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Par for the Course
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 John Cook said he’s ready for a good season on the Champions Tour (Photo: Jeff Crace/ACE Creative Media). That was 41 years ago. This month, just a few miles from the site of that victory in Costa Mesa and practically walking distance from his Corona del Mar home, Cook, 51, will try to add to his trophy case at the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club. And if he doesn’t win the title there, he’ll try again the following week at the AT&T Classic in Valencia. “I feel like I’m getting better,” Cook said. “I know these courses and I’m healthy. I’ve worked real hard, and 2008 was a great learning experience.” Cook has been working on his game at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel, Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach and Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. The galleries at both Champions Tour events likely will have members from all three clubs cheering him on. Playing competitively again takes a lot more work than talking about it. Cook said he loved his three years in the broadcast booth for USA Network’s golf coverage but couldn’t wait to turn 50 so he could get back on the course. It didn’t take him long to add to the 11 titles he won on the PGA Tour. Cook won the second event he entered on the senior circuit in October 2007, but he won only once last year in his first full season. “You’ve got to learn to win again,” he said, “and I let a couple of final-round leads get away from me.” It was still a good year, with 15 top-10 finishes in 26 starts. But like most professionals, Cook said “it’s all about the wins.” Competition fuels Cook’s fire, which was ignited by his father, Jim, who coached football and baseball at the University of Akron after a stint at Ohio State. Needless to say, when it came time for Cook to choose a college, the Buckeyes came calling with a couple of heavyweight recruiters in tow — Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. So it was goodbye beaches and hello Columbus. As much as Cook likes to parade his Ohio State colors — he led the Buckeyes to the 1979 NCAA golf title in his final year — he credits his golfing success to the competition he faced growing up in California. Cook’s playing contemporaries included Bobby Clampett — “as good as I have ever seen at 17” — Mark O’Meara — “great friends from early on through today” — and Corey Pavin — “the grittiest, nastiest guy you ever met, and I mean that in the best way” — to name a few. Golf legend and former TV commentator Ken Venturi also took a young Cook under his wing. “My dad was working for the Firestone Rubber Company doing [public relations] when they transferred him to California. That’s how we came West,” Cook said. “Ken loved auto racing, and whenever he’d go back to Akron to play or broadcast the Firestone golf tournament, my dad would get him tickets to all the auto races. When we moved to California and later out to the desert, Dad found out Ken was the director of golf at Mission Hills.” Cook’s father asked Venturi to look at his son’s swing, and something clicked, because “he’s been my golfing mentor since I was 13,” Cook said. And it was all for the love of the game. “Ken never charged anything for his tutoring, still doesn’t,” Cook said. “He just likes helping good players. His style and method have never changed. Today, instructors and swing coaches are always embracing something new. Ken’s mechanics never changed. My notes for all these years are always the same, the same five or six things. In this way I can always get my game back on track when it goes sour.” Cook’s admiration for Venturi is both personal and professional. “Ken’s got something else none of the guys teaching today have — he’s won 14 tournaments, including a U.S. Open,” Cook said. “Is David Leadbetter going to tell you how to play the 18th hole with a one-shot lead, your heart racing, your mind numb and your tongue hanging out? I don’t think so. Ken Venturi can.” Cook is now following Venturi’s lead by mentoring some juniors on the Southern California golf scene. The optimism in Cook’s voice only waned when asked if he was disappointed in his lack of a major title. “Absolutely. I certainly let a couple of them slip away, and because of it I feel incomplete,” he said. “Winning a Champions Tour major would certainly help that, especially because I’m playing against the same guys. But it wouldn’t be the same for me, even if the PGA Tour says so. I know what I didn’t do.” Eric Tracy is also known as The Mulligan Man. He can be reached at eric@themulliganman.com. |
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