Rough Approach of Brooks Hides a Charitable Side

There are only four major championships in golf and last year Mark Brooks of Fort Worth won one of them, which should have made him ecstatic.

But just after he won the PGA Championship, Brooks sounded hardly thrilled. He acted as if someone had made fence posts out of his golf clubs.

He didn’t seem, well, happy. Brooks didn’t do what a lot of people thought a major championship winner ought to--like smile.

As a result, Brooks was portrayed as some kind of golf club-swinging sourpuss who just fell out of his golf cart and scooped up a major title, stuffed it in his bag, then probably went home to defrost his refrigerator.

Why, even when he won last year’s Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Brooks was his usual acerbic self. Chased by Fred Couples and Payne Stewart going into the last day, Brooks was asked if he was worried.

“I don’t know how closely you follow golf, but they don’t win every tournament they play,” Brooks shot back.

Well, no they don’t. But Brooks did all right. He won three tournaments last year--his best showing in 14 years as a professional--and also took $1.4 million in earnings back to Fort Worth.

When the $1.5-million Hope begins today at four courses in the desert, with Indian Wells Country Club the host course, Brooks will be back to defend his title.

Brooks, 35, will return richer, more experienced and probably with the same charming personality of a traffic cop.

He said he doesn’t see any particular need to make a change and become someone else.

“Well, I’m not going to put on a wedding dress,” Brooks said. “And the ponytail thing is definitely out.”

As it turns out, Brooks makes no apologies for being who he is, which is one of the world’s top players, even if he does pick and choose when he wants to show he’s got slightly more personality than a flagstick.

Take his victory at the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in suburban Louisville, Ky. Brooks insisted he really was happy about winning.

“Sure, I was pleased, but I wasn’t exactly shocked,” “ he said. “You concentrate so hard for so long, and it’s a difficult job. I can’t lollygag and joke around. That’s just not my style.

“People may not know that much about me, and they’ll learn more. But it’s not important to me that everybody in the world know everything I do.”

Even so, there are many back in Fort Worth who know what Brooks does, and a lot of them don’t know much about golf.

Through his charitable foundation, Brooks founded Brooks House, in memory of his father, W. Hal Brooks, which provides crisis counseling for troubled teens.

Brooks’ fund-raising golf tournament has raised more than $2 million to support the foundation. That’s the Brooks that his friends know.

“Mark just doesn’t get caught up in a lot of the hoopla,” said Michael Thomson, a Fort Worth restaurateur and a longtime friend of Brooks.

“I imagine he’s just really busy playing golf, doing what he can for charity without getting a lot of publicity for it. A lot of those players out there want to get more into the TV-celebrity thing. But Mark doesn’t thrive on that.”

A three-time All-American at Texas, Brooks turned pro in 1983 and fell short of being an instant success. He made $6,924 on the tour his first year.

Brooks was forced to go to qualifying school in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987 before breaking through in 1988 with a victory at the Canon Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open.

Since then, Brooks has won six more times, reached nearly $5 million in prize money and twice come close to winning the British Open--he tied for third at St. Andrews in 1995 and tied for fifth at Royal Lytham in 1996.

“Maybe I’ll get another major,” Brooks said. “That would be nice. But I’ve played 14 years, I’m only 5-9 and 145 pounds. I haven’t gotten any bigger. I can only hit it so far.

“Sometimes you get it right in the slot, but you’re lucky if it happens two or three days in a row.

“That’s why I love this game. You are responsible for everything that happens. There’s nobody else out there but you.”

Off the course, Brooks sometimes retreats to the kitchen to whip up something special. He loves to cook, although golf doesn’t give him much time anymore.

He is especially fond of his marinated grilled veal chops.

Thomson said Brooks often visits the kitchen at his restaurant. “Well, he’s a lot better golfer than a chef, but I think if Mark ever lost his golf swing he could make quite a nice living. He could definitely run a kitchen.”

Just don’t carry this homemaker thing too far, said Brooks, who denied he enjoys flower arranging, a report he had heard on television.

“And I don’t do windows, and I don’t do lawns either,” he said. “I guess I’ve got an aversion to grass, being out here standing in the stuff all the time.”

Maybe, but what we learned last year is that Brooks has no aversion to winning. Perhaps he can win a few more tournaments this year. Yeah, that ought to make him pretty upset.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Bob Hope Classic

* Site: Indian Wells

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Courses: Indian Wells Country Club (6,478 yards, par 72), Indian Ridge Country Club (7,037 yards, par 72), Bermuda Dunes Country Club (6,927 yards, par 72) and La Quinta Country Club (6,901 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1.5 million.

* Winner’s share: $270,000.

* Television: TNT (Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.) and NBC (Saturday, 12:30-3 p.m.; Sunday, 2-4 p.m.).

* Last year: Mark Brooks won the first of three 1996 titles, closing with consecutive 5-under 67s at Indian Ridge for a one-stroke victory over John Huston. Brooks, the PGA champion, had a 23-under 337 total.