Marissa Cook with some of her trophies.

Granite City golfer looks
for tougher competition

Marissa Cook's start in golf five years ago certainly was very modest. It involved hitting a tennis ball in her front yard with a cut-down golf club.

But, the 11-year-old, the Granite City, IL., sixth grader is a real golfer now. And, she's planning to move into competition with much older players.

Next spring, Marissa will move into the Tour Division of the Junior PGA, which is for kids 14-to-18.

She currently is ranked No. 1 in the 8-to-11 age classification by the Plantation Junior Golf Tour. That's a leading winter tour for junior golfers.

This fall, Marissa also got her first hole-in-one. She used a 9-iron on the 109-yard hole at the Legacy Golf Course in Granite City.

"I couldn't see the ball go into the hole because it went over a bunker sand trap. But, I think it hit about 10 yards in front of the hole and rolled right in," she said.

Since she started tournament golf at age 8, Marissa has entered 56 junior golf tournaments and has won 39 of them. She won her first meet at 8 when she shot 70 for 9 holes.

As a 10-year-old, she earned medalist honors in the 8-to-11 age class--among both boys and girls--in a tournament at the Rail Golf Club in Springfield, IL. She shot a 77-73 and also got her first eagle (that's two strokes under par on a hole).

Her days of competing in 9-hole tournaments are pretty much over. As she moves up to compete with older players, the tournaments involve playing 18 holes for each round.

Asked about the biggest difference between the 9- and 18-hole tournaments, she said, "The distance and the walk."

As the players get older, the courses they play involve holes that are longer and, of course, they also have to walk much farther each round.

But, she's getting stronger and hitting the ball farther. She's now 5'9" tall and last spring she won a longest drive competition with a drive of over 250 yards. "And, it was uphill and into the wind," she added.

One problem with her success is that none of her girl friends want to play golf with her. Most of her golfing partners are boys. She plays most often with Adam Spiroff, a 14-year-old who is her best girl friend's brother.

He made the high school varsity golf team as a freshman.

Also, Marissa said her family plans to move to Edwardsville when it's time for her to enter high school. The reason: Edwardsville High School has a "really good golf team," she said.

She's now an honor student at Holy Family Elementary School in Granite City. She plays volleyball and basketball at school and competes in a softball league.

Marissa would like to be a professional golfer after school. Her favorite women's pro is Karrie Webb. Asked why she likes Webb, Marissa said, "I guess it's because of her short game."

Marissa admits that her driving and long irons are the strength of her game now. As for putting, she said, "It's not that great, but it's fair." Concerning her play from sand traps, she thinks she's "pretty good."

Her overall favorite golfer is Tiger Woods. She got a chance to see him recently at the World Championship of Golf. That's the tournament that was planned for St. Louis but was canceled after the Sept. 11 disaster in New York.

"I got to see him during a practice round," Marissa said.

Marissa played three tournaments during September, placing first in the 8-to-11-age grouping in each one. She also won her first tournament in October. All of them were 36-hole tournaments.

Last summer, she was invited to the Junior World Golf Tournament in San Diego, CA. There were players from all over the world. The champion was from Japan. Marissa finished 22nd by shooting 69-71 on a par 62 course.

She practices about three times a week. She is being coached by PGA pro Jim Knott at the Far Oaks Golf Course in Caseyville, IL. She also considers that course her favorite.

Asked why she likes Far Oaks, Marissa said, "They have the best fairways. The rough is kind of rough and I like that. And the greens are fast; I like that too."