Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 27, 1995                   TAG: 9509270066
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BROWN GETTING BACK IN SWING

Billy Ray Brown, guest professional at the Tee Off for Sight benefit golf tournament, can only hope the event is the same kind of good-luck charm for him that it has been for some of his predecessors.

Brown, making a comeback from two operations on his left wrist, did not have a bogey Monday in shooting a 6-under-par 64 on the tree-lined Hunting Hills Country Club course.

``It's so uncharacteristic of what we're used to on the tour,'' said Brown, the winner of two PGA Tour events. ``Instead of gripping it and ripping it, here you have to hit a variety of shots.''

Brown didn't par either of Hunting Hills two par-5 holes and missed several putts of less than 10 feet, but still tied former Roanoker Ed Sneed for the best score by a guest professional in this event.

Jake Allison, the Roanoke Country Club champion, took advantage of a lapse by Dr. Jack Allara, and won the Champion of Champions tournament.

Allison made an eight-foot par putt on the final hole for a 72, one stroke better than Allara and Tim Chocklett. Allara came to No.18 with a two-shot lead, but hit his drive against a tree and settled for a triple-bogey 7.

Brown followed an illustrious line of guest professionals that included Chi Chi Rodriguez, Curtis Strange, Tom Kite, Johnny Miller and Fuzzy Zoeller. Although most were successful before they came to Roanoke, it was uncanny how well some played after the announcement of their visit.

Brown, an NCAA champion and four-time All-American at Houston, missed a 15-foot putt on the final hole of the 1990 U.S. Open that would have put him in a playoff with eventual champion Hale Irwin and Mike Donald.

``I reflect back on it and say, `How would I have handled it? Would I have been a good U.S. Open champion?''' Brown said. ``Or, would I have fallen on my face?

``I draw off that experience in a positive way. Not many guys have a chance to win a U.S. Open. For a guy that young, teeing off in the last group at the U.S. Open, I was supposed to fold up tent. I didn't choke.''

Brown, 32, suffered a wrist injury at the end of the 1992 season that caused him to miss 16 weeks at the end of the next year. Before that, his fellow pros voted his swing one of the five best on the tour.

The injury ``was probably the best thing that happened to me,'' he said. ``It made me sit back and re-prioritize what was most important. Everything was revolving around golf.

``I have more fun playing golf now than I ever have. I took it for granted. This was when I was winning tournaments. I was saying, `I'm tired of this. I don't want to be around it.' When I do get it back, I think I'll be a better player because of it.''