Thus far, the 2018 golf season has been a good one for Kristin Kannegieser of Minot.

On June 10, she won the Maine State Golf Association Mixed Championship at Cape Arundel, and a day later she was named to the Women’s Maine Tri-State Team which will compete June 18-20 with teams from Vermont and New Hampshire at the Rochester (N.H.) Country Club.

She credits this early season success to her son, Will, who is a rising junior at Williams College. Will was Kristin’s mixed partner with the two shooting a 4-under-par 65 to win the state title by five strokes.

“Going back to when Will was at Gould Academy,” she said, “he asked me to play golf with him, and it got me back into the game.”

Will plays on the Williams golf team, which is at the Division III level, but he also is on the Williams ski team, which competes at the Division I level. In addition, Will has a 3.6 GPA. He is working in Williamstown this summer for the Williams Outing Club for six weeks, and is scheduled to spend his junior year abroad.

“He is a driven young man,” his mother said.

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And he might be a chip off the old block, because Kristin Kannegieser was a nordic skier as an undergraduate at the University of Vermont. Over the years, she has won women’s golf club championships at Springbrook, Martindale and Portland, along with two Maine Women’s Amateur titles in 2007 and 2010, and a Maine Women’s Senior crown in 2017.

Of their first championship together, Kristin said: “We happened to jell well. This year, I made some putts, and Will holed out a 110-yard shot from a difficult lie. We were lucky.”

All true, but it takes more skill than good fortune to win a state championship tournament by five shots.

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The Maine State Golf Association has announced its lineup for the Division I, II and III teams for the June 18-20 Tri-State competition at the Rochester (N.H.) Country Club.

The Division I squad is Carrie Lengevin of Portland, Kristin Kannegiesser of Martindale, Kathy O’Grady of Woodlands, Ruth Colucci of Biddeford-Saco, Laurie Hyndman of Woodlands, Cecily Whiting of Woodlands, Micki Megison of Sable Oaks, Melissa Johnson of Martindale, Nancy Carlson of Rockland and Ruby Haylock of Turner Highlands.

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The Division II team includes Heidi Haylock of Turner Highlands, Peggy Wilson of Biddeford-Saco, Joy Eon of Biddeford-Saco, Vicki Lundquist of Natanis, Sue Wootton of Rockland, Linda Holmes of Wawenock, Sherie Thomas of Penobscot Valley, Marlene Viger of Bangor Municipal, Elaine Politis of Prouts Neck, Diane Herring of Hermon Meadow, Nancy Hart of Hermon Meadow and Susie Gould of Augusta.

The Division III lineup is Meriby Sweet of Wawenock, Bobbi Berry of Sheepscot Links, Birdie Pearse of Goose River, Norma Michaud of Springbrook, Kathy Sproul of Sheepscot Links, Judy Edgecomb of The Meadows, Sue Coffin of Penobscot Valley and Irene Schultz of the Links at Outlook.

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Reese McFarlane of Purpoodock, who was featured in this column June 10 for having shot a 60 at Fairlawn May 26 in and MSGA Weekend event, was medalist June 14 with a 69 at the Maine Amateur qualifier at Biddeford-Saco, where 31 players qualified for the Maine Amateur on July 10-12 at Belgrade Lakes.

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The MSGA tournament schedule for the week is a Maine Amateur qualifier June 18 at Webhannet, Women’s Weekly Events on June 19 at Dutch Elm and Bath, Maine Amateur qualifier June 21 at Martindale, and the Four-Ball Championship on June 22 and 23 at Sable Oaks.

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If you have been watching any of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills this weekend, you have learned it is a difficult golf course for anyone to play. More on that subject in next week’s column.


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