Cook breaks tournament record, wins Montreal Championship by three

John Cook won the Montreal Championship for his third Champions Tour title of the year, closing with a 6-under 66 on Sunday for a tournament-record 21-under 195 total.

Cook, the runner-up last year at Fontainebleau Golf Club, beat Taiwan's Chien-soon Lu (70) by three strokes. Joey Sindelar (68) was third at 17 under, and Bill Glasson (64), Corey Pavin (67) and Dan Forsman (68) were another stroke back. Canadian Rod Spittle broke the course record with a 62 to finish at 15 under.

"I thought 20 would have a good chance," Cook said. "I got off to a great start and that kind of let me then relax a little bit and go ahead and free swing it because 20 was my number that I thought was going to be close, have a chance, maybe a playoff, so all day I was thinking that. Once I got to 20, I wanted to get to 21."

Cook also won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii in January and topped Jay Don Blake in a playoff in the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in Florida in April. Cook has eight victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning 11 times on the PGA Tour.

"To win coming from behind and win from being ahead, it's two different animals, really," Cook said. "Mr. Lu did a nice job and he kind of got things going on the back side there and made some beautiful birdies coming down the stretch. He just battled all day and he wasn't giving up."

Spittle, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, began the round in a tie for 49th.

"I expect to win sometimes this year and this is just a great boost of confidence," Spittle said.