John Cook (official thread)

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John Cook (golfer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Nueman Cook (born October 2, 1957) is an American professional golfer from Windermere, Florida.

Cook was born in Toledo, Ohio and attended the Ohio State University, where he was a member of the 1979 NCAA Golf Championship team. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1978, and nearly won it again in 1979, losing to Mark O'Meara in the finals.[1] He also won the Sunnehanna Amateur in 1977 and 1979. Cook was inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in 1986.

Cook turned professional in 1979. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour and was a member of the 1993 U.S. Ryder Cup team. He has featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

John recently helped design a golf course in Sunbury, Ohio, with help from his sister Cathy Cook, a fellow alum and former standout player at nearby Ohio State.

Cook became eligible to play on the Champions Tour on October 2, 2007. He won in his second start on the Champions Tour at the AT&T Championship.

John Cook (golfer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Catching Up with John Cook...
Jan. 17, 2008

Favorite all-time Ohio State Buckeye athlete

"There's a bunch of good ones but I'd say Archie Griffin. Everyone knows about his two Heisman trophies but he's a quality person in general. As head of the Buckeye Association, he means quite a bit to the university. I don't know if there's a bigger alumni association in the world. He's a quality individual and does so much for the school."

One thing about you that not many people know...

"I'm a rapid Buckeye fan. My father Jim was a football coach there and he instilled in my sister and I early in our lives how important Ohio State was to our family."

PGATOUR.COM - Catching Up with John Cook...

PGATOUR.com - John Cook's Official Profile

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Storylines: Buckeyes show support, Cook named Honorary Chairman
Jul. 23, 2008

JOHN COOK TO SERVE AS HONORARY CHAIRMAN -- Former Ohio State University All-American John Cook is this year's Honorary Chairman of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. An 11-time PGA TOUR winner and OSU Athletics Hall of Fame member, Cook follows in the footsteps of last year's first-year Honorary Chairman and fellow Buckeye, Jack Nicklaus. Since turning 50 last October, the Ohio native has been an active member of the Champions Tour, winning in his second start. Winless thus far in 2008, Cook has nine top-10s and is seventh on the money list. Cook, who will be competing in the Senior British Open this week, has supported the tournament's promotional efforts throughout the year.

JASON COOK RECEIVES SPONSOR EXEMPTION -- Jason Cook, son of the Honorary Chairman, received a Sponsor Exemption to compete in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. Jason played golf for Pepperdine University and since 2006 has competed on numerous mini-tours. He has three wins on the Central Florida Moonlight Tour. In 2008, he has played in three Canadian Tour events with his best finish a T38 at the Corona Mazatlan Mexican PGA Championship.

BUCKEYES' SHOW OF SUPPORT -- An impressive lineup of Ohio State legends and other sports celebrities was at the Scarlet Course on Monday for the week's kickoff event, the Safelite AutoGlass Celebrity Pro-Am. The participants included Archie Griffin, Clark Kellogg, Keith Byars, John Cooper, Greg Frey, John Hicks, Craig Kenzel, Jeff Logan, Tom Skladany and Chris Spielman, plus Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Paul O'Neill.

PGATOUR.COM - Storylines: Buckeyes show support, Cook named Honorary Chairman

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Cook has all the right ingredients
DOUGLAS LOWE, Golf Correspondent
July 25 2008

John Cook, the American whose lapses over the closing holes at Muirfield allowed Nick Faldo to win his third Open Championship 16 years ago, yesterday made his bid for redemption with a two-under-par 69, one behind leaders Bruce Vaughan and Eduardo Romero.

The 50-year-old Florida resident, who was influential in Tiger Woods' formative years, also added his voice to the growing concern that young players, particularly in the US, are not being taught enough about finesse shots and until they do they are going to struggle to win back the Ryder Cup.

Consistent Cook had a round of 16 pars plus birdies at the third and 16th on a warm and sunny day when the prevailing wind was reversed to confound many players and convert the usual tiger inward half into a pussy cat with many players, for example, reaching the 457-yard last with a drive and wedge.

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One of the shots he hit was a seven-iron "chip" of 135 yards into the wind at the third, a shot he learned as a youngster from his coach, Ken Venturi, and the kind of skill that enabled him to contend in the past at the Open.

It's also the kind of skill he played his part in passing on to recuperating world No.1 Woods, through his connection with mutual friend Mark O'Meara.

"We talked at length on creativity and shot-making," he said. "When Tiger first came on our tour, he didn't have a lot of that. He was all about power, which is okay, but to be where he is now he had to learn new things, and as great as he is he's never been afraid to ask Mark, myself or whoever on how you hit the little shots.

"I know he takes more pride in hitting seven-irons 135 yards into the wind than he does the 390-yard tee shot. I can promise you that."

Cook Has All The Right Ingredients (from The Herald )

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Cook aims for first 'major' triumph
Jim Black at Royal Troon The Observer, Sunday July 27 2008

John Cook takes a one-shot lead into the final round of the Senior Open after replacing American compatriot Bruce Vaughan, the halfway leader, in pole position. Cook, who has dropped only four shots in 54 holes in blustery conditions that turned the scoreboard into a sea of blue for the first two days, matched Greg Norman's 67 as the best round of the tournament to move to six under par.

Vaughan, who recovered from an attack of nerves immediately following the turn when he dropped three shots in as many holes, settled for a 69 and a one-shot advantage over Argentine Eduardo Romero. Romero, who carded 68, has a three-shot cushion over Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer, tied for fourth at one under.

Cook would dearly love to win his first golf 'major' after coming so close to being crowned Open champion in 1992 at Muirfield, where Nick Faldo took advantage of his rival's nervous finish.

