Steiner

Shooting your first hole-in-one is always exciting.

Having someone hand you a check for $25,000 after doing so is even better.

Mike Steiner of East Brady lived that dream at the 12th annual Wetsel Golf Outing, nailing the par 3, 192-yard No. 4 hole at the Lakeview Golf Course's Peak Course in Harrisonburg, Va.

That pre-selected hole was a closest-to-the-pin hole, but Steiner scored the ace using a 5-wood.

"It was very exciting. It's the first time it ever happened at the tournament," said Steiner, 47, a seed manager at Wetsel Inc. in Kittanning.

"The most (offered) before was $10,000, but we had two sponsors on the hole so they upped the ante to $25,000.

"(Todd Bond, of Mountain View Seeds of Salem, Ore., one of the hole sponsors) told me, 'Mike, you just hit it right at it.' Not three seconds later, it was in the hole," Steiner added.

Steiner, who has been employed by Wetsel for 20 years, said a sore elbow made him make a minor adjustment.

"It was a downhill shot and I'd typically use my 3-wood, but my elbow was sore from a few holes earlier, so I used the 5-wood," Steiner said.

Shooting a hole-in-one, especially on that hole, was the furthest thing from Steiner's mind.

"We were about five holes from being done and we were just in a good-time mode," said Steiner. "The hole got backed up by a foursome in front of us. They all didn't hit the green, so we waited.

"There was a little more pressure because there were more people standing around, but you'd never think about making that shot," he added.

Steiner, who usually shoots about six to 10 rounds a year, has been playing golf since his days at East Brady High School. By his recollection, the trip to Virginia was his eighth or ninth at the company outing.

That foursome in Harrisonburg got another bonus: They placed second overall with a score of 136.

Steiner already has plans for the money, including investing in CDs "until we decide what to do. And we did donate some to our church and we'll keep some for Uncle Sam,"said Steiner.

Despite the onset of fall, Steiner still plans a few more golf tournaments, including his church outing and another one in Toronto next month.

Still, it will be hard to top what he did last month.