Eric Higgins of Kennebunk held off several final round charges to win his first ever Maine Amateur golf championship last Thursday afternoon at the Waterville Country Club in Oakland. Higgins plays out of the Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport. His final round score of 69 gave him a 54-hole total of 209 and a one-stroke win over Toby Spector of Waterville.
Joseph Alvarez of Hampden finished the tourney at 211 and Lance Libby and 13-time Maine Amateur winner Mark Plummer both came in at 212.
The 126-player field that started the tourney on July 10, included the father and son combination of John Hayes III and Johnny Hayes IV, both of whom play out of the Purpoodock Country Club. John played well and just missed the cut for the final round coming in at 154. Johnny played solid golf as well as he concluded 36 holes at 148 to earn his way into the final day. (The cut was set at 152 as the top 40 players and ties after two rounds moved into the championship round.)
“Playing with Ricky Jones and Joe Alvarez was awesome,” said Johnny Hayes, the current Maine Junior champion. “They’re really good players. I was kind of nervous teeing off first and playing with them, but the second day I got used to it.”
Johnny was 11 strokes back of the leader at the start of the last 18 holes of play and he was hoping to close that gap as much as he could. His score of 75 left him with a three-day total of 223 – good enough for 14th place, but not as good as Hayes would have liked.
“My driver was really good till the last day, but I didn’t play too well. I didn’t hit my irons well at all,” said John Hayes IV.
Other local golfers who reached the final round were Eric Crouse (Nonesuch River) and Brandon Wohl (Nonesuch River). Crouse finished at 221 and Wohl came in at 225.
Other local entrants who played in rounds one and two were:
Tobey Buteau (Willowdale) 158
Mike O’Brien (Sable Oaks) 158
Mark Henderson (Willowdale) 158
Cash Wiseman (Sable Oaks) 157
Matt Bernstein (Purpoodock) 163
Chris King (Willowdale) 163
Eric Whitmore (Nonesuch River) 169
Send questions/comments to the editors.
