The Masters Tournament is growing on Stewart Cink. At age 33, Cink is growing into it as well.

Stewart Cink, who attended Georgia Tech, has come to embrace the changes that have been made to Augusta National's course. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

"When I first played there it was great to play it, but I didn't really have the same kind of respect for the course and the field and the tournament as I did for the U.S. Open and the other majors," Cink said. "Now I think it's probably my favorite major."

After a decade of decent but uninspired performances at Augusta National Golf Club, Cink turned a personal corner last April with his first top-10 finish in the Masters. He didn't break 70 in any of his rounds, but he proved something to himself anyway.

"The big thing for me this year is going to be the confidence knowing that I can actually have a good finish there at the Masters," Cink said. "In the past I've had a big mental block there. So that's good for me. It's not like last year I had a chance to win the tournament, but I think I gave myself a glimpse of what I can do there.

"I think the way I play does suit the golf course. I've been out here for quite a while now, and I'm getting sort of old. But I don't think there's any physical barrier or reason I shouldn't perform well there. Last year was at least a step in the right direction."

Before last year's Masters, Cink criticized the latest batch of changes to the course, which brought a total addition of 520 yards and seemingly as many trees since 1999. Cink retracted his statements after the tournament and now has a different kind of respect for the course.

"As far as the golf course goes, I'll go into it now knowing that you really have to be on in all parts of your game to succeed there," he said. "That's why I changed my opinion so much last year after I played and saw all the changes. It really has become a true major championship-type course. You really have to have everything. ... It's just a good test and a different kind of test than the U.S. Open and the British Open. You've got three majors that consistently give you consistent-type setups. I just think it fits right in with the other majors, and every year it elevates to me."

For too many years Cink didn't feel that way, despite living in Georgia and attending Georgia Tech. He took for granted the course's relative openness off the tee, and that perspective infected the rest of his mental approach to the season's first major.

"I went in the golf tournament a little bit lackadaisical because off the tee you didn't have to be that sharp," he said. "You needed to be sharp with your irons, but I never really focused well. The tough nature of the course now, it's almost an involuntary thing but I'm focused more now because I know how sharp you have to be. In a way, I wish I could have those first seven or eight that I played back."

Hitting the prime years of his career, Cink has a wealth of experience to draw on entering the 2007 major season. Consistently one of the top Americans and a member of five of the past six international team events, he looks to the majors as one of the last thresholds he needs to cross to live up to his own expectations.

"I'm working, trying to get better and improve parts of my game that are a little behind players in that category," he said. "It's a time thing, and we'll see. I'm definitely not satisfied where I've been after 10 years. I've had an OK career and a lot of players would love to have it. But I feel like I have a little more left."

One of the things Cink will have to face this season is a return to the scene of his most infamous golf moment. The PGA Championship will be played at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., the site of the 2001 U.S. Open where Cink missed a short putt on the 72nd hole he believed was meaningless but, as it turned out, would have put him into a playoff with Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks.

Cink has recovered from that experience, and sees competing in another major there as a bittersweet opportunity.

"It's positive because I knew I came down to the wire in a major championship, but it's negative because of all that crap that went on at the 18th green there," he said. "That's something I've dealt with and lived with, and it is what it is. So it's a little bit of both. But I'm looking forward to going back to Southern Hills because I love that style of golf course."

He can finally say the same thing about Augusta National.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.