Saturday, June 16, 2001
Brooks' birdies bring him to top
Flirts with record round at Open
By Paul Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mark Brooks
(AP photo)
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TULSA, Okla. — By the time he reached the 18th hole, Mark Brooks wasn't thinking of breaking a scoring record for one round of the U.S. Open. He just wanted to make the 12-foot par putt and finish the round tied for the lead.
“Just trying to make sure I didn't three-putt,” Brooks said. “The thing wiggled down about eight different directions, then just fell in.”
Brooks is not one to get too excited. When he won his only major title, the 1996 PGA at Valhalla in Louisville, his reaction could best be described as subdued. On Friday, when he was making birdies at five of six holes on the front nine, Brooks looked like a man checking out a library book. “I probably didn't do anything real weird,” he said.
The U.S. Open rewards players who don't do anything weird. So maybe it's no surprise Brooks is at the top of a nondescript leaderboard. We don't know if Retief Goosen is weird, or J.L. Lewis. We don't know Retief Goosen or J.L. Lewis.
Brooks is familiar, even if that PGA title was his last. “I haven't played a lot of great golf the last couple years,” he said. “But I've been on the edge of playing pretty good for awhile.”
He crossed over Friday. Brooks shot 30 on the front side, thanks to stout iron play. The five birdies came from 1, 4, 7, 12 and 30 feet. His last birdie, at No. 11, was 14 feet.
Brooks played in nearly perfect conditions. Thursday's rain had softened the greens and cooled the temperatures. There was no wind. That helped. So did Brooks' confidence, which grew with every birdie.
“It's a fine line between (the media) thinking we're playing good or thinking we're playing bad. Sometimes, it bleeds over into our brains,” he said. “The more good shots you hit, the more fairways you hit, the better you feel about going to the (next) tee.”
After playing the front-9 in 5-under par, Brooks thought about a record-setting 62. (Several players hold the record of 63, including Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus.) But after the birdie at 11, “I really didn't hit it close enough” for serious birdie runs.
Then he put his approach at 18 into the front bunker, and all Brooks wanted was a clean up-and-down. He got it, “settling” for a 64.
“I made some putts today,” Brooks said, “but on Sunday, when I'm putting on 18, I hope I have the opportunity to 4-putt and win.”
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Brooks' birdies bring him to top