COLORADO SPRINGS — On Monday, while other U.S. Senior Open competitors got in a quick practice round with pals or joined their caddie in stepping off Broadmoor East’s yardages, John Cook needed some time alone along tree-lined fairways.
“It wasn’t a good day, not fun at all, to be honest with you,” he said Thursday after an opening-round of 4-under-par 66.
Cook figured he had better walk off memories of his sudden-death playoff loss a day earlier in the British Senior Open. An 11-time winner on the regular PGA Tour (including the 1987 International), Cook had his first professional major championship in his sights but lost a three-stroke lead with eight holes to play. He fell into a playoff with a bogey on the 72nd hole and watched fellow American Bruce Vaughan claim victory on the first extra hole with a 20-foot putt.
“I got a nice little walk out here on Monday, breathed some nice air and tried to figure out what happened,” Cook said. “Then I decided this week had started.”
Cook, who trails first-round leader Fred Funk by one stroke, bent the ear of Greg Norman during a Tuesday practice round. And vice versa. Norman had lost a 54-hole lead at Royal Birkdale a week before Cook’s disappointment at Royal Troon.
“His was the (British) Open Championship, mine was the Senior Open Championship,” Cook said. “But, still, when you have it in your grasp like that, you have something a little bit in common.
“We talked a little bit about it. We talked about his finish and my finish. It was hard conditions. We both said, ‘You’ve got to move on.’ When you have championships within your grasp and they kind of slip through, it hurts a little bit.”
If Cook had looked over his shoulder at Troon, there was no sign of a Thursday hangover. Starting on No. 10, Cook hit his first approach shot, a 6-iron, to within 6 inches of the cup for a kick-in birdie. He would make four more birdies against just one bogey — when he pulled a 5-iron second shot into a greenside bunker on the 510-yard, par-4 17th.
Like a machine off the tee, Cook hit 14-of-14 fairways and said he felt relaxed during the entire morning round. And rather than become upset when his gap-wedge approach hit the flagstick and bounced off the green, Cook joked, “That will teach me to aim at the flag” and pitched in for a birdie-3 for “a little redemption.”
Funk got off to a start he “would have never dreamed of” — 4-under after four holes following a birdie at No. 2 (sand wedge to six inches), an eagle on the par-5 third (3-wood second shot from 275 yards to within 25 feet) and a birdie on No. 4 (8-iron to within 30 feet).
After that, Funk fell into a par funk with 11 in a row — usually a good thing in USGA-conducted championships with slick greens and thick rough. He made his only bogey on No. 18 after missing the fairway with his drive.
“After that start, I tried not to think of (end) results but just to hit good shot after good shot,” Funk said. “I hate to say it, but it could have been a 61 or 62. I had a lot of other good birdie chances.”
Funk, who has recorded only one top-10 finish (a fourth place) since winning the season-opening MasterCard Championship in Hawaii, did all that despite trekking around on stiff legs — compliments of taking his family up the 400-plus steps to see Seven Falls on Tuesday evening.
“That was pretty dumb, since I had knee surgery this year,” said Funk, who stretched for three hours before his round Thursday afternoon. “I can’t even bend down to line up a putt because my thighs hurt so much.”
It must be scary for the rest of the field to wonder how low Fun Freddie will go when his legs become as loose as his free-spirited demeanor.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
