Tag: Ben Cook

PGA Championship: The potentially life-changing week for low-PGA club pro Ben Cook

Ben Cook impressed Webb Simpson and his caddie Paul Tesori with his play and has ambitions of making the PGA Tour.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – One putt. Eight feet. To play the weekend at the 103rd PGA Championship.

PGA teaching pro Ben Cook sank it as if it was just another putt on the practice green at Yankee Springs Golf Course in Wayland, Michigan, where he is PGA Director of Instruction.

“It is weird to think that it came down to the last putt on the last hole that I almost three-putted to miss the cut,” he said. “But I made it thankfully and then without that, it would have – none of this would have happened.”

That included a third-round pairing with former major winner Webb Simpson, and shooting a sparkling 3-under 69 on ‘moving day’ at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. As Simpson and his caddie, Paul Tesori, walked off the green, Tesori said of Cook, 27, “How does he lose any tournament he plays in? He should be out here with us.”

Tesori, who played one year on the Tour before becoming a caddie, is a student of the game and he went one better at the end of the round, and let Cook know how impressed he was with his performance.

“Paul after the round was like, ‘Hey, use this as a springboard and see if you can build on that momentum that you created this week and see if you can get to the next level,’ which was really nice,” Cook said. “They are hoping to see me out here on a more regular basis, which is great.”

Ben Cook reacts on the first green during the second round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course on May 21, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Cook, who rocked a hat with the word “Bad” on the front, made four birdies in the final round en route to shooting 2-over 74 and a 72-hole total of 4-over 292. It earned him low PGA club pro honors after being one of the 20 club pros to qualify for the championship. He earned a berth in the field for finishing third in the PGA Professional Championship.

“It’s always something I’ve strived to do the last couple years and now that I’ve made the cut and was low club pro this year, it’s definitely a goal achieved, along with making the cut,” said Cook, who missed the cut in the 2019 and 2020 PGA. “Very happy.”

Cook has bigger ambitions in the pro game. He missed the cut at the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in September, currently has status on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and has a date at U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying. Making the cut at the PGA Championship allows him to skip to the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School later this year.

“If I finish Top-10 on the Order of Merit or their points list, I’ll get to go to final stage of Q-School, get a card. Depending on how you play, you get better status,” he explained.

Of competing on PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Cook said, “It’s a little brotherhood, if you will, of everybody kind of splitting costs and going to dinners together. It’s a blast,” he said.

So was an unforgettable week at the 103rd PGA Championship.

[vertical-gallery id=778104757]

PGA Championship: These two club pros beat DJ, JT and X-Man — and will play the weekend

Brad Marek and Ben Cook, two of 20 PGA teaching professionals in the field at the PGA Championship, made their first cut on the PGA Tour.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – While Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele were sent packing from the 103rd PGA Championship, PGA teaching professionals Brad Marek (pictured above) and Ben Cook survived the 36-hole cut at the Old Course at Kiawah Island Resort.

“First PGA Tour event, to make the cut on this golf course is pretty much a dream come true,” Marek said.

The 37-year-old teaching pro from the Northern California PGA Section posted a 1-over 73 Friday and 2-over 146 for the championship (T-32). Cook, 27, PGA Director of Instruction at Yankee Springs Golf Course, Wayland, Michigan, was leaking oil on the closing stretch of the Pete Dye layout, but managed to par the final two holes to make the cut on the number (72-77—149) for the first time in three appearances.

“It’s been a cool week,” Cook said. “I’m out here on the putting green hitting putts next to my heroes, and I have a great support team here. I feel very blessed.”

Marek, who played college golf at Indiana, competed professionally for nine years on a variety of tours, winning 15 times in that span, including a couple of times on the Dakotas Tour.

“I chased mini-tours nine or 10 years after college, always with the goal of trying to get out here. Obviously didn’t attain that via the regular route, but as soon as I was done playing, I knew I wanted to be a part of the PGA for the opportunities like this on the playing side,” he said.

[vertical-gallery id=778104757]

Marek, who tied for eighth at his first PGA Professional Championship to earn a spot in this week’s field, runs his own junior golf academy out of Corica Park in Alameda, Calif., for players with aspirations of playing college golf.

“Everybody in that has a goal of trying to move up to the next level in terms of their golf,” he said.

What could provide greater inspiration to his students than to see their coach holding his own with the best players on the planet on one of the toughest courses on the planet. Marek opened with 73 on Thursday, and began his second round with two birdies, including rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe at No. 10. The course toughened beginning at 14 when the wind flipped into his face.

“You just know for the next nine holes, you’re just holding on, trying to keep your head above water and hopefully get a little bit of reprieve 6 through 9,” he said.

He made a “miracle bogey” on 18, and then pitched in at 2 for birdie.

Said Marek, who ranks second in Strokes Gained: Around the green through two rounds: “It was a really good shot but did not expect that to go in.”

Nor did he expect to drain a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 9, his final hole of the day. (He ranks ninth in SG: Putting.)

“It was getting really dark, and I was just trying to get it out there and just dribble it down the hill so I had a kick-in,” he said, “and I still can’t believe that thing went in.”

Speaking as much for Cook as for himself, Marek explained why it was important for two of the 20 club professionals in the field to make the cut.

“Any time one of us can make the cut, I think it’s really good for,” Marek said. “I think there used to be 25 spots in this and it got reduced to 20, so I feel like any time a couple of us can make the cut and represent the PGA well, I think that bodes well for the organization as a whole and just kind of shows the type of players that are at the top level of the PGA of America.”