Brooks Saves the Babble, Lets Play Do the Talking

He is a part-time chef who likes to create gourmet dishes and just look what Mark Brooks cooked up. . . .

May we present the PGA Championship?

The 35-year-old Texan, who won his first major golf title Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club, couldn’t have ordered a better way to do it--a birdie on the 72nd hole to catch Kenny Perry and another birdie on the first playoff hole to beat him.

The typically reserved Brooks had his usual hard time expressing his feelings.

“Well, the end was just kind of a fairy-tale deal,” he said finally.

Sure enough. Clearly it was grim for Perry. He was leading by two shots with one hole to play, but Brooks sneaked into a playoff when Perry bogeyed the 18th. As it turned out, he was only warming up for the biggest bogey of the day.

It was a big boo-boo, all right. Perry got caught watching TV.

He sat in the television booth while Brooks finished, instead of going to the driving range to hit balls and stay ready.

“Maybe I let my mind wander,” Perry said. “I learned a good lesson. I guess it’s a hard one.”

Brooks learned that to win the PGA, you need to shoot a closing-round 70 for an 11-under-par total of 277 and be at least one shot better in a playoff.

Steve Elkington and Tommy Tolles tied for third, one shot behind, and there was a three-way tie for fifth among Justin Leonard, Vijay Singh and Jesper Parnevik.

But no one could beat Brooks, a 14-year professional grinder, a four-time graduate of qualifying school and now a major champion.

The PGA is his third victory this year--the others were the Bob Hope and Houston--and his $430,000 winner’s check is the largest of his career.

But if nothing else, Brooks’ first big professional triumph was a lesson in perseverance.

Two shots behind 54-hole leader Russ Cochran as the day began, Brooks took a one-shot lead with a birdie on the eighth hole, then bogeyed three of the first five holes on the back side to fall three shots behind.

Perry had moved to 12 under with successive birdies from No. 11-13, and his lead was two shots when he stepped up to the 18th tee. That silver PGA trophy was as good as postmarked for home back in Franklin, Ky.

Oh, but that 18th hole is going to bother Perry for a very long time. It’s a simple 540-yard par five that everybody from here to Lexington can birdie.

On Sunday, it was the second-easiest hole on the course, with three eagles, 35 birdies, 33 pars and only 10 bogeys.

Perry had one of them, and it just so happened that it came on the last hole of regulation when a par would have been enough to win.

All those Kentucky fans were waiting to welcome him up the 18th fairway, but Perry hooked his tee shot into deep rough.

“I swung too hard I guess,” he said. “I got too excited.”

He wound up two-putting for a bogey six, then took a seat in the TV booth to witness his impending demise.

That didn’t happen until Elkington and Singh failed to tie when they were looking for birdies on No. 18.

Elkington hit a three-wood for his second shot and the ball plugged in the bunker in front of the green. He said it was the first plugged lie he had seen all week.

“Maybe the Kentucky gods got me there,” he said.

Elkington had to play a conservative shot out of the sand and left it 12 feet short of the hole. He two-putted from there for par, pulling the first putt a foot past.

So that took care of Elkington.

Singh drove left into a bunker, then hit a three-iron to the left of the green in the rough. From there, his pitch shot went over the green.

Singh’s bogey six took care of him.

Some of the other contenders were already long gone. Phil Mickelson double-bogeyed No. 13 for the second day in a row and fell to a 72. After playing the first two rounds in 10 under, Mickelson played the last two in two over to finish tied for eighth at 280.

Cochran followed his course-record 65 of Saturday with a 77 and fell from the lead to a tie for 17th.

Perry sat in front of the TV monitor, confident that somebody would force a playoff with a birdie on No. 18.

Brooks was the only one left with a chance.

His distance to the hole on his second shot was 235 yards, but he was in between clubs and he hit his four-wood. The ball didn’t carry the bunker. Brooks calmly knocked the ball out of the sand to within 3 1/2 feet, rolled in the birdie putt and the playoff was on.

Perry climbed down out of the booth and wanted to hit some balls to warm up, but there wasn’t time, so he got into a golf cart and rode back to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole.

He decided to be aggressive and hit a driver, but the ball went left and wound up in the rough, just short of a bunker. The grass caught the club head and pulled the ball left on Perry’s second shot, and his third shot stayed left and in the rough to the left of his green.

Brooks was on the green in two. His second shot landed on the right side of the large green with the hump in the middle.

With Perry still trying to find the green, Brooks was a lag putt over the hill from his major title. He simply rolled the ball to within five feet, then knocked it in from there.

Perry put on his best face.

“I hated that I lost in the playoff,” he said. “I hate it for all the fans here in Kentucky. But I tried my best and I just came up a little short.”

The winner didn’t act a lot different than the loser. Sure, it was his seventh tournament title and his third this year, which not only puts him into the lead on the money list, but also makes him the top choice for player of the year.

But Brooks isn’t the type who lets his emotions run rampant. In fact, he got a bit testy when he was asked why he didn’t seem very happy about his victory.

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” he snapped. “I was taught a long time ago that if you drop your guard, then the other guy knows what’s going on. So I try not to drop my guard.”

It was a strange reaction from a champion, but it probably doesn’t matter. After four days and 73 holes, if he wanted to dig a flower bed with his four-wood to celebrate, who cares?

Brooks got into the victory circle with six consecutive birdies on Thursday, four in a row on Friday, an eagle on Saturday and birdies on the last two holes he played Sunday.

That ought to be good enough for anyone.

