(18 July 2011 – Bloomfield, Conneticut)
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The final round may have felt a little like an Ohio high school flashback for Brittany Johnston when she was paired with former Walsh Jesuit High School teammate Kathleen Ekey at the ING New England Golf Classic. However, by day’s end, after a 5-under-par 65, Johnston was holding the crystal trophy for her first win on the LPGA 
Futures Tour. She carded rounds of 70-64-65 for a winning score of 11-under 199 at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course.
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Johnston edged out Alison Walshe (66) who birdied the 18th hole to finish at 10-under par 200, while Ekey (71) took third at 9-under par 201.
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“I totally didn’t expect this, but it just fell into place,” said Johnston, “I’m proud of myself for hanging in there today.”
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Ekey started today’s final round with a four-stroke cushion, but two-time 2011 tournament winner Lisa Ferrero mounted a charge with four birdies on her scorecard in her first six holes. She drew even with Ekey with a birdie on No. 6, but when Ferrero bogeyed No. 7 and Ekey birdied the fifth hole, Ekey regained the lead that she would not relinquish until Johnston and Walshe made it a three-way tie at nine under on the 14th hole.
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Ferrero faded, carding an even-par 70 to drop into a tie for fifth at 5-under 205 with Valentine Derrey (65), Lili Alvarez (69) and Eileen Vargas (70).
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With three players tied for the lead and four holes to play, Johnston found a different gear on her closing holes. She rolled in a 25-foot birdie on No. 15, and drained a 3-foot birdie on the 16th hole. On the par-three 17th hole, she pulled her tee shot and was forced to chip over a bunker to a tight pin. With a lob wedge, Johnston struck what she called “probably the best shot I hit all week” to less than a foot and saved par.
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“She made some really, really good putts today and it just seemed like her day,” said Ekey, who was on an undefeated team with Johnston in her freshman year when their school won the Ohio State High School Championship.
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With a two-shot lead heading into the final hole, Johnston’s 7-iron approach shot landed 20 feet from the hole. Her birdie attempt rolled two feet past the cup and she marked the ball. Seconds later, Walshe gave her something to think about when she slammed in an 18-foot birdie putt to cut Johnston’s lead to one. However, Johnston was up to the task and rolled it in for par and the win before an appreciative crowd.
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“I’m not disappointed at all,” said runner-up Walshe. “She played awesome and finished strong.”
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The fourth-year pro called today’s victory “gratifying,” considering that for her first two years as a professional, she didn’t have high enough status to get into many Futures Tour events and even took a year off to nurse tendonitis in her left wrist.
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Prior to today’s win, Johnston’s best finish on the tour came in the first tournament this year, where she finished tied for 15th at the 2011 Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. An epiphany came, of all places, last week at the U.S. Women’s Open Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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“Maybe I’m rising in my potential a little late, but my dad, who’s my coach, has always believed I was capable of winning,” said Johnston, 25. “Last week during the Open, I realized that I was on the range with the top 156 players in the world, and it felt like I belonged.”
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Only Cathryn Bristow made the cut from the small ALPG contingent. She finished in a tie for 57th at 6-over par.
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