What makes US star special – by those who know him best

Oliver Wilson

I’d had to go back to the Challenge Tour after losing my Tour card and I didn’t expect to find a player who, to be frank, was awesome. There was no resentment from any of the lads, because he wasn’t ‘The Big I Am’ – just a good guy. If he was a d--- there would have been kickback. Actually, there was respect for him, getting out of the US comfort zone.

Eddie Pepperell

I played with him once in Scotland when it was really windy and he had 100 yards in. He hit a wedge and came up 50 yards short and I thought: “Stupid American, they don’t know how to play this sort of golf.” But he proved me wrong! He is fearless. I heard that when he was single back then, he once asked a girl out in a pro-am. That does take balls.

Pete Cowen

The best thing about Brooks is you can have a laugh with him. He once asked me to have a look at his bunker play and it was terrible, and I told him so. He seemed a bit put out and said: “You do it, then.” So I took his sand wedge, splashed it out and it went in. “A fluke,” he said. So I did the same shot again and it went in again. He said: “I’d better start listening.”

Iain Stoddart

We promote the Scottish Hydro Classic at Aviemore and Brooks’s win to get on to the European Tour was unforgettable. A few of the guys on the Tour came up to me at the time and said: “Who is this bloke?” He was incredible and it was great watching him and Mike the caddie hugging each other on the green. When I see him we joke about it being his fifth major title.