Mann sinks hole-in-one

Griffin Mann has dedicated himself to the game of golf.

He was anticipating a regional berth as a sophomore, but a broken finger derailed those hopes.

Although his junior season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Portland resident never stopped playing.

His practice paid off on Friday.

Mann, a 17-year-old Jay County High School junior, recorded his first career hole-in-one Friday at Portland Golf Club.

“It was an awesome feeling and I even shot a career-best round that day,” Mann said. “Having a ‘1’ on the scorecard tends to help though.”

Mann said he hadn’t been playing his best golf lately, but was putting together a halfway decent round Friday afternoon as he, Tommy Oswalt and Chris Snow were taking advantage of nice weather and using the course as a way to practice proper social distancing.

After making birdie on the 12th hole, Mann and the others made their way to the par-3 13th, which was playing about 150 yards.

Mann, who also noted he hadn’t been striking his irons squarely recently, pulled out his 8-iron and let his shot go from the tee box.

The ball landed on the green about 15 feet from the hole, rolled toward the pin and hit a piece of foam in the cup to prevent golfers from having to touch the pin and potentially spread COVID-19.

“It was a unique hole-in-one since it has the foam in there guarding the hole but I’ll take it,” Mann said.

Mann’s score of 76 was a new career low. Snow shot 71, and Oswalt finished with 88.