Eagle Helps Cook Take Lead at Colonial

Maybe the late eagle will prove to be just what John Cook needed to turn around his struggling season.

The impressive shot gave Cook the first-round lead Thursday in the Colonial, where his four-under-par 66 put him a stroke ahead of a group of eight players.

Cook holed a nine-iron shot from 127 yards for an eagle two on his 15th hole, the 393-yard sixth at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.That gave him sole possession of the lead, which he protected by getting up and down for par from off the fringe on the final hole.

“It was 12 feet short and then spun toward the hole. It kind of went in like a putt,” Cook said of the eagle. “From what I’ve been seeing this year, I could see that thing bounce over the green.”

Keith Clearwater, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, David Toms, Len Mattiace, David Frost, Mike Weir and Greg Kraft all shot 67s. In all, 25 players broke par.

Notes

The U.S. Golf Assn. will allow a disabled Indiana golfer to use a walker during a local qualifying round for the U.S. Open on Monday at South Bend, Ind. Ford Olinger, who unsuccessfully sued the governing body for the right to ride a cart during local qualifying, said the USGA has given him permission to use a wheeled device called a Lunar Swedish Rollator to steady his gait and relieve pressure on his back as he walks the course at South Bend Country Club.