Mark Brooks looks forward to return to Valhalla

Even though it was his only major and last victory, Mark Brooks doesn't remember much about the week of the 1996 PGA Championship.

The only details he recalls are his birdie from the bunker on the 72nd hole that got him into a playoff with Kenny Perry, and that Perry drove into the rough on the extra hole while Brooks mayed Valhalla since that day. He hasn't even visited Louisville.

"It'll be nice to be back,'' Brooks said as he prepared for his return. "It hasn't been on my mind much this year but it's always nice to return to a place where you've had success. I'll be revisiting a lot of good thoughts.''

Brooks could use some good thoughts, considering how his year has gone lately.

It started off well enough. He made seven of eight cuts to start the year and his highest finish was a tie for seventh at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which earned him a check for $120,500.

Brooks had 12 straight rounds under par between the last week of April and the middle of May, finishing fifth in the Shell Houston Open, 17th in New Orleans and seventh in the GTE Byron Nelson Classic.

Since then, however, he's missed four cuts in seven events, including the last two majors. At some time during that stretch, he suffered what he believes is a rotator cuff injury in his left shoulder.

"I don't know if I made a bad swing or just picked up a suitcase wrong, but it's been bothering me,'' Brooks said. "I've been to the doctor and he said it's just a muscular thing. There's not a lot of pain. But I've made some inadvertent swing adjustments because of it.''

He played The International as a tune-up for Valhalla, but got the same kind of results - well back in the pack, not even around on Sunday.

"I've been inconsistent lately, but I'm working on it. I've been here before,'' Brooks said. "It's just a matter of getting more comfortable and getting my swing back in more reasonable shape.''

One area of his game that doesn't need fine-tuning is his putting. Brooks ranked ninth on the tour in putting average and 16th in putts per round.

Mark Brooks shows the PGA Championship trophy in 1996. Allsport.

Brooks was the top-ranked putter at Valhalla in 1996, needing only 104 putts over four rounds. That was the unquestionable key to his victory, he said.

"I did everything OK, but I made up for just about every bad shot with a good putt,'' he said. "I felt like I was coming back all week. I made I don't know how many momentum-saving putts -- the right putts at the right times -- all week long.''

Brooks was tied for 21st in driving accuracy that week and ranks 48th in driving accuracy this year on tour. He ranks 165th in driving distance this year but doesn't believe the bigger hitters have that much of an advantage at Jack Nicklaus-designed Valhalla.

"It's not a bomber's paradise,'' Brooks said. "Like all of Jack's courses, the fairways are generous off the tee, but one side of the fairway is usually a lot more advantageous than the other. You don't have to drive long, but you have to drive strategically.''

Brooks grew familiar with the Nicklaus-designed Hills of Lakeway near Austin, Texas, while he was attending the University of Texas. He has also played well at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio (where the Memorial is played) and at other Nicklaus-designed venues.

"I don't know why I like Jack's courses so much -- my game doesn't fit them,'' Brooks said. "But I guess my eye fits them. I can stand on the tee and see what Jack was trying to do, what the strategy for each hole needs to be.''

And as for Nicklaus' Valhalla?

"That one's my favorite,'' Brooks said.

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