A former McIntosh golf standout

is hitting the links around the world in 2004.

Johan Kok (pronounced "coke")

has qualified for the European PGA Tour after three pressure-filled rounds

of competition in England and Spain during October and November. He is

looking forward to a 2004 schedule of about 35 tournaments on three continents

as he attempts to make his way up the professional ranks.

The 23-year-old native South

African came to Peachtree City with his family at the age of 11. When

he graduated from McIntosh in 1998, he finished a high school career that

included an individual state championship as a sophomore and region titles

as a junior and senior, ranking in the state's top five. The Chiefs

won their region and finished in the top five in the state as a team each

of those years as well.

Kok went on to the University

of South Carolina, where he was an all-Southeastern Conference selection

one year and made the Academic All-SEC team four years. A medical redshirt

as a sophomore, he graduated in the spring of 2003.

Keeping busy during the summer,

he played in amateur tournaments so that he would have an opportunity

to qualify for the U.S. Amateur tournament in August. He was successful

in qualifying, although he missed the cut. From there, it was off to Europe

for PGA qualifying school.

As some players do, Kok considered

going through qualifying school in Europe and the U.S. simultaneously,

which is a grueling process. But he decided that if he made it through

the first stage in Europe successfully, he would stay there. "I think

it's a good learning ground," he said of the European PGA Tour.

There are three stage to qualifying

school, each consisting of a tournament. The final stage is six rounds.

The process began in October

in England, where 160 players competed and the top 29 advanced. Kok finished

fifth. After a layoff of nearly a month, he played the second stage in

Spain and came in 27th, as the top 33 out of 90 players moved on to the

final stage. The second stage was particularly difficult, Kok said, with

most of the players being experienced professionals trying to get back

on the tour.

The final stage was the very

next week, also in Spain, and Kok finished 42nd out of 170. The top 70

received conditional European PGA Tour status and full Challenge Tour

status. The Challenge Tour is just a step below the main tour in Europe,

similar to the Nationwide Tour in the United States.

Kok will play about seven European

PGA Tour events and about 25 Challenge events. He will also try to qualify

for the British Open, and could squeeze in an event or two in the United

States, but he doesn't plan to.

Playing overseas about six

weeks at a time, he plans to spend his off time back in Peachtree City.

His parents, Amor and Andre, still live here, and he has an older sister

(Leane) in Atlanta and a younger brother (Wickus) in college at Auburn.

Kok leaves this week for South

Africa, where he will spend some time with extended family over the holidays

and gear up for the 2004 season. He is playing in the South African Open,

an event cosanctioned with the European PGA Tour, in the middle of January.

Not all events on this tour

are in Europe, especially during the cold weather months, and Kok's

first official tour event is in February in Costa Rica. From there, his

schedule includes stops in Guatemala, Mexico, Zambia, Madeira, Qatar and

Morocco before actually getting