With daughter on bag, Brooks recapturing his glory days

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Mark Brooks looked at his daughter and pulled her cap down on her forehead.

Lyndsay Brooks was a toddler the last time her dad played in the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament. She doesn't play, but she's been watching the game all her life, and this week, the petite 22-year-old is on the bag as the 1996 PGA champion tries to improve his playing privileges.

"She's awesome," Brooks said, smiling proudly. "She stays out of the way and she keeps her mouth shut."

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Mark Brooks is back at q-school for the first time since 1987.

That what good caddies always do, and the combination appears to be working well this week. Brooks fired a 70 Friday on the Stadium Course at PGA West that left him at 11 under and tied with seven others, four strokes off the lead. The seven-time PGA TOUR champion had opened with a 66 and shot 69 in the second round.

"I'm in good shape," Brooks said. "I played good today. It was just one of those days when I didn't make any putts. I probably hit my irons today the best of the three days. It's kind of funny. I drove the ball probably the most solid the first day and shot the best score but I didn't hit my irons too good. It's just one of those deals. I didn't make a bunch of putts."

Regardless of what happens this week, Brooks will have status on TOUR in 2009 as a past champion. He came to q-school for the first time since 1987, though, to try to climb the eligibility ladder and open up more playing opportunities. A spot among the low 25 and ties when the 108 holes are completed on Monday will boost him four spots above a past champion.

Brooks is anxious to see how things shake down. His 2008 campaign wasn't one of his best. Brooks played in a Nationwide Tour event in Mexico early in the year and came back with some sort of a bug that he couldn't shake for nearly two months. Once he started feeling better, his playing options were more limited due to his eligibility status.

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"I just had a funky first half of the year," Brooks acknowledged. "(The illness) knocked me down. I really didn't start playing decent again until May. I don't know what I got, but it was bad. ... Then when I started playing better I couldn't get in (tournaments) at the end. I had a bunch of good tournaments on the Nationwide Tour. I shot a bunch of good scores. So I don't feel like I played poorly. I just I haven't gotten to play much."

So Brooks is trying to improve that situation this week at q-school. Making the decision to return to q-school for the first time in more than two decades wasn't that difficult, he said. He knows and likes desert courses, and he looked forward to the challenge.

"I knew the weather would be good," said the 1998 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic champion. "I don't know much about the two courses in Florida but I'd heard you didn't have to play as precise golf as you do here. You end up having to make guys think a little bit (here). You have to hit good iron shots."

Brooks said the Stadium and Nicklaus courses are softer than normal, which makes getting up and down a little easier than it might otherwise have been. The pins were more challenging on Friday, though, and the test will only get more difficult as the pressure mounts over the next three days.

"There's a long way to go," Brooks said. "It's kind of hard to believe that we're only halfway through."