ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120143
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The talk all week was about the great finishing hole at Valhalla Golf Club. No. 18 was absolutely perfect for Mark Brooks, who birdied it twice in 20 minutes to win the PGA Championship in a sudden-death playoff with Kenny Perry.
And the dangerous par-5 was absolute misery for Perry, the Kentucky native who stumbled through the thick bluegrass rough twice Sunday for bogeys to give away a tournament he seemed to have wrapped up.
``It was just a week of comebacks,'' Brooks said after he rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt to claim his first major championship and third victory of the year. ``I was over par every day and came back. The end was just kind of a fairy tale.''
As his final putt fell Brooks thrust his hand in the air, accepted congratulations from Perry and hugged his wife and children. Then he accepted the champion's trophy, stared at it as he held it over his head and then brought it down for a gentle kiss.
``It was kind of a week of streaks for me,'' said Brooks, who made six birdies in a row Thursday, four in a row Friday and three in a row Sunday.
Brooks shot a solid 70 in the final round to finish at 11-under-par 277 while Perry leaped past such big names as Greg Norman, Steve Elkington, Nick Price and Phil Mickelson with a 68 to get to 277.
It was the second consecutive year the PGA was decided in a playoff. Last year Steve Elkington defeated Colin Montgomerie, also with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Brooks joins golf legends Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson as Fort Worth, Texas, golfers who have won the PGA. And his victory meant that the last 16 major championships have been won by 15 different people.
All week, players said No.18 was a great hole offering the opportunity for eagle or bogey, a hole where there could be a big swing.
The 540-yard hole that winds around a lake to a horseshoe-shaped green guarded by a massive bunker in front and deadly rough behind betrayed Elkington and Vijay Singh as well as Perry.
They both came to the last hole needing a birdie to make the playoff. But Singh bogeyed to finish at 279 along with Justin Leonard and Jesper Parnevik.
And Elkington failed to make a 15-foot birdie putt and missed the playoff by one stroke at 278, along with Tommy Tolles, who finished more than an hour before Brooks with a 67.
Perry, who is from Franklin, Ky., 120 miles from Valhalla, was carried along all day by a wildly supportive gallery.
When he walked off the 14th green following a 15-foot birdie putt to get to 12-under his name sat alone on top of the leaderboard.
And when he strode up the 18th fairway on his way to a shaky bogey he was carried along by wild, whooping shouts from the home folks, responding with a wave of his hat and a shy, satisfied smile.
When he missed the 12-foot par putt that would have given him a more comfortable cushion he waved his hat again and walked an aisle of high-fives from delirious fans as he trudged off to sign his scorecard. But it was way too early to celebrate and Perry knew it.
``It's a tough way to end the day when you've played so well,'' Perry said. ``I had that putt to win but I played it too high. I had a fabulous round for 17 holes.''
Perry played the round of his life - except for No. 18.
In regulation, he hit a wild hook of the tee into the rough, couldn't get back to the fairway with his second shot, missed the green left and bumped the ball to 12 feet, missing that to make bogey.
Brooks dominated No.18 all week, making four birdies in five tries, including the playoff.
In regulation, he drove to the fairway and hit a 4-wood from 220 yards into the bunker in front of the green, probably the best place to miss the green.
He played a perfect explosion shot to 5 feet and rolled it in to force the playoff.
It capped a up-and-down round for Brooks, who made four bogeys - three in a four-hole stretch from No. 11 through No. 14, to fall to 9-under-par, where he started the day, and three strokes back at the time.
But he hung in there and birdied No.15 and then got the big birdie at 18.
Brooks hit first in the playoff and drove perfectly to the fairway. Perry hooked again - just like the last time he played No. 18 - bounced twice in the fairway and skidded into the rough.
Brooks hit the green with a 4-wood from 218 yards but Perry had a terrible lie in the rough and had no chance to go for the green. The best he could hope for was to advance his ball and try to get back in the fairway.
But he failed to do that, staying in the rough, and when he missed the green with his next shot all Brooks needed to do was make certain he got his ball near the cup.
He did and when he rolled in a 5-footer he was PGA champ, just like Hogan and Nelson.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Mark Brooks reacts to his birdie putt on the sixthby CNBhole at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., during the final
round of the PGA Championship. color.