Briggs & Stratton will not fire unless I do This....

Hello Everyone,

I am in a bit of a bind and need some help!

I have a 19.5 HP twin cylinder model#4617047 Briggs & Stratton in a Craftsman LT1000 riding mower.

I have no spark, I checked the kill wire and all related switches. I removed the kill wire from the coil, I think that eliminates all safety switches. I have checked the coil contact points, they are clean and the coil is tight. I checked and rechecked the coil clearance to the fly wheel. I replaced the coil.

I removed the boot from one of the spark plug wires and plugged the wire back onto the plug, if I place a screw driver on top of the spark plug wire while it's still plugged to the spark plug and ground the other end the engine will fire and stay running
until I remove the ground. HELP

I thought the engine might be missing a good ground, although it cranks over fine, so I used a jumper cable to run a ground directly to the engine block, the head and no go.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Briggs & Stratton will not fire unless I do This....