Cooke took up golf in his mid-fifties , developing a fascination with the game , despite never attaining an extraordinary level of skill . He was driven by his love of golf to devote many of his '' Letter from America '' episodes to the topic , speaking once of the thrill of learning " how much more awesome was the world of golf than the world of politics . " Cooke became close friends with many of the leading golfers of the era : Jack Nicklaus , in the introduction to a compilation of Cooke 's writing on golf , recounts his many notable achievements , but describes him as " most of all ... a friend . " In a broadcast talk on the BBC on 2 May 1997 , referring to the success of the golfer Tiger Woods , Cooke claimed that " There 'll be a spectacular increase in the number of black boys , and I do mean boys , teenagers , who begin to infest the public courses in America . " In 1968 , he was only yards away from Robert F. Kennedy when he was assassinated , witnessing the events that followed
Robert F. Kennedy when he was assassinated
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Alistair Cooke