The Charlie’s Maine Open made an impressive comeback June 24-26 at the Augusta Country Club.

Bill Kennedy, Golf Columnist Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

“We are pleased to see the return of the traditional Maine Open,” said Brian Bickford, executive director of Maine Golf.

This prime Maine golf event had not been held in four years, so there was some question as to whether or not it would be successful. That said, the consensus among players in the 126-man field was that the tournament had strong competition and was run very well.

Geographically speaking, it definitely was a diverse event. Players came from 16 states and Toronto, Ontario. Those states, in addition to Maine, were: Maryland, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Nevada, Texas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina and Washington.

Clearly, these players weren’t traveling to distant Maine for the experience, although it is reasonably safe to say they enjoyed Vacationland.

Many of them are on tour, hitting the state opens of states in the northeast, each of them hoping to gain status as pros and amateurs.

The champion, Sean Bosdosh (61-69-69—199, -11) is from Clarksburg, Maryland. That trip to Maine netted him the first-place prize of $5,000. Caleb Manuel of Topsham (69-64-68—201, – 9) was the runner-up, which earned him $3,000. Beyond Manuel, no Mainer finished in the top 10, so it was a tournament dominated by out-of-staters.

Manuel, by the way, recently turned pro, so the money he made is the beginning of what he hopes will be a successful career in golf.

The best scores posted by amateurs were a pair of Maine juniors — Jack Quinn of Litchfield and Elliot Spaulding of Freeport (209, -1), which earned them $650 in pro shop credit. Former Martindale player Andrew Slattery was third (213, +3) in the amateur bracket, which got him $450 in pro shop credit.

Slattery was tied for 28th overall, along with Shawn Warren, a perennial Maine pro golf champion, which is proof that the 2024 Maine Open was not just the comeback tournament of the year, but a high-level golf skill event.

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Maine Golf has no playdays during the week because of Fourth of July.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 12th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.