Tree-bending wind, the kind that doubles over flagsticks. The kind that makes a ball wobble on the green. It's golfing heaven to Mark Brooks.
Brooks was raised in Fort Worth hitting knockdown 5-irons and wind-cheating 3-wood hooks at Diamond Oaks Country Club."We wouldn't play on days when the wind didn't blow," Brooks said. "It wasn't as much fun."
Well, Brooks is having fun at the Byron Nelson Classic, where winds gusting to 30 mph Thursday blew off hats and made shotmaking a judgment roulette wheel on the correct club to pull from the bag.
Brooks, who mastered the wind to win the Shell Houston Open last week, shot a 6-under-par 64 for the first-round lead in the GTE-sponsored Nelson at Four Seasons Resort and Club.
"I grew up playing in the wind and I shaped my shot with the wind being a factor," Brooks said. "When you grow up in this part of Texas you don't have a very high shot trajectory."
Brooks played the 6,899-yard TPC Course and went out in 5-under-par 30. He had two birdies and a bogey on the back nine for 34.
Brooks, who also won the Bob Hope Classic earlier this year, proved how well he could play in the wind when he finished third in the British Open at St. Andrews last July.
"I love the kind of golf you have to play in Scotland," Brooks said. "You don't get to play that many kind of shots over here. I love it when the wind blows."
Brooks has six tour victories, but has yet to break through to win a major. He failed to make the cut at the Players Championship and the Masters this year. Brooks is sixth on the money list with $627,190.
Brooks had seven birdie putts, the longest from 18 feet. He used only 25 putts on the round.
"I'm making my share of putts," said Brooks, who made a 30-footer for birdie to beat Jeff Maggert on the first hole of a playoff at the Houston Open. "It's all confidence. I have a lot of confidence now."
Scott McCarron, who won at New Orleans, was in the same group with Brooks and was just a shot back with 65. He was joined by John Cook.
"We just kind of rode his coattails and it always helps if somebody else in your group is playing well," McCarron said.
Cook welcomed the challenge of playing in the gusty prairie wind, saying, "I like playing in the wind, because it makes you create different shots. It was a good start for me."
Guy Boros and Mike Brisky were at 66 followed by a gang of 11 at 67, including Nick Price, U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin, Scott Verplank, Larry Nelson and Maggert.
Brisky, who played in Brownsville when he was a youngster, said, "We had a lot of side-wind shots, but I didn't mind it much. If you hit the ball solid the wind doesn't bother you."
Defending champion Ernie Els, who shot a 61 on the Cottonwood Valley Course last year, managed only a 1-under-par 69 on the same course. Playing partner Fred Couples, one of the favorites, shot even-par 70.