The 1996 Florida Open Championship at Palm Aire CC.

Eric Brito

Brito Delivers Just In Time At Florida Open

^{Miami Herald

September 30, 1996}

Eric Brito stood atop the winner's podium hugging an oversize check for $20,000. He smiled and even laughed a bit.

Brito began the year working as a cashier in a convenience store. He washed dishes in a restaurant. And this past week he took off five days from his pizza delivery job in Orlando to follow his dream.

Brito was the best golfer Sunday as he fired a final-round 67 for a four-day total of 279 to rally from three strokes back and win the Florida Open Championship -- and the largest paycheck of his life.

Brito shot a four-day total of 279 over the par-71 Cypress Course at the Palm-Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach. He has seven other mini-tour wins, but not in the past three years, and none has come close to the money he won Sunday.

"I don't care what job I have so long as it affords me time to play golf and chase my dream of playing on the PGA Tour," Brito said. "I finally had to take a job to keep my in-laws happy. They don't understand my dreams and what I want to be. Golf takes time."

Fort Lauderdale's Marty Stanovich, among the leaders for all four days, shot a 70 Sunday to finish at 280 and earn $10,000. Port St. Lucie's Frank Dobbs slipped to 73 and was third at 282, claiming $5,000.

Brito has immediate plans for the $20,000. "The first thing I am going to do is buy a new car -- and I mean as soon as (Monday)."

Brito 's current ride, a Nissan Pulsar, has more than 160,000 miles.

"I became a very good self-made mechanic by owning this car," he said. "Friday, I finally put a new radio in it and I had plans this Tuesday to change the tires and maybe the brakes. But now, it's off to the dump. I am going to buy a new van with a VCR, a TV and a nice couch I can sleep on when I travel to these tournaments. I deserve it and so does my wife (Sherri) who has stood by me through all the tough times."

Brito started the final round Sunday trailing by three strokes. His closing 67 was the same he fired in Thursday's opening round, his 28th birthday. In between, he shot 74 and 71. Brito started his charge Sunday with a 25-foot chip for birdie on the third hole. He saved par on No. 4 with a shot out of the bunker. On Nos. 6 and 7 he got birdies with his sand wedge to close to within one of the leader. He shot par on Nos. 8 through 11 and two-putted for par on 12 and 13. A 15-foot sand wedge on 14 kept him one back. After he bogeyed 15, he came back with par on 16 and birdies on the final two holes.

The Florida Open is part of a mini-tour through the state where golfers compete with aspirations of winning limited prize money. Some chase the money, hoping to eventually attend the PGA qualifying school. Brito can't attend Q School this year. The closing day to apply was Sept. 21. In the meantime, "Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how I feel, it's back to pizza delivery."

In the amateur division, Miami Springs' Dan Bradley, 48, shot 78 to finish at 300, eight strokes ahead of Fort Lauderdale's O'Brian Gordon and Tampa's Akio Sadakata. Roger Kennedy, from Pompano Beach, shot 72 for a 293 to win the senior division by seven strokes over Pompano Beach's Joe Caracciolo, whose 69 gave him 300.

