Tony Ballard’s friends and family thought he was crazy when he brought up the idea of playing 48 rounds of golf in 48 states in 48 days. But he wanted to get people’s attention as he raised funds for brain cancer research, so he stuck with it, and Ballard &045; or &uot;Cart Man&uot; &045; is now two-thirds done with his tour of the lower 48 states after a visit to Albert Lea Monday.

&uot;Sometimes you have to do something outrageous to get people’s attention,&uot; said Ballard, who runs a paint contracting business in Falls Church, Va. when he isn’t playing golf. He said no one else has ever done a tour like this one.

He’s getting people’s attention to raise money for brain cancer research partly because his mother is living with the disease. He started planning this fundraiser last spring after she had to have surgery.

It took him several weeks to come up with a travel plan that would work. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle; he would have a route worked out through six states only to find it wouldn’t work at all in the seventh and he’d have to go back to the beginning.

Albert Lea was his stop in Minnesota, where he played at Green Lea Golf Course Monday morning. It was his 32nd game of 18-hole golf in 32 days. Monday he also played a course in Iowa, and tomorrow he plays in Wisconsin.

And what’s his game like, you may ask?

&uot;I said I would play golf in 48 states, but I didn’t promise I would play well,&uot; said Ballard. He plays with a 15 handicap and his scores have ranged between 78 and 90 so far.

He’s played in a variety of conditions.

&uot;I’ve played in snow, in wind, and in driving rain,&uot; said Ballard. In Florida there wasn’t any lightning, but the rainfall was so heavy it felt like people were pouring buckets over his head and spraying a fire hose in his face. He kept having to retrieve his ball as it floated away. It must have made quite a spectacle for the other golfers, watching him with field glasses from inside the clubhouse, he said.

Golf courses have been helpful, waiving the greens fees whenever he’s shown up, and the golf pros have been supportive. He’s paying his other expenses out of his own pocket.

Getting people’s attention and raising money has turned out to be more challenging than he thought it would be last spring. His goal is to raise $500,000, but some major donors had to back out of sponsorships after the events of Sept. 11. Other challenges have come on the road, as a biker riot in a Nevada casino happened the day he was there and the news in Iowa was all about pipe bombs in mail boxes when he was playing in that state.

He was asked to postpone the tour until 2003, but decided to stay with his original schedule because he wants his mother to see how he does. She has been told she should only expect to live a couple more years.

Ballard liked Albert Lea’s Green Lea course, ranking it among the top 5 of the 32 he’s played on so far. He said he’d like to come back and play again, when he isn’t on whirlwind tour of the country. It would be nice to actually spend a couple of days in many of the places he’s played in, to meet more of the people and take more time with his game, he said.

He may just do that, too.

&uot;This isn’t a one-time deal. Wait until next year,&uot; he said.

He has sponsors for the tour, but he also encourages others to donate. He has a Web site with more information about the project at www.dabstuff.com. People who want to contribute can send checks made out to &uot;Tour of the lower 48&uot; to P.O. Box 2638, Falls Church, VA, 22042-2638.

&uot;I wish that with 40 million golfers in this country, each one would find a way to send at least $1,&uot; said Ballard.