CROMWELL, Conn. – Stewart Cink had a reputation as a good golfer who just couldn’t finish off a tournament.

His collapse during the fourth round of the PODS Championship in March left him with just one victory in the nine career events where he had the lead going into the last day.

On Sunday, he put that behind him, holding off a late charges from Tommy Armour III and defending champion Hunter Mahan to win the Travelers Championship by a stroke. With the victory, Cink was projected to go to a career-high No. 6 in the world ranking.

Cink shot a 3-under 67 – following rounds of 66, 64 and 65 – to finish at 18 under for his fifth career victory and first since 2004. Armour (65) and Mahan (65) tied for second.

Cink earned his first career win here as a rookie, and came into the day with a two-stroke lead over Heath Slocum.

“I know there has been some talk that I have not been a closer,” Cink said. “They had every right to say that, because I felt the same way myself. So I felt that I had something to prove to myself.”

He finished with a career-best 262 over the four rounds, five shots better than his 1997 total of 267. It was his first win after six top-10 finishes this year, earning him $1.08 million. It also pushed him to third place in the FedEx Cup standings behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and into second place in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

For a while, though, it looked as though the tournament was heading for a three-way playoff.

Leading by a stroke, Cink hit a 365-yard tee shot on the 18th into the crowd to the right, and his approach went just over the green. But he recovered nicely, getting up and down from just under 2 feet to save par.

“To stand over that last putt, even though it was only 2 feet long, and to knock it in the middle, it was a great feeling,” he said.

Armour, who at 48 was looking to become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour this season, shot a bogey-free 65. He put his approach on 17 about 4 feet from the pin and made birdie. But he missed a 37-foot putt on 18 that would have given him a share of the lead.

Mahan, looking to become the first repeat champion here since Mickelson in 2002, had birdies on his final two holes to make it interesting. He hit an 18-foot putt on the 17th, then hit a wedge shot 3 feet from the pin on 18.

Mahan earned his first tour victory here a year ago, making a birdie on the first playoff hole to capture the title over journeyman Jay Williamson. Mahan tied for second behind J.J. Henry in 2006.

“I played really well,” he said. “I had a chance to win on the back nine on Sunday, so I couldn’t be more happy.”

Slocum was on Cink’s heels for most of the round. But Cink matched him birdie for birdie on Nos. 6, 9, 13 and 15.

Cink hit the green on 16 and made par. Slocum came up short, pitched his ball well right and ended with a bogey that knocked him two shots behind, where he finished.

“I positioned myself nicely. I just didn’t hit a few more quality shots,” Slocum said. “Obviously, I needed to hole a few more putts.”

Sluman notches first seniors win

CONCORD, Mass. – Jeff Sluman’s game was “in tatters” when he began playing on the Champions Tour last September. His putting at the end of his first win in a senior event was terrific.

When Sluman rolled in a 34-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole Sunday to wrap up the Bank of America Championship with an 8-under 64, runner-up Loren Roberts bowed to the winner and waved his arms up and down.

Quite a gesture from the man known as the “Boss of the Moss” for his putting prowess.

“I hope it happens a few more times,” Sluman said after his three birdies on the last four holes gave him a 17-under 199 total and a two-shot victory over Roberts (67). The 64 was best final round by a winner on the tour this year.

Playing in the same threesome, they made the tournament a two-man race for most of the back nine.

“It was a little bit of match play there,” said Roberts, the second-round leader by one stroke over Sluman and Mark McNulty. “Then he stepped on the gas.”

Sluman, who turned 50 last Sept. 11, took his first lead of the tournament with a 13-foot birdie putt at the 338-yard 15th hole at the 6,741-yard Nashawtuc Country Club course.

His putter gave him a two-stroke lead when he knocked a shot of just over 30 feet into the center of the cup.

Ji breaks through in Wegmans LPGA

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Three strokes behind with six holes to play in the Wegmans LPGA, Eun-Hee Ji found a way to get around Norwegian star Suzann Pettersen.

“I thought if I chase her like this, Suzann would feel pressure,” the South Korean said after shooting a 5-under 67 to beat Pettersen by two strokes at the tricky Locust Hill course with a 16-under 272 total.

A 22-year-old in her second year on the tour, Ji won her first LPGA Tour title. Her previous best was a second-place finish behind Pettersen in South Korea in October in the Kolon Championship.

Pettersen’s three-shot lead over Ji at the start of the final round dissolved over the first three holes.