Middle of the pack in the middle of the Mid-Amateur?

At this stage of his life, where golf is recreation but not an obsession, that’s OK with Craig Chapman.

“I haven’t been playing that great, to be honest,” Chapman said. “The caliber of amateur golf in Maine right now is just so good. It has gotten a lot better from what I can tell. It’s hard to win anything.”

Auburn’s Chapman shot 78 Saturday in the first round of the Maine State Golf Association tournament at York Golf and Tennis Club.

That tied him for 14th, eight shots off leader Keith Patterson II’s pace, in the clubhouse. The tournament concludes Sunday at a newer, neighboring course, The Ledges.

Of the MSGA’s “major” annual events, including the Maine Amateur, Charlie’s Maine Open and Match Play Championship, it’s the Mid-Am that probably fits Chapman and many golfers in his demographic the best.

“You have to be 25-and-over,” Chapman said. “What they wanted to do I think is kind of get the college guys out of there. It’s a little bit of an older field.”

Not that it makes life any easier. In addition to Patterson, the field includes Ricky Jones, who has won every notable event on the Maine golf landscape at least once, and reigning Maine Amateur champion Andrew Slattery.

Slattery defeated 20-year-old Division I college player Joe Walp by one stroke to win this year’s Maine Amateur. Drew Powell, 16, of Bangor, was third.

“There’s no doubt about it. Joe Walp, Johnny Hayes. I can’t even think of all of them,” Chapman said. “They’re tough. I have learned a lot just by playing against them in the weekly events.”

Chapman, 32, an accountant in his everyday life, plays recreationally out of Fox Ridge Golf Club.

On summer weekends, he teams up with Slattery of Minot, work colleague Jeff Leonardo of Turner and Don Flanagan of Monmouth in MSGA events.

“I’ve learned a ton from Andrew, even though he’s a lot younger than I am,” Chapman said. “That’s a pretty good group.”

Individual accomplishments took a back seat to team success this year. Chapman fell shy of qualifying for the tri-state team, which fell just shy against New Hampshire in its bid for a third consecutive championship one week ago.

And that’s all fine with Chapman, too.

“To be honest, I don’t try to keep up with anybody,” Chapman said. “I play golf just to keep that competitive feeling. The Maine Amateur, tournaments like that, realistically I’m not going to win. I’m doing it more to have fun and compete.”

Chapman played his junior and senior years on the varsity team at Bryant College in Rhode Island.

It was an NCAA Division II school then. Today it’s known as Bryant University and competes in Division I.

“I only started playing when I was 15,” Chapman said. “Four or five years old they’re out there now. It’s unbelievable. It’s really cool. We need that.”

More concerned with experience than the numbers on the scorecard, Chapman said Sunday’s venue was what attracted him to this year’s Mid-Am.

Ledges, a sister course to Fox Ridge, opened in 1999. Every hole provides a different challenge than the one preceding it.

“It kind of feels like home,” Chapman said.

A place where he can be right in the middle of things.

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