Born in Toledo, Ohio, Cook is the son of PGA Tour official Jim Cook and grew up in southern California.[3] He attended Miraleste High School in Rancho Palos Verdes and graduated in 1976.[4] In addition to golf, Cook was a promising but undersized quarterback in football through his sophomore year. He was advised by his high school golf coach (who also coached football) to concentrate on golf, which would give him his best opportunity for a collegiate scholarship. The coach, Wilbur Lucas, later said it was the only time he suggested an athlete drop a sport.[5] Cook was also coached by former PGA Tour star Ken Venturi.[6]
Cook played his first PGA Tour event as a professional in September 1979. He played the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic, the tour's annual event in Napa County, California on a sponsor's exemption. The Associated Press opened its report by stating, "A professional golfing career that will be watched closely, that of 1978 U.S. Amateur golf champion John Cook, began today in Napa's $300,000 PGA Tour event."[13]
Cook's first PGA Tour victory came in the 1981 storm-plagued Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. The event was shortened to 54 holes due to the weather conditions. Cook won the title on the third extra hole after a five-way sudden-death playoff that included Hale Irwin, Bobby Clampett, Ben Crenshaw, and Barney Thompson.[14] Irwin, the last of the four men that Cook eliminated in the playoff, was gracious in defeat: "John is a special young man. He deserved to win. He is one of the best new young players on the tour."[15]
Cook's second PGA Tour win came in 1983 at the Canadian Open. He won with a birdie putt on the sixth extra hole of a playoff against Johnny Miller, after both players parred the first five extra holes.[16]
At the 1990 Las Vegas Invitational, Cook lost a playoff to Bob Tway in memorable fashion. On the first hole of sudden-death, Cook hit a sand wedge shot into the hole from 95 yards for an apparent birdie only to see the ball bounce out of the hole and come to rest 15 feet (4.5 m) away and off the green.[17] Tway won the playoff with a routine par.
Cook has had seven top-10 finishes in major championships. The closest he came to winning a major during his career was when he led The Open Championship at Muirfield in 1992 by two shots late in the final round. Cook missed a two-foot (0.6 m) birdie putt on the 17th that would have given him a three-shot lead. He bogeyed the 18th and lost the Open by one stroke to Nick Faldo, who birdied two of the last four holes to overtake Cook. Afterward, Cook said, "I definitely let one slip away. I had a chance to win a major championship and I didn't."[18]
Cook had at least one PGA Tour win from 1996 through 1998. His victory in the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 1996 came after his opening three rounds (64-62-63) broke the lowest total in PGA Tour history for the first 54 holes at 189.[19]
He appeared as himself in a non-speaking role in the 1996 film Tin Cup.
The last of Cook's eleven PGA Tour wins came in the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2001 at age 43.
In October 2007, Cook became eligible to play on the Champions Tour. In his second start, he won the AT&T Championship in San Antonio, nineteen days after his 50th birthday, two strokes ahead of Mark O'Meara and earned $240,000 for his first win in over six years.[20] A year later, at the same event, he captured his second Champions Tour win, coming from behind with a 65 in the final round to win by three strokes over Keith Fergus.
Cook won his third career title on the Champions Tour in 2009 at the Administaff Small Business Classic by two strokes over Bob Tway and Jay Haas. Two weeks later, Cook picked up his fourth Champions Tour win at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by five strokes over Russ Cochran. Cook set a scoring record at the tournament, shooting 22-under-par, with a 10-under-par 62 in the second round. Cook successfully defended this title in the 2010 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, winning by two strokes over Michael Allen.
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