Mark Brooks, a Fort Worth native with seven victories as a PGA Tour competitor _ including a major title at the 1996 PGA Championship _ has been selected to the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame officials announced the members of their 2010 induction class today and Brooks, 49, is one of three inductees with Fort Worth ties.
The others are Bill Eschenbrenner, a Fort Worth native and longtime golf pro in El Paso, as well as Toni Wiesner, a noted amateur golfer from Fort Worth who died in 2009. The honorees will be inducted Oct. 25 in San Antonio.
Eschenbrenner is best known for helping Lee Trevino during his early days on the PGA Tour and also worked with Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA, while Beem lived in El Paso. Wiesner won multiple amateur titles, including the 1997 British Senior Women's Amateur.
Brooks, a graduate of Richland High School and the University of Texas, has earned more than $9.4 million during a PGA Tour career that began in 1983. His signature season came in 1996, when Brooks won three tournaments, including the PGA, and finished third on the money list with $1,429,396.
Brooks defeated Kenny Perry in a playoff at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. to claim his lone major title. The victory also helped Brooks land a berth on the 1996 U.S. Presidents Cup team.
Other victories during Brooks’ breakthrough 1996 season included the Houston Open and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He also claimed titles at the 1988 Sammy Davis, Jr.-Greater Hartford Open, 1991 Greater Greensboro Open, 1991 Greater Milwaukee Open and 1994 Kemper Open. Of Brooks’ seven tour victories, four came in playoffs.
After winning the 1996 PGA, Brooks also became a course architect. His most notable start-to-finish project, Southern Oaks Golf Club in south Fort Worth, opened in 1999.
During the 2010 season, Brooks competed in 12 PGA Tour events _ including the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial _ and earned $36,270.
It marks the first induction class for the Texas Golf Hall of Fame since 1996. The Hall re-opened this year after several years of dormancy.
Other 2010 inductees include former LPGA golfer Carol Mann, former PGA Tour golfer Lee Elder, golf pro Warren Cantrell, golf historian Frances Trimble, amateur golfer Carolyn Creekmore, golfer Will Symons, Sr. and the late Harless Wade, a longtime golf writer for the Dallas Morning News.
_ Jimmy Burch
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