BOOTHBAY – Being a high seed at the 86th Maine Amateur at Boothbay Country Club was great in the first round of match play Wednesday.
On Thursday, it was a death sentence.
No. 1 Shawn Warren, No. 2 Jason Gall, No. 3 Scott Stone, No. 4 Tom Bean and No. 8 Eric Higgins all lost Wednesday, leaving two-time defending champion Ricky Jones, seeded No. 6, as the highest remaining seed in the tournament. Jones, of Thomaston, joins No. 7 Todd Kirn, formerly of Rumford and now of Kennebunk, No. 12 Corey Poulin of Jackman and No. 16 Joe Alvarez of Bangor in today’s semifinals.
The four golfers are no stranger to elite competition, either, nor to the final four at the Maine Amateur.
Alvarez, who survived his first match against Warren, 2-and-1, and cruised in his second against Higgins 4-and-3, played in the stroke play portion of the 2003 U.S. Amateur.
Poulin, who hung on to beat James Frost, Jr. 2-and-1 in the afternoon round after edging Nate Nealey in the morning session, 1-up, was in the final in 2001 at Augusta Country Club.
Jones is, of course, the two-time defending champ. He rebounded to defeat former professional Marc Siewertsen in the first round, and again hung on in round two to oust Scott DeWitt 2-and-1.
Kirn played in the final four in 2002 at Falmouth. He upended Blake Eldridge of Springbrook with a spectacular pitch-in for eagle on the 18th hole in the afternoon’s only tight match to advance to the semifinal round for the second time in four years. Eldridge had eliminated Gall in the round of 16, 3-and-2, while Kirn had defeated Bob Adams, 4-and-3.
“You have to think playing a guy like Blake, you’re going to go the whole 18 holes,” said Kirn.
Eldridge took the first lead of the match on the second with an eight-foot birdie putt, but lost the next two to fall behind Kirn.
Kirn then gave away two of the next three, only to rebound with a solid win at the ninth, sending the match to the back nine all square.
Kirn made par on the tenth to take the lead again, and was poised to give it back on the 11th before Eldridge four-putted to lose the hole.
“I fell asleep putting on that green,” said Eldridge. “After that, though, I knew I needed to turn it on.”
After saving a nice par on the 12th, Eldridge won two in a row to square the match, only to once again make bogey at 15 to fall one back.
On the 17th, Eldridge sank a 50-footer for birdie to extend the match to the 18th, only to lose when Kirn pitched in.
“I really thought I had him after the drives,” said Eldridge.
Frost, meanwhile, was on the comeback trail, down just one with two holes to play, when his wedge snapped while he hit his tee ball on the 17th hole. The ball made it down the hill and landed in the right bunker, from which Frost made bogey. Poulin sank a 12-footer for par to end the match.
“Corey looked at it, he does a lot with clubs,” said Frost, a fifth-year senior at USM this fall. “It looks like someone had cut the shaft to make the club head fit, and you’re not supposed to do that. It’s disappointing, but I’m only 22. There’ll be more.”
Warren seemed primed to make a run this year after missing last year’s event at Sanford, but Alvarez had other ideas
After falling behind Warren by three through 10 holes, Alvarez rallied to birdie three of his next five holes and won four of five to go ahead by one.
“That’s the great thing about match play,” said Alvarez. “The momentum can just swing like that.”
Alvarez hung on, and won the match 2-and-1 after Warren dumped a wedge into the trees on the par-3 17th.
Eldridge, meanwhile, upended Gall, the No 2 seed, after Gall made a five on the par-3 15th hole and lipped out a putt on the 16th.
“It’s not really how I wanted to win it, but I’ll take it,” said Eldridge.
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