But on Sunday, Stewart Cink did something rare with his second putt on the third hole. He didn't sink it.

It was the first time Cink three-putted after going 351 holes without one. That streak included three rounds on the slippery greens of Pinehurst No. 2 where outstanding putters were not only missing putts, but sending some misses off the green.

If he had gotten through the final round without a three putt -- the third putt on the third hole was his only one -- Cink would have broken Brad Faxon's 362-hole streak in 2003. Faxon's streak is the longest since ShotLink began tracking putts in 2001.

Cink, whose final round 69 made him one of only four players to break par Sunday, said the streak wasn't important to him.

"Somebody reminded me a couple days ago that I had a streak going," Cink said. "I don't care about that kind of streak. That doesn't mean anything because the stats are misleading, when you talk about a ball being an inch off the green. To me, that's a putt. I've three-putted off the green a couple times like that."

No matter how he counts it, the official numbers show Cink as the champion of the greens.

Before his missed putt on the third hole, his streak in majors moved to 68 and his streak at the U.S. Open improved to 110.

Cink, 32, also downplayed using two putts or less on 71 of 72 holes he played on Pinehurst No. 2's domed greens.

"If you really think about it, it's not that amazing," he said. "These greens are not that small when you look at them on a map, but when you put the speed up to the point we're playing in the U.S. Open here, and the area the ball will stay on the green, these are some of the smallest greens we play all year. It's not like you have a lot of 50-footers out there. If you hit the green, you're almost guaranteed to be with 25-feet of the hole."

Cink, who has used a 47-inch belly putter for the past three years, but he thinks the key to good putting is more in the mind than the mechanics.

"In putting, it's such a battle mentally, you're battling yourself, you're battling your nerves, basically you're battling the outcome," said Cink, who finished as the best putter on the PGA Tour last year, "I'm prepared to accept the result of any putt I hit whether I hit a two-footer and make or miss or a 50-footer and make or miss.

"Being able to adjust my attitude to where I'm truly prepared for any result has helped me immensely because I'm not fearing the miss. ... Instead of trying to battle through fear, I back away, discern where [the fear] is coming from and hit a fear-free putt."

Cink's putter helped in the Open, where he averaged 1.58 putts per hole and finished tied for 15th, and earned him $88,120.