Caught in the crossfire of a rebel coup

John Cook runs a golf studio in the international departure area of Terminal One at London's Heathrow Airport. And there is rich irony in the fact that he is expanding the business into Terminal Two next week, when the Moroccan Open will dominate activities on the European Tour.

As it happens, the very mention of Morocco revives horrific memories for Cook, of one of the most amazing stories ever to involve an English golfer. Given that it all happened nearly 28 years ago, he has long since learned to cope. Yet he remains convinced that it destroyed a potentially sparkling tournament career.

The events of July 10th, 1973, on the fine, Robert Trent Jones layout at Skhrirat, remain remarkably clear. Indeed when we spoke, Cook could retrace, without hesitating, every detail of a five-hour period when his life hung in the balance.

It had all started as a highly desirable invitation to Morocco to help celebrate the 42nd birthday of King Hassan II. But it turned into a living hell when an attempted coup by Berber rebels left their leader, General Medbouh, among those killed, along with the Belgian ambassador to Morocco, Marcel Dupret.

Cook recalled: "I was 23 at the time, a former British Youths and English Amateur champion and I had won four golf tournaments as a pro, two in Europe and two in Africa. I was there to play in a pro-am with five other professionals, Angel Gallardo, Jean Garaialde and his brother Bernard, Francesco Cabo and Bernard Piscasso.

"We were being paid quite handsomely and were each to receive a very expensive wristwatch as a bonus. It seemed a wonderful opportunity for a player of my age, even the idea of meeting Medbouh, the king's right-hand man, on the first tee.

"After the exhibition, in which, incidentally, I played very nicely to score a two-under-par 70, we were all to come to the palace and for a buffet lunch with the king. Unbeknown to us, however, Medbouh had decided that if the king didn't hand over the country to him and his Berber rebels on that day, all of the 1,000 guests would be killed. We were to be central figures in an attempted coup.

"When we came in and were walking around the palace I began to feel a little thirsty and all they had was these big milk churns of tea. And I remembered there was a Coca Cola stand out by the first tee, so I decided to go there and get one.

"On the way back, I noticed that a lorry loads of soldiers had arrived and positioned themselves outside the palace. Then they started shooting what I thought were blanks, a bit like the 21-gun salute that is accorded to our queen. The noise was deafening but innocently I went and walked among them. Looking back now I can't believe I did it.

"Anyway, I remember walking through a doorway into the outer area of the palace when suddenly a shell came right through the wall, just above my head, covering me in dust. This was no 21-gun salute but something very sinister.

"With that, soldiers broke down the door and ran forward with fixed bayonets shouting in a language I couldn't understand. Then I was ordered outside where I saw a man beside a Volvo car, covered in blood and obviously dead. Good God!, what's happening, I thought. "By this stage, when I realised we had all been taken captive, the only thing I could think to do was to shout `Angleterre', `No understand' and things like that. I had lost contact with the other golfers.

"Next thing we were lying on an iceplant bed, completely surrounded by soldiers with guns and bayonets at the ready, ordering us to put our hands behind our back. Petrified, I tried to remain in that position but my left arm fell down by my side, whereupon my thumb was smashed with a rifle butt, breaking the thumb and damaging the tendons and ligaments."

Cook was so frightened that it was some time later before he became aware of his injury which, as it happened, kept him out of the game for about two and a half months, though there were no long-term effects. Still, it happened in the middle of a tournament season and as someone who had to pre-qualify, it was clearly something he could have done without.

Meanwhile, in the besieged, Moroccan palace, there was the horror of seeing about 10 teenage caddies from the pro-am, being shot dead. "Later, a man lying beside me said we were all going to face a firing squad," Cook went on. "And I remember thinking how my golfing career was only starting. And that I would never get the chance to win the Open. And wondering if I would feel the bullet hitting me. And what would my parents think.

"Suddenly in those blackest moments, a helicopter hovered overhead and the soldiers started firing at it. Then we all started running for the palace, whereupon the soldiers turned their fire on us, indiscriminately. That's when most people were killed or injured. Some were sprawled on the ground with limbs missing.

"I found myself being swept along until I reached a kitchen where I hid in a big, empty stewpot, but it was only a temporary respite. Soon, we were all herded outside again. A man was pushed on top of me and I could see that his leg was blown off below the knee. And he must have been lying on me for about an hour and a half before he eventually died."

After what seemed an eternity, one of the junior officers checking the prisoners recognised King Hassan who told the rebels that their leader was dead and that they had been tricked into this dreadful mess. Gradually, soldiers loyal to the king regained control of the situation.

It was then that Cook saw his fellow professionals for the first time since they had left the golf course and discovered that he was the only one who had sustained a significant injury. "In a sort of dream, we left all of our belongings behind us, including our golf clubs," he said. "Then we were whisked back to our hotel where we had to stay for three or four days.

"Probably the worst thing was that, knowing all of this would be reported in the media, I asked a so-called friend of mine to inform my parents that I was all right. But he never made the call, which meant that with all the phone lines completely jammed, they were convinced I was dead.

"When it was all over and I had returned to England, I found I could hit the ball as good as ever, but I never regained my old form. I had terrible nightmares and it was some time before I could talk about my ordeal. And on the golf course, my concentration was never as good, mainly because I kept thinking of other things, I was so happy to be alive. So, when I was 26, I quit tournament golf, which was a shame really."

Has he ever been back to Morocco since then? "Never," he replied with chilling emphasis. "Gary Player, who is a friend of mine, told me a couple of years later that he had been offered a lot of money to play there. `Do you need the money,' I asked him. `No,' he replied. `Then don't go there. It might never happen again, but it's an odd place'."

Then, with a whimsical look, Cook concluded: "And you know, I never heard from the king. And I never got the watch."