Cape Elizabeth golfer among the favorites to win Maine Amateur Championship

There are pictures of John Hayes IV playing golf at the Purpoodock Club in his native Cape Elizabeth when he was three years old.

“My dad (John Hayes III) has some notes he showed me from 1993 of me on the first hole. My family goes way back at Purpoodock,”  Hayes said.

The 34-year-old Hayes still plays out of Purpoodock and, beginning on Tuesday, he will be looking to put his knowledge of the course to good use during the three-day, 54-hole Maine Amateur Championship.

Hayes will be one of the favorites in the 132-player field thanks to his two prestigious wins last month at the Maine Mid-Amateur for Maine residents 25 or older at the Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk and Downeast Metro Golf Tournament championship the following weekend at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course and the Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor.

Hayes said he is looking forward to the tournament on his home course.

“I feel good. I’m comfortable. I grew up on the course. I know Purpoodock very well. I’m just excited for all my friends at the club that the tournament is going to be there. The membership is very excited about it,” said Hayes.

Hayes is quick to point out that although he has had a good year and he will be playing on his home course, nothing is guaranteed.

“Even though I know the course better than most of the field, I still have to hit the ball well and get it in the hole,” said Hayes. “At the end of the day, if you aren’t hitting it well, you aren’t going to play well.”

The course is 6,403 yards long and is a par 71. It has 11 par-fours, four par-threes and three par-fives including back-to-back par fives on the back nine (holes 16 and 17).

It will be the first time the Maine Amateur has been held at Purpoodock since 2000.

“The front nine is wide open. They cleared out about 3,000 trees. The back nine is much tighter. It’s more wooded. Even though the front nine is wide open, the greens are very sloped with three or four-foot breaks on some putts. So it’s tough to make birdies,” said Hayes. “Holes eight through 12 are the crux of the course. That’s the hardest part.”

He said holes 14-18 are where birdies can be made and possibly eagles.

Hayes is one of several former Maine Amateur winners in the field. He won it in 2015 and was runner up to Camden’s Cole Anderson in 2020.

Anderson had also won it in 2019.

Topsham’s Caleb Manuel won it the last three years but both Manuel and Anderson have turned pro so they won’t be in the field.

Among the other previous winners who will be vying for another title will be Andrew Slattery of the Portland Country Club (2014) and three-time champ Ricky Jones (2003, ‘04, ‘13) out of the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

Two Purpoodock members were recent Maine Amateur runners-up: Ron Kelton Jr. (2023) and Reese McFarlane (2019).

They will both be in the field.

McFarlane finished just one shot behind Hayes at the Downeast Metro.

Hayes said there are typically five players who are the favorites to win the Maine Amateur and “within the last 20 years, it has been really dominated by guys 25 years old or younger. Maine golf keeps getting better and better.”

He considers, McFarlane, Kelton and Slattery to be among the contenders along with the Portland Country Club’s Joe Walp, who tied for second at the Mid-Amateur, and Freeport’s Elliott Spaulding, who won three straight Class B high school state titles and will play for Loyola University of Maryland beginning in the fall.

Hayes won the state Class B individual title and led Cape Elizabeth to the team championship in 2007.

Hayes played Division I golf at Towson University (Maryland) and the University of Colorado.

The Maine Amateur, which was first held at the Augusta Country Club in 1918, is always one of the highlights of Hayes’ golf calendar.

“It’s the state championship and all the good (amateur) golfers get back together to play in it. I’m excited for it,” said Hayes, who works in the residential real estate business.