Tough Cookie - golfer John Cook discusses his career

Golf Digest, July, 1999

John Cook has seen his share of highs and lows in 20 streaky years on tour

Deck

John Cook is 41, and if he is ever going to upgrade his career from moderately successful, he realizes now is the time to make a move.

And so he will, uprooting his family from Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and moving cross-country this summer to the tony community of Isleworth in central Florida, where his neighbors will include his old friend, Mark O'Meara, and Tiger Woods. Having Tiger around seemed to help resurrect O'Meara's career. Does Cook similarly expect to be rewarded for the company he'll be keeping? "They guarantee it," he says, laughing.

Cook has not given up on attempting to punctuate his career the way O'Meara did by winning two major championships in 1998. Until then, their careers closely paralleled one another. O'Meara now has a green coat and a claret jug. Cook's legacy, pending a rewrite, is that he has been one of the nicer men on the PGA Tour and that he helped cause a minor Ryder Cup ruckus in 1993. A now has a green jacket and a claret jug. Cook's legacy, pending a rewrite, is that he has been one of the nicer men on the PGA Tour and that he helped cause a minor Ryder Cup ruckus in 1993. A Republican on a U.S. team full of them, he and his teammates were invited to visit President Clinton at the White House prior to departing for Europe. Cook wondered aloud what they might talk about, given that they occupied opposite sides of the political fairway.

"Afterwards letters to the editor were written blasting me," he said. "I got personal letters. I thought, my God, maybe I should keep my mouth shut. I can't hardly do that, though."

Of course not. Clinton was among the myriad subjects discussed when associate editor John Strege met with Cook on two occasions last winter, at the Rancho Mirage condominium he and his family were renting pending their move to Florida and in the clubhouse at the Riviera Country Club prior to the start of the Nissan Open.

GOLF DIGEST:

First things first. You once modeled with Bo Derek?

I was 12, in my motorcycling days. Parnelli Jones had just come out with a small-frame motorcycle. He asked if I would take some pictures on it for Kawasaki. There was a girl, Kathleen Collins, who was going to be on a smaller version of the one I was on. I was just drooling over this little motorcycle. Couldn't wait to take it for a spin. So we took the pictures. Ten years later, the movie"10" comes out and there's Bo Derek. Someone said, "You know that gal that you took pictures with? That's her." I was more interested in the motorcycle than I was with the girl at that time.

Have you seen her since?

We ran into her in Sun City in 1992. She was going to be a judge at the Miss World contest there. Everybody was together at one party. My wife couldn't let this opportunity go. She went up to Bo's mom and said,"My husband took pictures with your daughter 20 years ago." Her mom remembered it. She mentioned it to Bo, who remembered doing the shoot. I was totally flattered.

How did your association with Parnelli Jones begin?

My father was in the auto-racing division of Firestone. When they transferred him to California, he was the tire rep at races. He'd distribute the tires to the race teams, like the guys do with golf balls. I got to meet all the drivers. I was pretty good friends with Michael Andretti. At one time, my dad was Mario Andretti's business manager, a confidant. I grew up around racing.

Did you have any desire to get into racing?

A lot. Everybody says that the place to start is either carts or motorcycles. I had a little Kawasaki Green Streak that Parnelli Jones got me. But I had a little accident on my motorcycle, I tweaked my foot and that kind of killed my racing. I was 14.

When and how did golf enter the picture?

If you worked for Firestone, you were basically a member at Firestone Country Club. In the early '60s, my father would take me out to the tournaments. I watched the CBS Golf Classic, the American Golf Classic, the World Series of Golf when it was four players, the Rubber City Open. He would put me on the range and I'd sit and watch guys hit golf balls. Once I got old enough, maybe seven or eight, I started in the junior program at Firestone. But I only got more involved once we moved out to California.

When did your interest in golf expand?

When I started to work with Ken Venturi. He was a big racing fan. He met my dad through the World Series of Golf back at Firestone, and they struck up a friendship. Kenny was getting his television career going and was the first director of golf here at Mission Hills. We came down and ended up buying a weekend place, off the second tee on the Old Course. Ken watched me hitting balls. I was 14, with long blonde hair. You'd have to talk to him to see what he saw in me. We struck up a nice friendship. When we'd come down on the weekends, I'd scurry over to the club and we'd hit some balls and go play some holes. I started working with him and I eventually got better at each level.