Todd Brittain was easily discernible as he made his way around American Legion Golf Course Sunday. And, it wasn’t because he’s a former champion of the Howard County Men’s Golf Tournament.
Brittain played Sunday’s final round with two different colored shoes, one white and one black. He was a victim of circumstance, but he’ll take the apparent good luck that the two-toned shoes brought him.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Brittain chuckled, “it all started with a broken shoe lace. I have a black pair and a white pair, and after I broke the shoe lace, I got to thinking about something else and forgot to get new laces. I woke up this morning, and put on the different shoe and went with the black and white.
“Black and white have always been my favorite colors to play in. I don’t know if it was a good luck charm or not, but it’s a confidence booster by far.”
Brittain entered Sunday’s final round with a four-shot lead after carding a two-under-par 68 in Saturday’s opening round at Kokomo Country Club. He followed with a two-over 72 Sunday at the American Legion to earn his second county title, beating Jon Kelley (72 at KCC, 74 at Legion) and Andrew Rowe (74, 72) by six strokes for the crown.
“Obviously, it means a lot,” Brittain said. “Losing a playoff last year to a player like Brian Harris was heartbreaking, but Brian’s a good player, and he played well to catch me.
“This year, [I went in with the mindset of] if I win, I win, and if I don’t, I don’t. There are a lot of good players out here. Andrew Rowe is a very good player, and has worked hard. He had it going there for a while, and I stumbled a bit there on the back nine [Sunday]. [Andrew] has a lot of desire, which I had at that age [25]. He hits it a mile, and plays with me at Wildcat [Creek G.C.], and we battled it out all weekend, and last weekend at the club championship, which I won.
“He’s working hard, as I did at that age, and I’ve taken him under my wing a little bit and taught him about the stuff that I did wrong.”
Brittain, 43, was glad to see that both tournament courses were in good shape, despite the weather and a lack of funds.
“All of the county courses have been hit hard by the rain and the heat, and that makes them a lot harder to take care of,” he noted.
Twenty-two golfers competed in the championship flight, and in all, 57 participants completed the two-day event.
Mark Waldron (79, 69) and Jerry Jackson (76, 72) finished tied for fourth in the championship flight with 148 strokes each, while Zachary Rudolph (78, 71) and David Eikenberry (76, 73) finished in a tie for sixth at 149.
John Hodson earned his third-straight senior flight title after a two-day total of 142 (72, 70), earning a three-stroke win over Bob Elkins, who was the overall net winner for the seniors with a 134.
Hodson altered his swing three years ago, and credited the change for his continued success.
“I just changed my set up a little bit over at Chippendale [G.C.], because you have to keep [the ball] straight,” Hodson said. “I try to keep the driver in the fairway, and that’s been the key.
“I had quite a battle this year with Bob Elkins. We went back and forth all the way. It’s something that you’re always nervous about going into this tournament. But, it’s special this year because I knew that defending my title would be tough. I had to be on my toes.”
Tom Beck shot a 155 (80, 75) for the lowest gross score in the second senior flight, and after Beck’s net score of 132, Charlie Webb grabbed first net honors in the flight with a 138.
In the open flights, Roger Pierce fired a 157 (81, 76) for top gross honors, and after Pierce’s net score of 128, Bill Eldridge captured first net honors of the open flights with a 134.
Brittain would like to see the tournament expanded to four golf courses over two weekends, much like the format that Cass County uses for its championship. He didn’t think that such an expansion would hurt participation.
“I’ve said this for the last three or four years, and I know it’s hard to commit to two weekends, but it would be nice to take four of the five county courses and do it that way,” Brittain said. “How much less [participation] are we going to get if we do [the tournament] at four different courses? In my opinion, we have five county courses, and we could leave one out every year and play it over two weekends. How many less people would we get?”
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