AVIDGOLFER

Austin Cook Delivers The Feel Good Story Of Being Rewarded For Not Giving Up

Rick Arnett /

Three-time All American Arkansas Razorback alum Austin Cook won his first PGA Tour event in only his 14th attempt by taking the RSM Classic. Starting the final round with a 3-shot lead, Cook’s margin dwindled to one over JJ Spaun before he birdied three of the final four holes to clinch the win.

This bettor was smart enough to take a $100 lark on a Cook victory.

GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker provides the details to Cook’s roundabout journey leading to his win on Sunday.

Cook, a Southeastern Conference All-Freshman for Arkansas in 2010, an All-American the following year and a fixture in the Razorbacks lineup with nine career top-10s before turning pro in 2014, took a circuitous, and at times testing, route to finally getting his card for the 2017-’18 season.

In his first year playing pro and with limited Web.com Tour status, he opted for the mini-tour circuit. In nine starts, he finished in the top 10 five times and missed just one cut on the Adams Tour.

The following year, he was a couple of strokes inside the number at Web.com Tour Q-school at PGA National when he had a Top Gun worthy crash-and-burn, finishing bogey-bogey-quadruple bogey-double. Oof.

Then last year, Hurricane Matthew roared toward the northeast coast of Florida and the Web.com Tour Championship. The decision was made to cancel the event, meaning the money list would revert back to the previous week. Cook missed getting a card by $425. Double ooof.

Cook is hardly the first—or last—guy to take a roundabout route, but along the way he had already proven that he belonged. By 2015, he’d made nine starts in PGA Tour events, five of those coming via Monday qualifying, where it usually takes a score in the low-to-mid 60s to advance. He also nabbed a couple of top-10s in two of those starts to earn a spot in the field the following week.

“You always grow up thinking that you can do it, but actually being able to get the job done and perform and hold all the nerves down and still put in a good round especially in these conditions and on this golf course,” Cook said. “I’m just so happy.”

By the way, his caddie Kip Henley used to be Brian Gay’s looper (they played in Sunday’s final group). Gay holed out from the fairway on the 18th hole to grab an extra $150K with the eagle.

“He’s impervious to pressure,” Henley said. “It’s only good if you like top 5s every week. … It’s crazy how good he is.”

 

Austin Cook Brian Gay JJ Spaun Kip Henley