Mann fires career-best score

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Griffin Mann wasn’t pleased with his practice round on Monday.

He shot in the 50s, knowing full well he is capable of playing better.

A day later — in a match nonetheless — he fired the best round of his short career.

Mann ended the first 9-hole round of his sophomore season by finishing with a 41 in the Jay County High School boys golf team’s 178-206 loss to the Richmond Red Devils at Portland Golf Club.

“I just relaxed really,” said Mann, who played from the No. 1 spot and improved his score 14 strokes from his practice round the previous day. “I told myself to not get so frustrated after my bad shots and to have fun. It helped me make a lot better contact with the ball, especially with my irons.”

A string of shots in the middle of his round certainly helped him play better, too.

On the par-5 sixth hole, Mann drained a downhill putt from about 15 feet away to save par. He thought his shot from the tee box on No. 7 didn’t clear the horse pasture on the left, so he took a provisional. After seeing his initial drive made it through, he chipped on the green and putted for his first birdie of the season.

“Luckily it barely got over (the pasture) and hit the cart path, kicking into the fairway,” Mann said. He bested his previous low score by six strokes. “I hit a good second shot to about 15 feet for birdie. I made a good read and thankfully was able to sink the putt.

That sequence, Steinbrenner said, boosted his confidence to his final four holes.

“When he found that ball, the first one that was safe, you see his hole posture just improve,” Steinbrenner said. “”His shoulders go up, his head goes up, he gets a big smile on his face … It’s a confidence game.”

Richmond senior Jake Miller, who committed to Ohio State as a sophomore one of Mann’s playing partners, shot 38 to earn match medalist honors.

Jay County junior Devin Harris shot 51 for the second-best score for the Patriots. Freshman Kyle Sanders carded a 54 in his 9-hole match debut, and classmate Matthew Hall shot 60 to complete the team score.

“He’s got a good future ahead of him if he works at it,” Steinbrenner said of Hall. “He’s got a nice, smooth swing. He’s got a lot of work to do, but if it’s something he works at he’s going to continue to score for the team for years to come.”

Seth Wilson and Joey Hall also competed and shot 64 and 65 respectively, but their scores did not factor into the team total.

Although the Patriots have only competed in two matches so far — they were 16th out of 17 teams on Saturday in the Yorktown Invitational — Steinbrenner likes the makeup of his young, inexperienced team.

“I like their swagger, if you want to call it that,” he said. “I like the way they compose themselves for the most part. They can go out there and they can enjoy a round, they can have a bad round and for the most part they can laugh about it and say ‘I can do better tomorrow.’

“I like the way they present themselves out on the course. That is the type of golfers I want to see on a team.”