AUBURN – It wasn’t the most spectacular round ever played at Fox Ridge, but John Hickson wasn’t worrying about shattering records on Friday.

All he cared about was making putts.

And he did. Plenty of them.

Hickson carded a 1-over-par 73 for a three-day total of 6-under-par 210 at Fox Ridge Golf Club, earning his first ever Charlie’s Maine Open championship win by two strokes over last year’s runner-up, Rich Parker of Lebanon, N.H.

“It’s very cool,” Hickson said. “That’s how it feels. I’ve finished in the top 25 at the national club pro tournament, and I played once in the PGA, but different tournaments have different feels to them. This one is nice.”

Hickson began the day tied for the lead with Windham’s Shawn Warren, who had posted a 6-under-par 66 in Round 1, and one ahead of Samoset pro Jeff Seavey.

“You know how some nights, you sleep good?” Hickson said. “Last night I didn’t, so I knew I’d start to have a little bit of a loss of focus.”

After the first hole, Hickson had the lead by himself, and after two holes he led by two. No one got closer the rest of the way.

The war of attrition in the final group began early. Warren bogeyed his first four holes, and Seavey stood at 3-over after three holes with a bogey and a double bogey on his card. Hickson calmly went about making pars, and led by three shots after three holes.

Warren made a couple of birdies to settle himself down, but the putter again failed him on the ninth, his fourth three-putt of the round to that point.

“I tried to make a couple of them and ran them by four feet,” Warren said. “I got kind of scared of the greens and tentative, and when you get tentative out on fast greens, you start to miss putts.”

Seavey hung in there, too, and through 10 holes was just two back. But a bogey at the 11th and two more at the 14th and 15th holes left Hickson well out in front.

“The putter just didn’t want to play along today,” Seavey said.

Warren, meanwhile, tried to make up some ground at the par-5 13th hole, and pulled his second shot into the fescue left and made bogey. His tee shot at the island-green 14th hole then found the water, ending his chances with four holes to play.

“I was trying to make up some shots,” Warren said. “I’m out here to win the tournament, not just to play. I hit a pretty aggressive shot into the par-3, taking a club that was just barely going to clear the water, and I pulled it a little bit and it went into the drink.”

Parker, meanwhile, played steady, and turned on his game at the end of the round, finishing with three consecutive birdies to post a 69, good for 4-under-par for the three-day tournament and second place.

“The car ride home is going to be a lot better than last year,” Parker said. “No banging the steering wheel this time.”

Last year, Parker missed a 12-footer on the 17th that ended up potentially costing him the tournament.

Hickson started to fall back to Parker later Friday. He bogeyed the 15th hole with a three-putt, and put himself in trouble and made bogey on the 16th, dropping him to 6-over for the tourney. He steadied the ship at No. 17, but nearly dunked his ball in the water from 140 yards on the 18th.

He salvaged par, though, and raised his hand to salute the applauding fans as his putt fell into the hole.

Eric Egloff of Maryland had the round of the day with a 68 to move into a three-way tie for third place with Seavey and Warren. Robert Kalinowski of Massachusetts placed sixth alone at 1-under-par 215.

Keegan Fennessy of Minot fired a 2-under-par 70 on Friday to finish the tournament at even par, securing the prize for the low amateur, while Fox Ridge’s Bob Darling earned first place in the Davis Richardson senior pro division with his 11-over-par, 227 finish.

The Richardson Senior Division is named in honor of longtime MSGA employee and Maine Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Richardson, without whose help the Maine Open would not have been as successful as it has been over the years. The seniors compete for a $5,000 purse over 36 holes of competition and can still move on if they make the cut for the tournament proper.