Brooks Seeking a Major Revival

How best to properly describe the PGA Championship of recent times?

* A) Career-maker.

* B) Career-breaker.

* C) A and B.

How about C?

In the last 11 years, seven players have won their first and last major at the PGA Championship. The exceptions are Payne Stewart, John Daly and Nick Price. Price won it in 1992 and 1994.

For some, it has been the Black Hole of majors--win the tournament and practically disappear from public view. In a sense, that’s what happened to Texan Mark Brooks after he prevailed at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., in 1996 in a playoff against Kenny Perry.

He missed the cuts in all four majors the next year and his best finish at a major since the PGA Championship was a tie for 56th at the PGA in 1998. Brooks went from third on the money list in 1996 ($1.4 million) to 129th last year ($219,570).

But the quixotic nature of golf can strike at any time, causing a reversal of form. For the first time since 1997, Brooks turned in a top-10 finish, shooting a five-under-par 66 to finish the Nissan Open at nine-under 275, in a four-way tie for ninth place.

Among the top-10 finishers, Brooks’ 66 was the best round of the day--along with Scott Hoch--on a blustery Sunday at Riviera Country Club. The strong round earned him $72,800, but beyond the money, the result will pay off in dividends down the road.

Brooks acknowledged the impact of the tournament on his confidence.

“Quite a bit,” he said. “That’s the hardest part. Your confidence is fragile. When you don’t get many good results--when something bad happens, when you hit a bad shot, it’s pretty easy to teeter to the wrong direction. You start doubting what you’re doing.”

Even before Riviera, he started playing better, although it did not look that way on paper. Brooks missed the cut at Phoenix and Pebble Beach and tied for 43rd at the Bob Hope.

“I played better, really, last year and maybe a couple of weeks before the British Open, from July on,” he said. “I haven’t had any good finishes. But I’ve played a lot better.”

Certainly, anyone can have a bad stretch. But how often is a golfer given a four-shot penalty for carrying 15 clubs in his bag, one over the limit? It happened to Brooks last year at the Honda Classic in Coral Springs, Fla.

So, if anything, Brooks was due for some favorable twist of fate. The 37-year-old finally caught a minor break, finishing his round before the wind really picked up and started swirling.

The difficult conditions on the back nine, as runner-up Ted Tryba noted, prevented almost everyone else from making a strong run.

“The greens were harder, pins were tucked away and the wind blew harder, those things made today about three times harder,” Tryba said. “I don’t think anybody made a move, except Mark Brooks, Brooksie shot a good score.”

One of the key moments came at the par-four 15th hole.

“I hit a fairway bunker on 15, which is not the place to be,” Brooks said. “I hit a wedge out and got up and down from 90 yards. That was kind of a big deal. That was the difference from two or three shots. Instead of going to 16 and five or six under par, it still kept the glue together.”

A turning point, perhaps?

“It can be,” he said. “It’s affects everything, from putting, all the way back. You need some good things to happen to build it up. That’s the biggest difference. You hit a bad shot. It’s not like you’re not trying.

“Almost, before, you try too hard. The old here-we-go-again routine. There’s a lot of demons in there. A lot of demons to get rid of.”

So, for one day, there was another statistic to consider: Brooks 1, Demons 0.