Cink sports Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant jersey on Thursday

Now, it’s eight-time PGA Tour winner and veteran, Stewart Cink, who wasted no time in playing to the hometown fans on 16. During Thursday’s opening round, Cink rocked up to the coliseum on 16 wearing a newly minted; Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns jersey.

Somehow, the 2009 British Open winner had already managed to get his hands on the brand-new gear; KD had only been traded to the hometown team a mere 12 hours ago or so. 

Unfortunately for Cink, sporting the KD jersey on 16 didn’t result in a birdie on the well-known par 3, however. Still, the 49-year-old was in the midst of piecing together a nice opening round at this year’s WM Phoenix Open before play was suspended for the day due to darkness.

Stewart sits at -2 with seven holes remaining in his opening round when play resumes on Friday. He has made the cut in both of his previous two starts in 2023 at both the Sony Open in Hawaii and The American Express.

While the par 3, 16th, at TPC Scottsdale may not have yielded a special moment on the scorecard for Cink on Thursday, he is certainly no stranger to magical moments on famous par 3s; as was the case at the Masters last year when he made a hole-in-one on caddie and son Reagan’s birthday.