Bluegrassrivals

Brad Litzinger capped his fifth year on Mason County's varsity golf team this past fall as the Eighth Region individual runner-up by one stroke as the Royals went to their fourth straight state tournament.
Litzinger, who signed a letter of intent Friday afternoon to attend and play golf at the University of Pikeville, put together that kind of performance despite being hampered early in the year with a wrist injury, and Mason coach John Arn III believes once that's all ironed out, Litzinger's best golf is yet to come.
"I really do feel like he has his best golf in front of him, just from a maturity standpoint, physically," Arn said. "I think he's gonna get stronger, he's gonna develop, he's gonna continue to grow, and as he does he's gonna continue to hit the ball further. He's pretty long already, so as he continues to put the ball out there even further, his short game and putting is excellent, so I think his best golf is in front of him."
Play off the tee is something Litzinger would like to continue to work on, saying he's "not as confident" in that portion of his game. Arn was very complimentary of most everything else Litzinger can do, though.
"His iron play and his short game (are) really phenomenal for a high school student," the coach said. "He was one of the first students I've had that actually could hit it past the pin and spin it back 10, 12 feet, which once you start getting to that type of level of control that you can display (that) is just amazing for a high school student. He kinda made the rest of the team see, 'Hey, look what I can do,' and then they all tried to move forward and do that also."
Litzinger made up half of Mason's senior duo with Tanner Walton, who was the only player to best Litzinger in the region tournament and will play next season at Northern Kentucky University.
Arn has said several times those two together are why Mason won the region this past season after coming in second the previous three years.
"We've been close several times, and just to get over the hump took two seniors," he said. "I can't say enough for both their leadership and what they meant to our team. I think without 'em that we had no chance of winning the region, but with both of 'em I think a lot of teams kind of just said that Mason County's got it, everybody else (was) playing for second.
"And when (opposing players) start talking like a defeatist type of thing, then I know we're in good shape."
Litzinger will join Christen Cropper, a Lady Royals senior who recently signed a letter of intent to play for Pikeville's women's team.
He said his goal in high school was to reach college -- "I had expectations from Day 1 to hopefully one day do that, and that's what I played for," he said.
Now that he's gotten that one down, he'd like to ride the momentum of his performance late in his senior season to become a No. 1 collegiate player.
"I just kinda go (with) it," Litzinger said. "I really can't tell what's gonna happen next year, nobody can. I just go with it and play (and) try my best."
Pikeville has a regional draw for Litzinger, who plans to study physical therapy to become a chiropractor.
"I'm from the South," he said. "I love country people and getting to (be) around people where I came from, and let me tell you, this is where I came from."
The soft-spoken senior called the region tournament his favorite golf memory, particularly his and Walton's domination of the event.
"It was great to have me and Tanner right there and nobody else was even close," he said.
He didn't even realize the extent to which they were running away with the tourney until late in the round.
"Honestly, I didn't know how close (Walton) was 'til (No.) 15, towards the end of my round, and I was like, 'Doesn't matter to me. Just play,'" Litzinger said. "I would have been happy either way."


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