Cook Crumbles, Not Faldo : British Open: Englishman is in tears after rallying on final four holes. American loses lead and chance at his first major.

What was expected to be a walk in the park for England’s Nick Faldo turned into a hazardous journey in the 121st British Open on Sunday at the Muirfield course.

He prevailed at the end to win his third Open championship, but American John Cook will live with the memory that he gave it away.

“Absolutely,” Cook said. “I definitely let one slip away. Not being on the plateau that Faldo is, I have to learn from this. I had a chance to win a major championship and I didn’t.”

Cook, playing one hole ahead of Faldo, lost by one stroke after leading by two shots when he birdied the 16th hole.

Cook shot a one-under-par 70 for his final round, and Faldo won despite a 73 for a 272 total, 12 under.

It seemed that Cook had an automatic birdie at the par-five 17th--he came close to making an eagle--but he had to settle for a par when he three-putted.

Then he bogeyed the 18th hole when he misjudged which club to use on his approach shot.

So instead of winning outright, or at least forcing a playoff, Cook can only conjecture what might have been.

It was an emotionally wrenching experience for Faldo, who has won five major championships, three British Opens and two Masters titles.

There were tears in his eyes when he accepted the championship trophy.

“The first time I cried in joy in this game was in 1987 when I won here,” he said. “I cried when I won the second time at Augusta (1990 Masters) and now here. I am just an emotional little petal.”

Faldo is not usually emotional and has been criticized in the United Kingdom for his aloof, single-minded, grinding approach to the game.

And he had to grind after getting bogeys at the 11th, 13th and 14th holes, a four-shot lead at the start of the round gone with the wind from the nearby Firth of Forth.

“I said to myself, ‘You’re stupid, what are you doing?’ ” Faldo said. “Then, going to the 15th hole, I said, to myself, ‘You have to play the best four holes of your life.’ ”

He responded to the challenge with birdies at the 15th and 17 holes, and, after Cook bogeyed the 18th, Faldo needed only a par to win.

His three-iron to the green on the par-four, 448-yard finishing hole went past the pin and to the edge of the rough.

Faldo was 18 feet from the cup and his putt trickled downhill while he urged it on. It stopped a foot away from the cup and he tapped it in for the championship.

“The most pressure was really 18,” Faldo said. “If you muck it, you have a playoff. It would have been unimaginable. The pressure is right there in front of you to win.”

Cook was playing in only his second British Open. He missed the cut in 1980.

The 34-year-old pro from Rancho Mirage ran the gamut of emotions.

“I was alive, I was dead, I was really alive and then pretty much dead,” he said.

He was referring initially to his double bogey at the par-five ninth hole that left him four shots behind Faldo.

However, Cook, who has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, began his move on the back nine.

While Faldo was bogeying 11, 13 and 14, Cook was surging. He got birdies at the par-four 12th and 15th holes and dropped in a 20-foot putt for another birdie at the par-three 16th, giving him a momentary two-shot lead.

“I was so excited that I just wanted to get things done,” Cook said. “I go fast anyway, but I might have been going a little too fast. But I was on go and I won’t ever second-guess that.”

Cook’s second shot to the green on the par-five 17th was 30 feet from the cup. It looked as if his putt might drop for an eagle and Cook said he thought he had made it.

However, it slid 2 1/2 half feet past the hole, and Cook missed it coming back.

“I didn’t put a good stroke on it, obviously, but at least it caught the hole. It was not very good,” Cook said.

Cook’s tee shot on No. 18 found the fairway and then he had to deliberate what club he would use for his second shot.

“I had 200 yards to the flag, and that’s usually a comfortable three-iron for me,” he said. “But I had the wind in my face and I decided to hit a two-iron. As soon as I hit the ball I knew it was too much club. I should have given it a little more thought.”

His ball was actually more to the right than long. It landed in the rough, near a fence crowded with spectators. He got a drop from the fence, then pitched onto the green eight feet from the hole.

Cook’s putt for a par hung on the edge of the cup and he got his bogey, opening the door for Faldo to win with a par at the 18th.

Even though he was disappointed, Cook said it was a learning experience.

“Hopefully, this will help me to reach the next plateau,” he said. “The next time in this major I won’t make the same mistakes I did.”

Steve Pate, the former UCLA star player who was tied with Cook, four shots behind Faldo, at the start of the round, didn’t challenge after the 13th hole.

Playing with Faldo, Pate was 10 under for the tournament through 13 holes, then got a bogey at No. 14 and a double bogey at No. 15.

He finished fourth, as Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain had a 68 in the final round and finished third with a 72-hole score of 274, two shots behind Faldo and one behind Cook.

So Faldo prevailed again in a major championship. He has also benefited from lapses by other players to win major events.

Scott Hoch missed a two-foot putt on the first playoff hole against Faldo in the 1989 Masters that would have given him the championship.

Raymond Floyd sprayed a shot into the water on the second playoff hole of the Masters in 1990 and Faldo went on to win.

Moreover, at Muirfield, in the 1987 British Open, Paul Azinger had a one-stroke lead over Faldo going to the 17th hole in the final round. Azinger bogeyed the last two holes and Faldo won by grinding out 18 consecutive pars.

Now, Cook’s lapse has worked in Faldo’s favor.

Asked if some of his victories in major tournaments are tainted, Faldo said:

“No, it’s a 72-hole event. You’re under competitive pressure for 72 holes and they all count.”

Nonetheless, Faldo commiserated with Cook.

“I feel sympathy for John Cook. It’s a wonderful thing about golf. We play fair and square, and you always do feel sorry for the other guy,” he said. “I hate to see someone up there and then blow the tournament. You just don’t want it to happen to you.”

It seldom does for Faldo in a major.

British Open Notes

Nick Faldo won about $190,000. . . . It rained intermittently during the final round and the wind was also a factor. . . . John Daly bowed out of the Open with a 2-hour 25-minute final round of 75, in last place at 14-over 298. Even though he was playing with a marker, he didn’t set a speed record. “What kept him?” asked George Wilson, the assistant secretary of the Royal and Ancient, the British counterpart to the USGA. “In 1978, Andy Bean went off in the first match with a marker and completed the course in under two hours.”