Noblesville, IN – Kenny Cook, Noblesville won his first IGA Tournament of Champions title Saturday at Fox Prairie GC. Cook established a three shot lead with a first round 4-under-par 67 and maintained that advantage with a final round even-par 71 for a 4-under 138 total. Brett Widner, Avon was the runner up at 1-under.
Despite a rough start with a three-putt par at the first, followed by back-to-back bogeys, Cook steadied enough to get the victory. “I didn’t hit a good golf shot until four” Cook said, adding “nothing changed between three and four to help with mindset, but I just started hitting the ball better.” Cook birdied three of the next 11 holes to get under par for the day before finishing at even. “Anytime you can win, it doesn’t matter” said Cook. “It would have been nice to play better but a win is a win.”
The final pairing featured Cook, along with past TOC Champions Sean Rowen (2012, 2014) and Joe Hayden (2009, 2011, 2013) who accounted for the last four titles. Rowen had defeated Cook in a playoff to win last year. “It was good to play with the guys I played with” added Cook. “For the most part none of us played well. Sean wasn’t playing his best and Joe got an unfortunate break on 11. It was very nice to play with them, but nobody got it going.”
Cook, the 2012 IGA Player-of-the-Year, has now won three career IGA titles and has six top-three finishes in IGA events since 2014. In two events this season, he has a Tournament of Champions victory and a runner-up finish at the IGA Four Ball with partner Joe Mahurin.
The IGA Tournament of Champions is open to all IGA Club Champions from the past seven years. Cook is a Club Champion at The Sagamore Club in Noblesville.