Comanche Nation Entertainment Charity Golf Tournament Brings Big Competition

Comanche Nation Entertainment held a golf tournament on Monday, August 7, at Fort Sill Golf Course.

After golfers ate and warmed up, CNE CEO Mia Tahdooahnippah held opening ceremonies.

The Comanche Nation Higher Education and Comanche Academy Charter School both received checks. There was also a fancy dancer and a drum group that played the Comanche Flag Song. The charter school also recited the Pledge of Allegiance in Comanche.

Comanche Nation Chairman and Lawton Mayor Stan Booker were in attendance.

The winners were drawn randomly from team names. Aristocrat VGT won first place, second place was PDS and Imperial came in third place.

Senior Sales Manager for VGT Aristocrat Company Frank Fortunato said his best moment was making a long putt twice. 

“It was a lot of fun playing in it. This is the second time I've played in Comanche outing. It's done very well,” he said. “Everybody has plenty of water. It does get hot here, but it is what it is. But it was a great time.”

Fortunato said it’s a great charity event.

“Aristocrat gave $50,000 for scholarships for the kids, and we're promoting that to the Comanches, and we're excited about doing it,” he said. “And we also actually funded a lot. We gave a major donation for this.”

Fortunato said he wanted to get involved with the tribes.

“That's part of our motive. I mean, the president of our company, James Starr, is actually heavily involved in all Indian gaming, and Comanche happens to be one of my accounts,” he said. “He's a great leader. We have great leadership on top, and we just want to give back.”

Fortunato and Assistant Slot Manager for Comanche Nation Casino Eric Merdan agreed it was well organized.

“It was a great event. It was done well. The prizes were organized,” Fortunato said.

“It's nice to get out there, meet people, play with people you don't usually hang around with,” Merdan said. “It was a good time.”

“It was a good time. It wasn't just Comanche,” Fortunato said. “There was people here from Kiowa. There's all kinds of people here, so it was a great event.”

Brayden Miller, who works at the Comanche Nation as an administration receptionist, played in the tournament. He's passionate about golf and has been swinging a club since he was four.

“Back at that age, I just remember going out with my grandfather, having fun, swinging certain clubs that were my favorite, like the three iron was my favorite club,” he said. “Didn't really know the gist of the game, just knew I wanted to hit the ball far. And back then, it was just nothing but fun and trying to out-drive my grandfather.”

Miller said that players want to have fun at every tournament and every round.

“At the core of golf, it's really just having fun,” he said. “If you're not having fun, it's going to be pretty miserable because golf is hard. So, when it comes to scrambles, you really want to try to lock in and do your best. But at the end of the day, you still want to have fun. So, for me, it really doesn't differ from just a weekend round with my friends to a scramble. It's just if you do good on one of them, you may win some money or some golf clubs. And on others, if you do good, you just have bragging rights with your friends.”

The game, Miller said, is also a roller coaster.

“Because you can have spurts to where you play some of the worst golf you ever played for weeks on end, weekends,” he said. “And then you question, like, ‘Why do I pay all this money to play so horribly?’ But then you have that one shot or that one round, and it draws you right back in. So, it's very common. And when you play golf, you just have to realize that that's something that's going to come with the game, it's really about how well you can stick it out and improve and go out and try your best the next round.”

Miller said he and his team spent most of their time at the tournament networking.

“We were just so busy conversating with everybody else; the golf kind of took a backseat at the time,” he said. “So, it was really good just to meet everybody, shake hands, say hi. You seen a lot of people, friends, family members, co-workers. So, it was impressive. I think I hit a pretty decent ball off the first hole. It wasn't anything great, but it was a par 3. Par 3s are pretty hard holes to start on just because you've got to be the most accurate on par 3s.”

He said Comanche Nation Gaming's hospitality and prizes were a highlight of the tournament.