John Turk - "Big Break II" Contestant

52

Melbourne, Fla.

Tacoma, Wash.

Golf professional, retired USAF fighter pilot

Single/1

The Majors Golf Club, Baytree National Golf Links

N/A

Fishing, boating, restoring old cars

Colonel

Both John and his father flew jets for the U.S. Air Force. John began playing golf at age 12 and, later in life, won both the Air Force and U.S. Armed Forces Golf Championships in 1993.

After military service, he worked as a corporate pilot and began seriously practicing his golf. Since retiring, his new mission in life is to try to replace the feeling of flying at more than twice the speed of sound with the competition of golf. But bad luck and injury in the past have prevented him from realizing success, which prompted his friends to begin calling him O.S.S., or One Shot Short.

A vintage car enthusiast, he sold a completely refurbished 1967 Corvette to earn up-front money to finance his foray into the professional golf ranks. He has reached as far as earning conditional status on the 2002 European Senior Tour, but now says he is healthy enough to compete with the "flat bellies."

John feels like he's already a winner by being chosen to compete on "The Big Break II", but still wants to win it all. Having flown fighter jets, he says he should have a mental edge over his competitors.

Source: The Golf Channel

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