Jul. 15—SACO — The leader after the opening round of the Maine Women’s Amateur golf championship at Biddeford-Saco Country Club was the course.
None of the 89 players finished their round Monday under par. Or even at par. Even the top contenders saw their scores soar like the temperature. When the first groups, who started at 7:30 a.m. or shortly after, finished just before noon, it was 86 degrees with humidity making it feel more like the 90s.
“Honestly, my hands slipped multiple times on the club and I switched to a rain glove halfway through because it was just getting so sweaty out there,” said defending champion Erin Holmes of Val Halla Golf Course, who shot a 9-over 81. “I’m sure (Tuesday) will be worse.”
Tuesday’s forecast calls for sun and a high temperature of 90.
Cecily Whiting, a veteran of 24 Maine Women’s Am tournaments, leads after shooting 4 over. Playing out of the Woodlands Club in Falmouth, Whiting earned birdies on the two par-3 holes on the front nine.
“I’m very happy. I played some of my best golf today,” she said. “Just steady golf. I was very happy with my steady golf.”
Jade Haylock, a senior this fall at Leavitt High, shot a 77, one shot behind Whiting.
“The greens definitely were tough. They’re spongy and longer than we’re used to. I think for a tournament, usually you expect the greens to run a little faster than they did, and I just had a really hard time getting the speed down. I was just coming off every putt,” said Haylock, who finished third a year ago.
Two-time Maine Am winner Ruby Haylock, Jade’s older sister, shot a 79.
“I didn’t make a single putt. I think my reads were really good. They just didn’t drop. I was missing everything by like an inch. It was right there. It got a little frustrating,” said Ruby Haylock, who won this tournament in 2020 and 2022. “Off the tee I struggled a little bit. I think it just got in my head a little. The back nine, I’d take my wood off the tee and it wouldn’t go straight.”
Participants played the course out of order. After playing holes 1 through 6, they played 17 and 18 before finishing the front nine on 10. On the back, they played 11 through 16 before finishing with 7, 8 and 9. The sequence was set up so players would finish on the ninth green, a better viewing spot for spectators on the clubhouse patio, said Brian Bickford, the executive director of Maine Golf.
Maria Cianchette shot a 6-over 78 to place herself near the top of the leaderboard despite playing much of her round with a short-handed bag.
“For me, I just didn’t feel like I hit it great off the tee. Also, I broke my driver halfway through the round so that doesn’t help,” said Cianchette, playing out of the Woodlands. “The face, I don’t know what happened. It’s off, though.”
Like Whiting, Cianchette birdied No. 3 and No. 10 (playing as hole nine), the two par-3s on the front nine.
“Birdies just weren’t easy to come by,” she said. “We’re going to have to improve (Tuesday).”
After shooting an 81, Holmes described the course as “nitpicky.”
“You have to be accurate off the tee because every hole is lined with woods. It’s easy to have to punch out on a hole. The key is really just to play it safe,” said Holmes, who picked up her lone birdie on the final hole. “For me today, it was a lot of scrambling. … None of us were really rolling putts today, either. It was tough today.”
For Ruby Haylock, Tuesday’s second round is a day to refocus.
“(Tuesday) I need to go out there with an open mind and focus on my recovery shots rather than what I did wrong on the last shot. I tend to dwell on the past shots a little bit too much. I just need to get over them and keep moving forward,” she said.
The stream of high scores came as a surprise to Jade Haylock, who like her sister is focused on improvement.
“It’s crazy how golf works. It doesn’t seem like it should be a day like that. It’s not raining or anything. You wouldn’t expect these high scores,” she said.
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