Thanking his grandfather, who passed away last summer, for introducing him to golf, Ryan Gay graciously accepted the 2010 Maine Amateur Championship trophy Thursday afternoon at the Kebo Valley Club in Bar Harbor. It was his second trophy in three years, as he also won the event at Biddeford-Saco Country Club in 2008.
Gay's title was hard-earned over fellow Augusta Country Club member Jason Gall, who had a superb tournament and the tournament's low 18-hole score for the three days with a first-round 67. Gall and Gay spent most of the final day tied before Gall made birdie to take a one-shot lead on 15. But a miscue double bogey on 17 flipped the lead going into the final hole. Gall made a valiant attempt to try to force a playoff, hitting his second shot to about six feet. His birdie putt just lipped out and Gay was able to two-putt for the championship.
Ricky Jones of Rockland, playing in the second group, had the only under par round of the day, and spent a great deal of time tied for the lead. His 69 was good enough to tie him for second with Gall, one shot off the lead. Seth Sweet -- the youngest player in two decades to compete in the final group -- finished in a tie for fourth with former MSGA junior standout Matt Greenleaf.
See complete scoring results here
Notes from the Championship:
This year's Maine Amateur Championship was the 91st hosting of the event, which started in 1918. It was not held in 1942 or 1943 because of the Great War...
This was the seventh time Kebo Valley Club, Maine's oldest club, has hosted the championship. The first was in 1960, when Jim Veno won his first of two...
Thirteen-time Amateur Champ Mark Plummer missed his first event since 1993 with complications from a bleeding ulcer. It was the first time since 1993 that Plummer has missed a championship...
There were four former Amateur Champions in the field: two time champs Ron Brown and Ricky Jones, Eric Crouse, who won the event the last time it was held at Kebo in 1998 (in a playoff over Plummer), and Ryan Gay, the 2008 winner...
Speaking of Brown, this was the 36th consecutive championship for Portland's Ron Brown, who will now shoot for number 37 at his home club as Portland is hosting the 92nd Amateur next year...
Val Halla Municipal Golf Course in Cumberland led Maine clubs with the top number of players in the field with nine, three of whom -- Chad Allen, Scott Sirois and Scott Stone -- made the cut. Augusta was next with eight (including Plummer, who had to withdraw), while Falmouth had seven...
There was one father-son combination in the field as Jim McFarlane played along with his two sons, Alex and Reese. Reese was the youngest player in the field at 12, and the third youngest ever in the Amateur...
There was one brother combination in the field -- Zack and Seth Sweet. Seth, at 15, is the youngest player in recent history to contend in the final group. Isaac Merrill, Jr. is the reportedly the youngest player ever to have won the event, as he captured his first of four titles in 1924. Sweet's grandfather wasn't even born yet at that time...
Kebo Valley has the distinction of being the club with the toughest greens to putt in this championship during the last 15 years. Several players recorded multiple three-, four- and even five-putt greens. Guest chapters for Augusta Pro Emeritus Pete Hatfield's book in progress, "The Proper Grip and Stance for the Fourth Putt"...
If the Portland Press Herald's coverage of the tournament was spotty, it's understandable -- the paper's senior golf writer, Tom Chard, was one of the 129 participants in the tournament, and also one of the top 40 to have made the cut. We wonder what the paper will do next year, as by finishing in the top 40, Tom is now exempt for the 2011 championship at Portland. No Q School for Chard...
Keith Patterson of Biddeford-Saco Country Club and Eric Crouse of the Woodlands were the only only players from the 1998 Amateur tournament at Kebo who repeated top 10 finishes. In 1998, Crouse won in a playoff with a his score of 217, while Patterson's 222 was good for a tie for fifth place. This year, Patterson bettered his score by one but moved to a tie for eighth. The player he tied with? Crouse...
Complete final day results follow:
| Ryan Gay, Pittston, Maine - 72-68-72--212 |
| Jason Gall, Augusta, Maine - 67-74-72--213 |
| Ricky Jones, Thomaston, Maine - 71-73-69--213 |
| Matt Greenleaf, Portland, Maine - 71-72-74--217 |
| Seth Sweet, Madison, Maine - 68-73-76--217 |
| Chris Hamel, Waterville, Maine - 71-77-70--218 |
| Joseph Alvarez, Hampden, Maine - 75-69-76--220 |
| Eric Crouse, Portland, Maine - 79-69-73--221 |
| Keith Patterson, Biddeford-Saco, 01 - 72-73-76--221 |
| Mack Duke, Rockport, Maine - 77-74-70--221 |
| Brian Bilodeau, Minot, Maine - 71-77-74--222 |
| Mike Doran, Portland, Maine - 75-75-73--223 |
| Scott Sirois, Portland, Maine - 74-77-72--223 |
| Henry Fall, Harpswell, Maine - 75-72-77--224 |
| Jason JJ Harris, Bath, Maine - 75-74-75--224 |
| Michael Nowak, Belgrade Lakes, Maine - 72-77-75--224 |
| Scott Barnicle, Brunswick, Maine - 72-73-80--225 |
| Joe Manganaro, North Yarmouth, Maine - 75-73-77--225 |
| Tobey Buteau, Scarborough, Maine - 78-74-74--226 |
| Andrew Slattery, Minot, Maine - 74-73-79--226 |
| Tom Chard, Portland, Maine - 71-82-73--226 |
| David Gushee, Old Orchard Beach, Maine - 76-68-82--226 |
| Curtis Jordan, Portland, Maine - 72-75-80--227 |
| Jack Wyman, Freeport, Maine - 76-73-78--227 |
| Ben Estabrook, Orono, Maine - 76-76-75--227 |
| Shawn Keenan, North Anson, Maine - 75-77-76--228 |
| Adam Smith, Ellsworth, Maine - 78-75-75--228 |
| Jace Pearson, Auburn, Maine - 72-74-83--229 |
| Scott Stone, North Yarmouth, Maine - 71-79-79--229 |
| Chad Allen, Windham, Maine - 75-78-77--230 |
| Ron Brown, Cumberland Foreside, Maine - 82-71-77--230 |
| Johnny Hayes IV, Cape Elizabeth, Maine - 70-75-85--230 |
| Joshua Hogan, Falmouth, Maine - 80-71-79--230 |
| Brent Barker, Bar Harbor, Maine - 75-73-83--231 |
| Michael Hersey, Presque Isle, Maine - 79-74-78--231 |
| Matt Zito, Gouldsboro, Maine - 73-78-81--232 |
| Bob Langlois, Auburn, Maine - 75-78-82--235 |
| Thomas Bean, Manchester, Maine - 75-77-83--235 |
| Dale Bragg, Cumberland, Maine - 79-74-85--238 |
| Brandon Allen, Brooksville, Maine - 75-78-85--238 |
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