“I don’t know, it’s just kind of the way I do it,” Brooks said. “I just keep plodding along.”

It was a pretty good way to win a race.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

HOW THEY FINISHED

Final scores and relation to par for the 78th PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

* Mark Brooks: 68-70-69-70--277 -11

Kenny Perry: 66-72-71-68--277 -11

Tommy Tolles: 69-71-71-67--278 -10

Steve Elkington: 67-74-67-70--278 -10

Justin Leonard: 71-66-72-70--279 -9

Jesper Parnevik: 73-67-69-70--279 -9

Vijay Singh: 69-69-69-72--279 -9

Frank Nobilo: 69-72-71-68--280 -8

Per Johansson: 73-72-66-69--280 -8

Larry Mize: 71-70-69-70--280 -8

Lee Janzen: 68-71-71-70--280 -8

Nick Price: 68-71-69-72--280 -8

Phil Mickelson: 67-67-74-72--280 -8

*--won playoff

* RUNNING OUT OF TIME: Tom Watson once again failed to win the PGA Championship but for a while it looked like he might make a serious run at the elusive title. C10.

* COMPLETE RESULTS: C10

THE FINAL SCORES

Final scores, money earnings and relation to par for the 78th PGA Championship on the 7,144-yard, par-72 Valhalla Golf Club course in Louisville, Ky.

277 (-11)--$430,000

* Mark Brooks: 68-70-69-70

277 (-11)--$260,000

Kenny Perry: 66-72-71-68

278 (-10)--$140,000

Tommy Tolles: 69-71-71-67

Steve Elkington: 67-74-67-70

279 (-9)--$86,667

Justin Leonard: 71-66-72-70

Jesper Parnevik: 73-67-69-70

Vijay Singh: 69-69-69-72

280 (-8)--$57,500

Frank Nobilo: 69-72-71-68

Per Johansson: 73-72-66-69

Larry Mize: 71-70-69-70

Lee Janzen: 68-71-71-70

Nick Price: 68-71-69-72

Phil Mickelson: 67-67-74-72

281 (-7)--$39,000

Joey Sindelar: 73-72-69-67

Tom Lehman: 71-71-69-70

Mike Brisky: 71-69-69-72

282 (-6)--$27,286

D.A. Weibring: 71-73-71-67

Tom Watson: 69-71-73-69

Brad Faxon: 72-68-73-69

Jim Furyk: 70-70-73-69

David Edwards: 69-71-72-70

Greg Norman: 68-72-69-73

Russ Cochran: 68-72-65-77

283 (-5)--$21,500

Emlyn Aubrey: 69-74-72-68

Miguel Jimenez: 71-71-71-70

284 (-4)--$18,000

Steve Stricker: 73-72-72-67

Fred Funk: 73-69-73-69

Mark O’Meara: 71-70-74-69

Corey Pavin: 71-74-70-69

Curtis Strange: 73-70-68-73

285 (-3)--$13,000

Paul Azinger: 70-75-71-69

Michael Bradley: 73-72-70-70

Patrick Burke: 71-72-69-73

Tim Herron: 71-73-68-73

Jay Haas: 72-71-69-73

286 (-2)--$9,050

Ian Woosnam: 68-72-75-71

Fuzzy Zoeller: 76-67-72-71

Mark Calcavecchia: 70-74-70-72

David Ogrin: 75-70-68-73

Rocco Mediate: 71-72-67-76

287 (-1)--$7,375

Fred Couples: 74-68-74-71

David Duval: 74-69-73-71

Gil Morgan: 72-72-72-71

Jeff Sluman: 72-72-72-71

John Morse: 74-69-72-72

Glen Day: 72-73-70-72

288 (E)--$6,000

John Cook: 69-75-74-70

Paul Stankowski: 70-75-71-72

Phil Blackmar: 71-74-71-72

Scott McCarron: 69-72-74-73

Brian Watts: 70-71-71-76

289 (+1)--$4,717

John Adams: 72-71-75-71

Bob Boyd: 71-71-75-72

Costantino Rocca: 72-72-73-72

Jim Gallagher: 73-70-74-72

Lee Rinker: 73-71-73-72

Alexander Cejka: 71-74-72-72

Neal Lancaster: 71-72-73-73

Billy Mayfair: 71-73-71-74

Tommy Nakajima: 73-72-69-75

290 (+2)--$4,069

Ernie Els: 74-68-79-69

Mark Wiebe: 73-72-75-70

Scott Hoch: 72-72-74-72

Dan Forsman: 76-69-71-74

291 (+3)--$3,913

Wayne Grady: 74-67-78-72

Craig Parry: 72-73-75-71

Nick Faldo: 69-75-74-73

Willie Wood: 70-75-71-75

292 (+4)--$3,813

Woody Austin: 70-74-75-73

Ben Crenshaw: 74-71-73-74

Nolan Henke: 72-70-75-75

Payne Stewart: 73-70-73-76

293 (+5)--$3,738

Paul Goydos: 71-73-77-72

Jeff Maggert: 73-70-76-74

294 (+6)--$3,700

Marco Dawson: 76-69-75-74

295 (+7)--$3,675

Bernhard Langer: 73-72-78-72

296 (+8)--$3,650

Joel Edwards: 68-76-75-77--296 +8

297 (+9)--$3,613

Satoshi Higashi: 72-72-80-73

Stu Ingraham: 73-72-75-77

298 (+10)--$3,563

John Reeves: 74-71-79-74

Howard Clark: 73-72-75-78

*-won on first hole of sudden-death playoff