Cook Shoots a Torrid 62, but He’s Not Even Warm

INDIAN WELLS â€”  Welcome to Indian Wells Country Club, where Desi Arnaz was one of the original investors and where Fred and Ethel Mertz probably could break par.

At the Bob Hope Desert Classic on Saturday, John Cook didn’t just break par. No, thanks to the golf club in his hands, par suffered a compound fracture.

Desert resident Cook, who thought about giving up golf a year ago because his career was going nowhere slowly and wound up winning at Memphis, carved a 10-under-par 62 out of Indian Wells.

Then Cook credited local knowledge.

“I know how to get to my house quicker than anybody else,� he said.

He certainly knew how to get his golf ball into the hole quicker than anyone else.

Since he is now at 24 under par, Cook is happy, but he isn’t in the lead. That distinction belonged once again to Mark Calcavecchia, whose 64 at Bermuda Dunes gave him a three-shot lead over Cook going into today’s final round at Indian Wells.

On his journey around the course, Calcavecchia produced a tournament record-breaking 72-hole total of 27 under par, two better than Tom Kite’s mark of 25 under par in 1993.

What’s more, he tied the PGA Tour 72-hole record for shots under par, matching Ben Hogan in 1945 at Portland and Mike Souchak in 1955 at San Antonio.

Calcavecchia finished with four consecutive birdies to move ahead of Cook and into the lead, then said he hoped he would stay calm for the last round.

“I’m obviously confident,� he said.

It’s hard not to feel that way at Indian Wells or in this tournament, which is living up to its reputation as nothing more than an assembly line for birdies.

Only 11 of 128 players failed to break par and the cut was at seven under. That still left 81 players to tee it up today.

Unless somebody leaps out of the pack, it could turn out to be a two-player race. Don Pooley pounded a 65 out of Indian Ridge, but he’s six shots back at 21-under 267. John Daly and Mark O’Meara are next at 20 under.

Daly, who had a 66 at Indian Ridge, would have had a much better chance if not for his first-round 73 at La Quinta. He said he had only himself to blame.

“You know you should shoot under par on these courses,� he said.

Cook lives at Mission Hills and he has played Indian Wells more times than there are dimples on a golf ball. He just isn’t sure that’s going to be a huge advantage.

“This golf course can yield 62s, but if you start pressing, this course can make you look foolish,� he said.

Maybe he was just being nice, which proves that Cook still had good manners even after ripping the place apart.

He birdied the first and the third, then really got cranking at No. 5 when he began a stretch of four straight birdies, two-putting from long distance on both par fives on the front for birdies.

Cook’s only slip-up was on the par-three 13th, where he bunkered his tee shot and had his only bogey. From there, he birdied the last five holes, never once from farther away than eight feet.

When he finished, Cook sat in the scorer’s tent and had trouble believing an 11-birdie, one-bogey round.

“I said, ‘Is this right? Is this right?’ You kind of lose track out there,� he said. “To make that many birdies in one day, I mean, I’m not like counting them as I go along.�

Cook said he still feels sort of rusty about his golf game, but it seemed to extend mainly to his score-keeping.

Calcavecchia has owned or shared the lead the last three rounds and he has a chance to win for the first time since the 1995 BellSouth Classic.

“I did a good job of not thinking about what I was shooting or if I was leading,� he said. “I’m not setting a goal to get to 30 under [par] or anything.�

The way things are going, that wouldn’t be too bad of an idea. Except 30 under won’t be enough.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

(C1) Bob Hope Leaders

76-HOLE SCORES

Player: Sat. Total

Mark Calcavecchia: 64--261 -27

John Cook: 62--264 -24

Don Pooley: 65--267 -21

John Daly: 66--268 -20

Mark O’Meara: 66--268 -20

Grant Waite: 68--270 -18

Jay Don Blake: 72--270 -18

Jesper Parnevik: 66--270 -18

3 tied at 271

* COMPLETE SCORES: C14

Land Down Under

Most shots under par after 72 holes in a PGA tournament:

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NO. PLAYER TOURNAMENT 27 Mark Calcavecchia 1997 Bob Hope Classic 27 Ben Hogan 1945 Portland Invitational 27 Mike Souchak 1955 Texas Open 26 Gay Brewer 1967 Pensacola Open 26 Robert Wrenn 1987 Buick Open 26 Chip Beck 1988 USF&G; Classic 26 John Huston 1992 Disney World Classic

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