Brooks Goes From 84 to 67 at Pebble : Golf: He bounces back from final-round disaster at U.S. Open and trails Frost by one shot.

Mark Brooks won the Pebble Beach Invitational, a non-tour event, a year ago. And he was in good form again here Thursday in the opening round of the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Brooks shot a 67, five under par, at Pebble Beach and trailed David Frost by a stroke.

But Brooks could still be haunted by a round that he played here last June, in the final round of the U.S. Open.

Brooks was in contention to win his first major championship. He was one shot from the lead after three rounds.

Then, on a severely windy day, Brooks’ game was blown away. He shot an 84 , spiraling down the leader board to 44th place.

“I have paid pretty heavy dues here,” Brooks said. “It was just one of those days that got out of control.

“This isn’t the same golf course that we played then. It was as close (then) to unplayable as I’ve seen. There have been only a few days in the last 15 years where the best players in the world couldn’t play golf shots.

“To put it in perspective, I didn’t make that many physical errors (in the Open). I made mental errors because I didn’t adjust to the conditions.”

The conditions Thursday were much more favorable.

Brooks and Frost had early tee times at Pebble Beach on an overcast, but relatively mild day. The wind wasn’t a factor until they reached the 18th hole.

Frost, a South African who lives in Dallas and plays the PGA Tour, said, “If there ever was a nice day at Pebble, this was it.”

Frost had seven birdies and a bogey in his round of 66 and estimated that he took only 25 putts.

His round helped to erase the memory of his final round of the Phoenix Open last Sunday. He was one shot from the lead after three rounds before shooting a 78 and tying for 22nd.

Mark O’Meara, the defending champion, who has won the Pebble Beach event four times, stumbled badly on the first hole at Poppy Hills.

His tee shot on the par-four, 413-yard hole found a bush and he wound up with a triple bogey.

O’Meara recovered, shooting a one-under-par 71.

Davis Love III, who won the opening event of the tour, the Tournament of Champions at La Costa, shot a 68 at Poppy Hills.

Mike Utley and Bob Lohr also had 68s at Poppy Hills, a score that was matched by Australians Steve Elkington and Brett Ogle and Sam Randolph, a former USC standout, at Pebble Beach.

Tom Kite, the defending U.S. Open champion, shot a par-72 at Poppy Hills.

Frost won twice on the tour last year and has six career victories. Those don’t include his first-place finishes in foreign events.

He has been especially successful in the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge in his native South Africa, which he won in 1989, 1990 and 1992.

Frost said he has not played particularly well on the Monterey Peninsula courses. His best finish was fifth in 1990.

“Spyglass is a long, enduring course for me,” said Frost, who will play today at Poppy Hills before tackling Spyglass Hill on Saturday.

As expected, Spyglass proved to be the toughest test for the pros on Thursday, when no one was able to shoot better than 70. At that number were two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange and Larry Mize, the 1987 Masters winner.

Brooks had a bogey-free round with five birdies and said it had been an advantage to play early.

“The later you play, the more you have to deal with heel prints on the green,” he said.

Brooks, who lives in Ft. Worth, has three tour victories in a career that began in 1984.

Like Frost, he said that Spyglass is the most difficult of the three courses and that Poppy Hills is not easy, although there are still a lot of birdie possibilities.

As for the Pebble Beach course, it was much kinder to him on Thursday than it was last June.

Golf Notes

In the pro-am, Perry Moss and Ken Bowden were tied for the lead with John Inman and Stan Smith, the tennis pro, with a net 62, 10 under par. Jack Lemmon, who hasn’t made the pro-am cut in 25 years, is at 69 with partner Peter Jacobsen. . . . John Daly, trying to make a comeback after an alcohol-rehabilitation program, shot a 74.

* Scores

Player Score David Frost 33-33--66 Mark Brooks 33-34--67 Stan Utley 33-35--68 Davis Love III 35-33--68 Bob Lohr 36-32--68 Steve Elkington 35-33--68 Sam Randolph 34-34--68 Brett Ogle 33-35--68 Keith Clearwater 36-33--69 Gil Morgan 34-35--69 Robert Friend 33-36--69 Fuzzy Zoeller 36-33--69 Greg Cesario 35-34--69 Joey Sindelar 36-33--69 Greg Twiggs 34-35--69 Fred Funk 34-35--69

*OTHERS

*

Player Score John Cook 33-37--70 Curtis Strange 37-33--70 Tom Watson 37-34--71 Mark O’Meara 36-35--71 Tom Kite 35-37--72 Paul Azinger 37-35--72 Jack Nicklaus 37-36--73 John Daly 38-36--74