Golf

UC’s Todd ‘Confident’ Heading into Tourney
May 16, 2006

By Nick Harrah
For The Charleston Gazette

Rare is the occasion that West Virginia plays host to an NCAA championship. So when Glade Springs Resort’s Cobb Course and the West Virginia Conference stage the Division II men’s golf championship starting today, it’s quite an honor for the course ranked as one of the best in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The 72-hole championships, which tee off at 7:30 a.m. today at the par-72, 7,121-yard course in Daniels, offer the field of 105 plenty of challenges.

Participating squads will try and knock off the University of South Carolina-Aiken, the two-time defending national champion. USCA senior Dante Burkhart, who claimed the individual title last season, seeks to become only the fourth two-time individual medalist in D-2 history.

Concord represents the East Region at the championship by virtue of its performance at the East Regional Championships at the Speidel Course in Wheeling May 3. The third-seeded Mountain Lions finished a wire-to-wire effort with a six-stroke win over Clarion (Pa.). CU’s Matt Horn shot a three-round 216 to beat out the University of Charleston’s Michael Todd by three strokes for first place.

Todd has proven he can compete at an NCAA championship. As a freshman at UC two years ago, he finished in the top 30 in the D-2 Championships. Now, by virtue of being the low individual not on a qualifying team at the East Region tournament, Todd gets another shot at an NCAA championship. He says he’s ready.

"I was a little nervous then," he said of his previous effort at the nationals.

What about now?

"I feel great,’’ he said. "I’m hitting the ball well, and I’m confident in my game."

Todd says it’s the little things that give him peace of mind this week.

"My routine,’’ he said, "what I’d do when I’m getting ready for any big tournament — work on the mechanics, and let everything else fall into place."

"He’s probably got more focus than anybody on the team," first-year UC golf coach Will Johnson said. "If he keeps his head and focus, I can believe he can compete with anybody. He’s got as much talent as anybody up there."

That talent was discovered around the time Todd was 4, growing up in Coshocton, Ohio.

"Whenever I was old enough to walk, I started playing,’’ he said. "We had a pretty big back yard."

Now, that practice has paid off. Even as he looks forward to competing on the biggest individual level, he said to watch out for UC’s team next year.

"We get four guys back, and with Brandon [Reece] and I back, we’ll have two of the best golfers in the conference," he said.

The championships are scheduled to run through Friday.

The only previous national championships played in the Mountain State were the 1992 and 1996 Division I-AA football championships at Marshall and the 2003 Division II wrestling championship at West Liberty State.