Seeing Red

There were no reported Elvis sightings last week during the PGA Tour's annual stop in Memphis, probably because no one could take his eyes off John Cook and what he was trying to accomplish in the FedEx St. Jude Classic at the Tournament Players Club at Southwind. For four sweltering days Cook, who was on the brink of retirement only three months ago, took dead aim at one of the most significant numbers in the pro game—the record 27-under-par 257 shot by Mike Souchak in the Texas Open 41 years ago.

Several players have made a run at Souchak's standard, which he established at the 6,400-yard, par-71 Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio in February 1955. But like those who have pursued the 61-home run barrier put in place by Roger Maris, no one has been able to sustain the necessary combination of great play and good fortune long enough to get lower than 258 (by Donnie Hammond on par-70 Oak Hills in San Antonio during the 1989 Texas Open). On Sunday, Cook had a better chance to break through than any of the others, although he seemed an odd choice for history's work.

Thirty-eight years old and dragging after 17 years on the Tour, Cook was unhappy with his play this spring. In fact, he was thinking seriously of hanging it up—or at least cutting way back—when, before the Players Championship in March, he visited Ken Venturi, the CBS analyst who has coached him since he was 14. For two days they hit balls and talked. "It was just nice to hear somebody say, 'Nice shot, you're doing a good job,' " Cook says. "That means a lot. Those two days kind of put the fire back in me."

Cook decided to take one more shot at regaining the form he displayed in 1992, his last good year, when he finished third on the money list and had the British Open in his hands before closing bogey-bogey to open the door for Nick Faldo. The transformation didn't happen overnight, but by the time he arrived in Memphis, Cook had made seven consecutive cuts, most recently finishing a respectable 16th in the U.S. Open. And when he got a look at the TPC at Southwind, his motor really started racing. "The fairways were hard and fast, and that plays more into my game," he said. "It made the par-5s reachable for an average hitter like me. Coming here and seeing the ball run a little bit got me excited, frankly. You're not as intimidated off the tee as you are at the Open."

Cook responded with a seven-under 64 in the first round and followed with a nine-under 62 last Friday for a 126 total that tied the Tour record for 36 holes. On Saturday his 63 put him at 189 for three rounds, two strokes better than the record of 191 set by Gay Brewer in the 1967 Pensacola Open. Up in the CBS booth overlooking the 18th hole, Venturi could barely contain his excitement. "The secret word in playing good golf is trust," he said, "being able to believe that you can make the shot, to look at where you have to go and not where you don't want to go. He's got himself focused now. He knows what he wants to do. I like the way he's thinking. I like his attitude. Especially I like the way he's striking the ball." Said Patrick Lee, one of Cook's frustrated pursuers, "He's in his own element. Basically, he's playing the course by himself."

Even the 69-year-old Souchak was convinced that there was no way his record would withstand Cook's assault. In San Antonio, of all places, playing golf in a corporate outing, Souchak saw highlights from the Memphis tournament on television. "With that kind of scoring, 67 was very doable," he said. "There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he was going to break the record."

That Cook was able to establish such a strong story line was just what the tournament needed. Many of the big names had skipped the event because it came on the heels of the nerve-racking U.S. Open from hell at Oakland Hills. Memphis had to make do without the likes of Greg Norman, Tom Lehman and Tom Watson. But Mark O'Meara, this year's leading money winner, did show up. So did Steve Jones, the Open winner; Davis Love III, who finished a shot behind Jones; and John Daly, who lives near the 16th fairway.

Jones played with Dicky Pride and Ted Tryba on Thursday and drew a gallery of about 100 fans. "He is just too unknown," one of them, Mark Symington, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "It's a good story about him coming back from a hand injury and winning the Open, but lie doesn't have the name recognition of a John Daly."

Jones didn't seem to be upset about the relative lack of attention. After an errant tee shot on the 3rd hole struck a tree and landed in the rough, Jones quipped to the fans, "I didn't know they had rough here. I thought it was all at the U.S. Open." He shot 70-69-72-73—that's even par—to tie for 70th and beat one player who made the cut, Mark Brooks.

Love, heartbroken after the Open, opted to play in Memphis instead of staying home and dwelling on his three-putt on the final hole in suburban Detroit. "It's probably better to get out and go ahead and make a few other putts, and miss a few other ones, and get started on something else," he said. "I think if I'd had a week off, I wouldn't have done much." He didn't do much at Southwind, either. His 72-68-74-69 left him 67th, and he looked like a guy who was going through the motions.