Fairfield's Miller repeats at Concord Invite

ELKHART — With less of a workload, Fairfield junior golfer Brayden Miller repeated Saturday as the champion of the Concord Invitational at Bent Oak Golf Course.

Miller, who won a sudden death playoff over Northridge's Brock Reschly last year at the invitational, shot a 69 on Saturday and won by two strokes over runner-up Aiden Hibbard from Elkhart Christian.

Miller was certainly relieved that his day ended on Saturday after 18 holes.

"I really hoped at the end that I didn't have to go to a playoff," said Miller. "I wanted to go home and rest.

"But it feels great to win this invite again. The pins last year were a lot easier than this year. A lot of pins were tucked today. I definitely didn't strike the ball the way I wanted to. But one thing I can take away from today is that I know that I can play not at best and still compete and win."

Miller, who has verbally committed to play golf in two years at the University of Cincinnati, shot a 34 on the front nine and a 35 on the back.

"I started on hole 11 (on the back nine)," Miller said. "I made a really good par save on eight and made birdie on nine and 10. That's probably what decided (the invite) for me today. I was super clutch coming down the stretch."

Miller is looking to make a trip to the state finals for the third straight year. He finished 12th at state as a freshman with a two-day total of 149 and placed sixth last year with a 143.

"My golf is definitely trending in the right direction," Miller said. "I think I'm in a good spot. I have all the resources I need. It's just whether I can execute the shots or not.

"Obviously, I want to win every invite, but 18 holes is super unpredictable and you don't know how everyone is going to play. I always want to win. It's as simple as that."

Fairfield coach John Kauffman talked about Miller's showing on Saturday.

"He played really well," said Kauffman about his number one golfer. "He had a couple of bogeys out there, but he had a very strong finish."

For the fourth straight year Hibbard was at the top of the Concord Invitational leaderboard. He was the medalist as a freshman, finished second as a sophomore and was tied for fourth last year with a 77.

On Saturday, the Cedarville University commit, shot a 33 on the front nine and a 38 on the back nine.

"I started off really well," said Hibbard. "I was hitting the ball straight and hitting greens and giving myself good looks for birdies. I was three-under through six and then I kind of lost my mojo and was scrambling a lot. I didn't play bad. I just didn't give myself great opportunities for birdies. But 71 is pretty good. I definitely take that."

The top 10 golfers earned medals at the invite.

Elkhart's Steven Webb and Goshen's Myles McLaughlin each finished with a 75, with McLaughlin winning the tie-breaker and finishing fifth.

For the second straight year, South Bend St. Joseph won the invitational title. The Huskies totaled a 307. Trinity Greenlawn finished in second two strokes behind, while Fairfield placed third with a 318 and Elkhart was fourth with a 324. That was a season-best score for the Lions.

After Webb, the Lions got an 80 from Will Cochrane, an 82 from Ben Miller, an 87 from Cameron Miller and a 93 from Gabe Kazmierczak.

Also contributing to Fairfield's third place finish were Miles Nine (80), Jasper Carl (83), Benjamin Kio (86) Jake Elliott (87).

"Good steps forward," Kauffman said. "We had been out in the 330's, so to get to 318 I'm very pleased. We took a huge step forward. I feel like we were capable of getting better scores than we had been getting. Our golfers really played well today."

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CONCORD INVITATIONAL

Team scores: SB St. Joseph 307, SB Trinity-Greenlawn 309, Fairfield 318, Elkhart 324, Goshen 327, Culver Academies 329, Marian 336, Wawasee 349, NorthWood 350, Elkhart Christian 354, Concord 397, Lakeland 431.

FAIRFIELD: Brayden Miller 69, Miles Nine 80, Jasper Carl 83, Benjamin Kio 86, Jake Elliott 87.

ELKHART: Steven Webb 75, Will Cochrane 80, Ben Miller 82, Cameron Miller 87, Gabe Kazmierczak 93.

GOSHEN: Myles McLaughlin 75, Todd Kauffman 80, Tyler Scott 84, Kendall Scott 88, Braxten Sheets 96.

NORTHWOOD: Caleb Vincent 84, Bryce Blosser 85, Trevor Barnett 88, Sam Holden 93, Collin Deatsman 98.

ELKHART CHRISTIAN: Aiden Hibbard 71, Kian Hibbard 83, Caleb Overmyer 96, Carson Hiler 104, Cooper Curtis 111.

CONCORD: Nathan Potter 86, Rogan Russell 93, Mason Oiler 017, Morgan Wyatt 111, Alex Nixon 115.