CUMBERLAND – It was a long putt, over 50 feet, and the ball rolled to a stop maybe two inches from the cup on the right side.

“I needed it to go in,” said Joe Baker. “I hit it on line, but it didn’t break. I kind of expected that in this match not to go in ’cause I really couldn’t get anything rolling.”

It proved to be his last shot of the day on the par-5, 13th hole as 16-year-old Jesse Speirs of Bangor retained his state junior title in the 15-17-year-old division with a 6-and-5 match play win over Baker in the 67th annual Maine Junior Golf Championship at Val Halla Golf Club Thursday.

Speirs, who took the title away from a more than capable Shawn Warren of Windham as a 15-year-old last year, basically led the three-day event from start to finish. He posted the best qualifying round on Tuesday and had little trouble with the resulting match play competition.

“He played great,” said Baker. “He made it so I had to make birdies to beat him. When you have to make birdies to beat someone, that’s tough to do.”

“I know he was playing good coming into the match,” said Speirs. “I think he probably would have liked to have played a little better. But because I knew how well he was playing, I knew I had to get my irons closer than what I was doing and make a few more putts. I was able to do that today.”

Baker won the first hole and the pair was even moving to the fifth tee. As they played the ninth, Speirs had a 1-up advantage. His second shot on that hole changed the match for good.

“I followed him (Baker) into the hazard which wasn’t a smart idea in match play,” said Speirs. “I had a fairly open view to the green and I just had to keep it low. I used my two-iron.”

“He hit a two-iron about 200 yards and through a tree branch,” said Maine State Golf Association Junior director Tom Kimball. “He stuck it on the green maybe 5-6 feet from the pin. Amazing.”

Speirs won the hole to go up 2-up and ran the table for the win.

The pair earned their spots in the championship match by winning semifinal matches earlier in the day. Speirs edged John Kostis, 2-and-1 while Baker topped Victor Linkovich, 5 and 4.

Girls

For the first time there was a separate girls’ division and the winner was Shannon Maxwell, a junior from Brunswick High School. She bested Rebecca Dyer in the championship match, 7-and-5.

” I really felt I was on my game today,” said Maxwell. “I tried to shoot pars and boogies the best I could. I really wanted a birdie though. I didn’t have one all day.”

Maxwell never trailed in the match and was 5-up as the pair moved to the back nine.

Only three girls competed in the newly created division.

I was kind of disappointed that there weren’t more girls competing,” said Shannon.

Dyer advanced to play Maxwell with a 1-up win over Kate Merrill.

12 and under

Ryan Gay of Gardiner took home the championship trophy in the 12-and-under division with a 3-and-2 win over Gorham’s David Gushee.

“It feels really great to win,” said a smiling Gay as all four of the division semifinalists hung out together after the match. All four know each other well from playing in other youth events.

Gay beat Gabe Katz 4-and-3 while Gushee ousted Matt Cambell with a 4-and-2 win in the morning’s semifinal action.

13-14 division

The most suspenseful match of the day was the 13-14-year-old division and it came down to the 18th hole.

Cameron Burgess took advantage of Michael Amato’s wide-right approach shot to the green on the final hole, then played it conservatively himself to post a 2-up win and claim the title.

Amato held a 2-up lead through the eighth hole but a three-putt allowed Burgess to close the gap. Burgess evened the score on 10.

“Fourteen was the deciding hole,” said Burgess. “I was about 40 yards out from the green and I pulled it for an eagle.”

After laying up on 18 as Amato dealt with a tough shot, Burgess put an exclamation point on the day by sinking a 15-footer to close it out.

In the morning semifinal action, Burgess advanced by defeating Michael Hersey, 2-up and Amato took Jackie Royal, 1-up.

Pmullen@sunjournal.com

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