Better by 40

GENEVA — Only one of the Patriots played well enough in their first 18-hole event to break 100 strokes.

Two weeks later, they got another crack at a full round of golf. Two of the players that shot over 100 broke the century mark, a new golfer to the lineup brought in a similar score and Tucker Griffin shaved 13 strokes to plant himself in the top 10.

The Jay County High School boys golf team shaved 40 strokes off its previous 18-hole score to finish with a 370 and net seventh at the South Adams Invitational on Saturday at Wabash Valley Golf Club.

Bluffton won the event with a score of 331, followed closely behind by Fremont with 335 strokes. The rest of the top five was made up of Norwell (352), Northeastern (352) and Monroe Central (358).

The only other school to finish ahead of the Patriots in the 11-team field was Adams Central, which shot a 366. While JCHS didn’t manage to climb any higher than seventh, a combined effort from the Patriots improved their previous 18-hole score of 410 strokes at the Yorktown Invitational by 40.

“I was pleased with everybody,” said JCHS coach Jay Houck. “I think everybody that played at Yorktown improved by a good amount of shots, so I was pleased with that. Tucker, our No. 1, had never played this course before and shot a pretty good round. I was pleased with everyone overall and how we played.”

The largest improvement came from Griffin, who finished with a 95 at Yorktown and shaved 13 strokes off his score for an 82. His score was good enough to crack the top 10 and land him in a three-way tie for fourth place with Cohen West (Monroe Central) and Declan Grieser (Bluffton). (He was two strokes behind the three golfers that tied for match medalist honors.)

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t even think I was going to make top 10,” Griffin said. “So, I guess I’m happy but like I said, I should have shot a 79, so I should have been higher up on the plaques but I’ll take it at the end of the day.”

Griffin started the match off well with back-to-back pars on the 410-yard, par-4 fifth hole and the 346-yard, par-4 sixth. He said on the fifth he drove to the point of a layup, hit a wedge onto the green, messed up his third shot before chipping in. The senior made par more conventionally, capped off with a 10 foot putt on the sixth hole he said. He went on to make par six more times and a birdie on hole No. 2, a par 5.

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Jay County boys golf at South Adams Invitational (4/26/2025)

It was putting that burned Griffin in the match. He sighted three instances where he struggled with the short game and it led to a lower score than he’d wanted.

“I go back and look at three shots,” Griffin said. “I three-putted for par on a hole, so I should have birdied that. I missed a 1-foot birdie putt and I three-putted from 10 feet. So really, that would have been 79 easily just right there. I’m not overall mad about how I played, but I definitely could have been better.”

Cody DeHoff and Dawson Goldsworthy also made strides forward, cutting 10 and eight strokes off their previous scores, respectively.

Similar to Griffin, DeHoff got off to a hot start, shooting a bogey on the sixth hole, before earning pars on the seventh and eighth. He made three more pars and bogeys en route to a 95.

Goldworthy’s highlight came on the 120-yard, par-3 15th hole, in which he shot a birdie. He supplemented the hole with three pars and five bogeys to finish with a 97.

The final Patriot score came from Isaac Homan with a 96. He made par four times, including the 146-yard, par-3 18th hole. His drive landed him on the front left corner of the fringe, just eight yards away from the cup. He chipped up to within five feet before sinking the putt for par.

Beckett Brandenburg, who was making his varsity debut, finished with 111 strokes that didn’t impact the final.

“I thought players’ attitudes were good today,” said Houck. “An 18-hole match is a long, long day. Being mentally sharp is one of the main things in shooting a good score and I thought we did that well today.”