Pos.	Name	Rd. 1	2	3	4	Total	Winnings
1	Eric Brito	67	74	71	76	279	$20,000
2	Marty Stanovich	68	71	71	70	280	10,000
3	Frankl Dobbs	69	70	70	73	282	5,000
4	Dustin Phillips	71	69	70	73	283	3,000
5	Tom Garner	73	72	70	69	284	2,000
6	Chad Walker	74	71	68	73	286	1,500
7	Paul Tesori	68	74	69	76	287	1,200
T8	Cesaer Monasterio	67	73	70	76	288	1,125
T8	Chad Couch	78	70	67	73	288	1,125
T10	Adam Spring	72	72	73	72	289	1,037.50
T10	David Branshaw	73	72	72	72	289	1,037.50
T10	Chris Kaufman	71	73	72	73	289	1,037.50
T10	P.J. Cowan	70	68	76	75	289	1,037.50
T14	Shane Supple	71	73	73	73	290	962.50
T14	Juan Nutt	73	72	70	75	290	962.50
T16	Howard Mash	73	71	77	70	291	900
T16	Dan Stone	70	73	76	72	291	900
T16	Brad Lehman	78	66	72	75	291	900
T19	Peter Johncke	70	71	78	73	292	830
T19	Jeff Leonard	74	70	73	75	292	830
T19	Dave Miley	73	73	71	75	292	830
T22	Roger Kennedy (s)	77	71	73	72	293	2,000
T22	Barry Cheesman	73	75	73	72	293	730.71
T22	Robert Ames	72	75	74	72	293	730.71
T22	Jerry Springer	77	72	70	74	293	730.71
T22	Kevin Altenhof	71	75	74	73	293	730.71
T22	Peter Horrobin	73	76	70	74	293	730.71
T22	Daniel Albert	69	78	72	74	293	730.71
T22	Ken Duke	72	72	74	75	293	730.71
T30	Chris Borgen	75	71	74	74	294	630
T30	Mike Donald	77	73	71	73	294	630
T30	Tony DeMaria	75	72	70	77	294	630
T30	Bob Bailey	75	72	70	77	294	630
T30	Rick Powers	75	74	76	69	294	630
T35	Chris Berens	76	69	78	72	295	580
T35	Jimmy Stobs	73	72	73	77	295	580
T35	Dean Prowse	73	72	73	77	295	580
T38	Tim Balmer	74	74	71	77	296	540
T38	David Canipe	77	71	75	73	296	540
T38	Patrick Sheehan	72	76	71	77	296	540
T38	Victor Leoni	72	78	74	72	296	540
T38	Eric Anderson	66	74	76	80	296	540
T43	Rick Johnston	75	69	77	76	297	505
T43	Clark Burroughs	72	76	73	76	297	505
T43	Lance Tenbroeck	75	74	72	76	297	505
T43	Mike Meehan	76	74	72	75	297	505
T43	Dave Yarmitzky	72	75	79	71	297	505
T48	Frank Babusik	73	73	75	77	298	487.50
T48	Ron Terry	74	71	72	81	298	487.50
T50	Chris Couch	80	68	74	77	299	475
T50	Geoffrey Goldstein	74	76	72	77	299	475
T50	Anthony Ballestero	73	75	75	76	299	475
T53	Joe Caracciolo (s)	77	78	76	69	300	1,300
T53	Dan Bradley (a)	78	75	76	71	300	400
T53	Mike Finster	73	75	77	75	300	465
T56	Vance Noxom (s)	79	73	72	77	301	1,000
T56	Ben Stevens	75	74	74	78	301	457.50
T56	Roger Kennedy, Jr.	75	73	77	76	301	457.50
59	Jack McFaul	75	75	77	75	302	450
60	Mike Fish (s)	77	79	72	75	303	850
61	Tom Hendrix (s)	75	76	76	77	304	700
62	Jim Burgess (s)	80	72	78	76	306	550
T63	Ron Widener (s)	77	74	80	77	308	366.67
T63	Ron Murphy (s)	82	77	72	77	308	366.67
T63	Ray Fraser (s)	79	79	72	78	308	366.67
T63	O'Brian Gordon (a)	78	82	73	75	308	325
T63	Akio Sadakata (a)	73	78	79	78	308	325
T68	Jim Frederick (s)	78	80	74	78	310	275
T68	Steve Sponder (a)	73	79	74	84	310	275
T70	Scott Grant (a)	79	80	76	76	311	237.50
T70	Gavin Phillips (a)	81	80	74	76	311	237.50
T72	Vince Cherix (a)	77	81	78	77	313	195
T72	Notichika Tokuno (a)	83	79	73	78	313	195
74	Rob Fodor (a)	78	83	77	77	315	180
T75	Warren Woodcock (a)	79	75	83	81	318	165
T75	Ryan Moore (a)	78	85	75	80	318	165
77	Carter Calloway (a)	77	85	77	80	319	150
T78	Abel-Soto Torres (a)	78	82	80	80	320	135
T78	Travis Stewart (a)	82	80	74	84	320	135
80	Chad Plothow (a)	80	80	80	81	321	125
81	Larry Barousse (a)	82	81	82	78	323	120
82	Michael McBride (a)	77	82	82	83	324	115
83	Kurt Homefelt (a)	83	78	87	82	330	110

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1996 Florida Open - Palm Aire CC

Eric Brito

Brito Delivers Just In Time At Florida Open

Pos.

Name

Rd. 1

2

3

4

Total

Winnings

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