The Maine State Golf Association is conducting its 102nd Amateur Championship July 13-15, and it appears to be a wide-open event in terms of who will emerge as the champion.

Kebo Valley in Bar Harbor, one of Maine’s historic golf courses, is the site of this year’s Maine Am. The history about “Kebo” is that it is Maine’s oldest golf course, opening in 1888, and the site of the Amateur in 1960, 1962, 1964, 1981, 1988, 1998, and 2010, so it is rich in Amateur championship lore.

It was no easy fete for the 132 players in the field to earn their spot. A total of 54 players qualified with their performances in the 2020 Amateur at Biddeford-Saco, won by 19-year-old Cole Anderson of Samoset Resort. Anderson will not be in this year’s field because he will be playing in the Southern Amateur in Mississippi, which is fairly near where he attends college at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Between automatic qualifiers and three open qualifiers in Maine, 306 players made bids to be among the 132 at Kebo Valley. So, no hackers will be playing Kebo this week.

Tournament trivia is abundant:

• The 132 players in this event are from 40 golf clubs across the state, and from 11 of Maine’s 16 counties.

• Biddeford-Saco has the most players in the field with 15, followed by Brunswick (11), Fox Ridge (7), Val Halla (7), Portland and The Woodlands (6). The host club, Kebo Valley, has four players competing.

• There is one father-and-son duo in the field: Andy Spaulding and his son Elliot, both members at Brunswick. There are two sets of brothers competing in the championship: Michael (Riverside) and Joe (Portland) Walp, and Jace (Martindale) and Vance (Fox Ridge) Pearson.

• The oldest player in the field is Jim Quinn of Augusta (73), and the youngest is Kellen Adickes of Wawenoc(14). The average age for the field is 35.4 years.

• There are 30 players in the field with a Handicap Index of 0.0 or better. The average handicap Index for the field is 2.1, again proof that all 132 players have earned their way into the field.

• Several players from Sun Journal’s circulation area clubs are entered in the Amateur. Among them are: Fox Ridge linksmen Gary Calani, Craig Chapman, James Frost, Jordan Jones, Cameron Marquis, Vance Pearson and Aaron Perkins; Joe Baker and Thomas Bean, both of Norway; Brian J. Bilodeau, Nathan Gould, Jace Pearson, Matthew Ouellette and Matthew Simard, all of Martindale; and Fairlawn’s Chris Cloutier and Joe Briant.

• Alexander Cook, Brian Henderson and Dan Flanagan will represent Springbrook, while individual players and their clubs are: Larry Ross of Poland Spring and Stephen Holt of Point Sebago.

Many thanks to Mike Doran, director of communications for the MSGA, for compiling much of this data, which he sent it to members of the media.

*****

The charity golf match held on the scenic Montana golf course July 6 most certainly got the attention of many golfers, who had a variety of opinions on that “competition.” Their thoughts ranged from “this type of match is bad for golf,” to “it was a fun event.”

From the standpoint of this golf columnist, who happens to be a big Phil Mickelson fan, anything involving Mickelson is going to be entertaining. That is what was provided by “Lefty” and his supporting cast of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Bryson DeChambeau.

One comment, however. Brady and Rodgers insisted they have not been playing much golf. They played so well that it is very difficult to believe that they are not playing golf on a regular basis.

*****

The MSGA tournament schedule for the week includes a Junior Tour event July 15 at Natanis, along with two Women’s Play Days July 13 at Cape Neddick and Turner Highlands. The State Women’s Amateur championship will be July 20-22 at Bangor Municipal. No men’s play days are slated because of the Men’s Amateur Championship.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor, now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his ninth season as Sun Journal golf columnist. 

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