Golf: Cook aims for first 'major' triumph | Sport | The Observer

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Cook bogeyed 18 while Vaughan (his playing partner in the last group) got a par to force a playoff. They teed off on 18 again as the first playoff hole; this time Cook got a par and the other guy birdied it to win.

If only he managed to par 18 the first time.

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What they said: John Cook
Jul. 31, 2008

JOHN COOK: I didn't like the way it finished last week at all. Second is not good.

This week, had a nice practice round, and once I decided that this week has started now and it's a different week, different tournament, another major championship, you know, I can put that last week behind me until I get home next week.

So had a great practice round day with Greg and Mark O'Meara and they were nothing but supportive, and Greg and I kind of -- I mean, his was the Open Championship, mine was the Senior Open Championship, but still, when you have it in your grasp like that, you have something a little bit in common.

So it was a nice walk on Tuesday with these guys, and I got up and struck the ball nicely. I said, okay, new week, let's just go at it again.

Q. Did you talk about it?

COOK: Yeah, we talked a little about it. We talked about his finish and my finish, and it was hard golf courses under hard conditions. You can't protect and you have to keep playing golf. I hit some quality shots on Sunday, I did, and I didn't get a lot out of it. I hit two bad shots, and other than that, I played pretty well. I kept telling myself that, and I didn't really miss shots. The same good things didn't happen.

And Greg was kind of the same way. It just was a hard golf course that he played the week before and I played last week. So like we both said, you've got to move on. It was a great experience, great week, would loved to have capped it off, but we can cap it off this week.

PGATOUR.COM - What they said: John Cook

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Veteran golfer Cook returns to Ohio
By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal staff writer
May 20, 2009

BEACHWOOD, OHIO: California and Florida have been the habitats of choice for John Cook in his lifetime.

But Cook, 51, who is in the field of the 70th annual Senior PGA Championship that begins today at Canterbury Golf Club, is not one to forget his connections to the Buckeye State, including seven of his early years in Akron.

''It's great to be back, I love Ohio . . . its always a joy to come back,'' Cook said Wednesday after a practice round at Canterbury. ''It's such a great sports state. They appreciate anything from baseball, football, basketball, golf, whatever. The state of Ohio gets behind their native sons and I appreciate that.''

Cook was born in Toledo in 1957 and moved to Akron at age 3 when his father, Jim Cook, took a job with Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. At age 10, he moved to California with the family, but returned to Ohio when he began playing golf at Ohio State in the mid-1970s.

As a Buckeye, he was a three-time All-American and helped OSU win the 1979 NCAA Division I national championship.

He then played 28 years on the PGA Tour (1980-2007), and won 11 tournaments, while residing much of that time in Rancho Mirage, Calif. His best year on the tour was 1992, when he finished third on the earnings list and was runner-up in both the British Open and PGA Championship.

Cook, who now resides in Windermere, Fla., joined the Champions Tour late in the 2007 season. He won the circuit's AT&T Championship in 2007 and 2008, and has won $2.3 million on the tour for players 50 and over.

Ohio.com - Veteran golfer Cook returns to Ohio

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They said it: John Cook
Oct. 31, 2009

MORE INTERVIEWS: Charles Schwab Cup Championship transcript archive

DAVE SENKO: John, thank you for joining us. Just a couple of announcements for the media here. John's six-shot lead is the largest in a Champions Tour event since Jay Haas had a six-shot lead here four years ago. And his 54-hole total of 197 matches the all-time Champions Tour 54-hole record in a four-round event by fellow Ohio State University product, Jack Nicklaus.

John, with that, if you could share your thoughts on your day.

JOHN COOK: Yeah, thanks. Just a nice day, you know, walking around. Beautiful weather again. Not quite as efficient as yesterday obviously, but that's okay. I hit a lot of quality shots.

Playing with Tom and playing in a similar pace, similar demeanor, you know, like I said yesterday, he's been a mentor to me and I've looked up to him from my earlier years on tour. I played quite a bit with him in the last couple months since his British Open.

You know, he's easy -- I mean, he's a Hall of Famer, so I'm not gonna say he's easy to play with, but he's comfortable to play with. But we got going. I enjoyed the day obviously.

Made a nice par at the last. I think it was a big key for me. Other than that, I just drove the ball nicely and hit it with some pace and hit a lot greens again. Just kind of did everything okay, so I'm quite pleased.

Tough to follow a 62, but to follow with a 67, I guess that's all right. I'll take that.

Q. (Question regarding Jon Gruden.)

JOHN COOK: I guess we look alike sometimes. (Laughter.) Sometimes I can do that.

Q. You watch him on Monday Night Football?

JOHN COOK: I think he does a great job. I think he's informative, kind of got that coach thing going. I like him. I would like to see him at Ohio State, myself. I think he would be a good fit.

I like Jim Tressel. Jon Gruden is a Youngstown guy. Hey, never know. Buckeyesforgruden.com. (Laughter) Sorry, coach. Coach Tressel, he's a wonderful guy, so I'm not saying anything.

Q. You just did.

JOHN COOK: Well, I'm gonna get in trouble. That's okay.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOHN COOK: I do. It's been in my blood since I was a kid with my dad and him going there and coaching there.

Yeah, yeah. He was an offensive line coach. Graduate assistant under -- actually Bo was his coach. He was the offensive line coach. My dad was one of his graduate assistants., '63, '64, somewhere in there.

Yeah, if I didn't, I would be in trouble. I did have a daughter go SC, though, so that was tough. Tough writing a check to Southern Cal, you know. (Laughter.) It's a big one, too. But, you know, what are you gonna do? Yeah, we bleed scarlet and gray.

PGATOUR.COM - They said it: John Cook

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John shot 68-62-67-69 (266) to win his second Senior Tour event in 3 weeks.

Senior.Tour