Bates golfers playing a round at Martindale in 2016. Martindale is hosting the Maine State Championships next weekend.

Next weekend Martindale Country Club is hosting men’s and women’s college golfers from across the state at the Maine State Championships.

The tourney will be the third of the season for Bates College, whose home course is Martindale. The teams competed in the Bowdoin Invitational this weekend at the Brunswick Golf Club, and will head to Waterville for the University of Maine at Farmington Invitational on Wednesday.

Nick Glicos, a part owner of and head pro at Martindale, and also a coach at Bates, is ecstatic to be hosting the event.

“We have a good roster and we have a lot of good returning players for both teams,” Glicos said. “We are excited about the season and hosting that tournament. I don’t believe we hosted it in the past.”

Glicos said the tournament goes to a different course each year and he jumped on the opportunity to host it in 2017. 

One of the key players for Bates as it tries to have a good showing on its home course players is Kelly Wassarman, who is a key cog on the women’s team. She finished third at the 2016 Maine State Tournament, which was held at Springbrook. On the men’s side, sophomore Julien Lewin saw limited action in 2016, but helped Bates win the best-ball Colby Classic when he and his partner, senior Spencer Pierce, shot a low round of 72.

He believes hosting the tournament and going to a wrap-around season where they will compete in spring tournaments will help bring in better recruits.

Glicos is not only excited for his own team but Maine college golf in general. St. Joseph’s College of Standish and Husson University both went to the NCAA Division III national tournament in May, and are returning majority of their rosters from last season.

“Maine college golf is really on the rise, you look at some of these teams, the Husson team is outstanding and they are well coached by Mike Dugas,” Glicos said. “I also know Jamie Smyth, who is the St. Joe’s coach. They both have very strong rosters. We are building at Bates and we will be competitive in future years.”

St. Joe’s is led by local golfers Adam Hachey (Winthrop) and Cam Letourneau (Hebron), who both were both on the Monks’ team that went to Florida in the spring. This year, Brendon Donovan of Auburn has made appearances in their rotation.

Husson has Taylor Morang, a Winthrop graduate who was apart of the NCAA tournament team, and Adam Poulin, a St. Dom’s graduate, on the roster

The Beavers, meanwhile, will have had four tournaments by the time they reach the Maine State Championships. They started the year finishing third of three teams at University of Southern Maine’s tournament on September 1.

They bounced back this past Tuesday, taking first in the 15th annual John Queenan Memorial Tournament hosted by St. Joe’s, with a score of 306.

Coach Bob Timmins said having a veteran team has helped early on.

One of those veterans is senior Mike Richards, a Turner native and St. Dom’s graduate. He carded an 81 at the Beavers’ victory at Point Sebago.

Other local players on the roster are Charlie de Haas of Winthrop and Russell France, a Mt. Blue graduate. Both players are freshmen.

For the Beavers, most of the players don’t have much experience playing at Martindale, but Timmins isn’t overly concerned.

“We aren’t familiar with Martindale,” Timmins said. “It’s not on our regular circuit so it’s going to be difficult. We are very much so to play it. We have to recognize that golf courses all have certain things in common — that’s fairways and greens.”

The hope for UMF is a strong showing at the Maine State Championships to build momentum for the second half of their season.

“Obviously it’s representative mostly of the colleges in the state,” Timmins said. “You always want to do well. So, yeah it’s a big event.”

The University of Southern Maine, which has Lewiston grads Kyle Morin and Brendon Croteau on the roster will be making the trip north. University of New England, Thomas College, Bowdoin College, Colby College and Maine Maritime Academy are also competing.

Bowdoin  and Husson will have women’s teams competing, as well.

For Martindale, hosting the Maine State Championship winds down a busy tournament season.

“It definitely has been a busy season,” Glicos said. “We didn’t have a lot of rain in the summer. We had a busy tournament tournament schedule. Like you said, we hosted the Women’s Amateur and that was great, hosting this collegiate championship. We hosted a bunch of events for the MSGA, Maine Seniors, Central Maine Seniors. We are a busy place but it’s an exciting place. I think the players enjoy coming to Martindale playing the course. The course is usually in good shape. It’s a full season for sure.”

nfournier@sunjournal.com

Bates senior Kelly Wassarman teeing it up at Martindale in 2016. Martindale is hosting the Maine State Championships next weekend.

Julien Lewin, a Bates sophomore, tee shot at Martindale’s opening hole in 2016. Martindale is hosting the Maine State Championships next weekend.

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