The Villages Daily Sun

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — John Cook was running a little hot as he walked from the sixth green to the seventh tee in Saturday’s third round of the U.S. Senior Open.

He had just made double-bogey on the par-4 sixth and the scoreboard right next to the seventh tee let him know that he was standing eight shots behind leader Eduardo Romero.

All Cook did over the next 12 holes of The Broadmoor East Golf Course was grind his way back into the golf tournament.

Cook fired a 4-under-par 30 on the inward nine — the half that includes seven of the nine hardest holes on the course — to climb to third place, one shot behind Fred Funk and three back of Romero with 18 holes remaining.

“I told myself that I had to make sure that the next shot was the most important shot of the day,” Cook said. “I played a really good last three holes.”

And no “next shot” was more important than the 8-footer he made to save par on the par-4 10th — the hole that has played the hardest all week.

“That putt on 10 was the one that saved the round,” Cook said. “I had missed the green long with my second shot out of the rough and a got fooled on the pitch back.

“The putt was downhill, downwind, down mountain and all the danger whistles were blowing and I poured it right in the middle.”

For that point on, Cook said every shot he hit was quality — and he left the course in a very different frame of mind from the one he had taken to the house after Friday’s second round where he thought tournament officials had almost let the golf course get out of control and unfair.

“Yesterday it was close to getting away from them,” he said. “But overnight they did a nice job.

“The pins were still very, very difficult again, but the greens were more receptive.”

Cook understands Broadmoor East more than the average player. He played every summer while he was in college at The Ohio State University. He also knows about winning at altitude — he won the 1987 International just up the road in Castle Rock and the 2001 Reno-Tahoe Open.

“I wasn’t a math major in college, but I’m very good with numbers and I’m very comfortable adjusting for the altitude.

“In a perfect world, you would like to be underneath the hole putting straight up the mountain, but this golf course can defend itself very well.”

Cook will play with Tom Kite, who is eight shots back of Romero, in the next-to-last group in today’s final round — a place where he’s also comfortable.

“I’ve won in the final group and lost in the final group and I’ve won from the next group and even two groups ahead,” he said.

“You can have the chance to post a score and see what happens and depending on the conditions, shooting even-par (today) might be good enough.

“But with Eduardo at minus-9, you have to be looking at double figures to have a chance to win.”

Steve Trivett is a sportswriter for the Daily Sun. He may be reached at sports@

thevillagesmedia.com.