Cook vaults Frost for Mitsubishi title

KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii » John Cook emerged from a blur of birdies and spectacular Hawaiian settings Sunday to win his second Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in two years.

Cook birdied his final three holes to catch and ultimately beat David Frost on the second playoff hole, in front of whales and a spectacular ocean sunset at Hualalai Golf Club.

Frost had led for the first 53 holes of the Champions Tour season-opening event, after carding consecutive 65s. Cook came into the final round as his closest pursuer, two back.

Most of the birdies belonged to others until the last group got to the final hole of regulation. Frost was still clinging to a one-shot advantage over Cook, who had birdied all four par-5s but nothing else.

"He is just really good and he’s played really well, especially the last few months of last year," Cook said of Frost. "He’s won a lot of tournaments all over the world. He hit some beautiful golf shots today and didn’t get much out of what he was doing and I hadn’t either. It was kind of a survival day until it got down to the nitty gritty and you knew what you had to do."

Cook cleared his mind, calmed his nerves and was good to the last putt — three times.

He birdied the last hole of regulation from 16 feet to close with a 5-under-par 67 and finally catch Frost at 17 under. Saturday, Cook eagled the 18th from the fairway to cut his deficit in half going into the final day.

Frost missed a 15-foot birdie putt that would have won it and shot 69. It was the first time since the 11th hole Saturday he had shared the lead.

Both birdied the first playoff hole — No. 18 again — from inside 10 feet and went to the par-3 17th on the ocean. Cook hit his tee shot 12 feet from the hole and drained it after Frost missed his 20-foot birdie try.

"I’ve been in that situation before, where you have to keep making birdies," Cook said. "I knew that at 17 obviously a birdie would win, but I figured we’d have a couple pars and go back to 18 and I’d have to make another birdie."

Then Hawaii’s fickle weather, which has been so unpredictable during the PGA’s annual three-week visit, made one last fateful switch.

"When I got to the 17th tee, there was no wind at all, which was unbelievable from 30 minutes earlier when the wind was howling there," Cook recalled. "I hit 6-iron then and it wasn’t enough club, but the wind died down and it was a 7-iron shot this time."

His tee shot rolled by the hole and Frost also hit a solid 7-iron in, but a shaky birdie putt fell short.

"Overall I was in there all day," Frost said. "I hit a lot of great shots, but didn’t capitalize on some of the great shots I hit. He (Cook) played really well, didn’t miss any makeable putts."

He didn’t miss the last, last, last one on the 17th.

"It looked straight when I was behind the hole and when I was up over it," Cook said. "It was a matter of clearing my brain and not letting it get in the way."

He drilled the winning putt into the heart of the hole, as he had less than an hour earlier, when a "huge" 9-footer for par kept his hopes alive.

Cook’s ninth senior victory gives him 20 wins on both tours, which he called "huge for me." The par-5 holes were also huge. He birdied all four Sunday, while Frost got just one. Cook did not have a bogey all week, while Frost was bogey-free in his last 48 holes.

"I feel really good about my game, really optimistic that there will be good things this year," said Frost, who lamented three makeable and missed birdie putts on the back nine. "I’m not too disappointed."

Cook, now 2-6 in senior playoffs, was ecstatic. He collected $309,000 for his first win since 2011 and the victory gets him invited back to this tournament of champions next year.