Teenager wins Maine Amateur golf title by shooting final round 71

Eighteen-year-old Eli Spaulding shot an even-par 71 to overtake second-round leader John Hayes IV and win the 105th annual Maine Amateur Championship by two shots at the Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth on Thursday.

Spaulding, the three-time State Class B individual champion from Freeport High School, held off Hayes by posting birdies on three of the last four holes. Hayes shot 4-over 75 on the day.

Spaulding, who plays out of the Brunswick Golf Club, wound up shooting a 5-under-par 208 over the three-day event after registering scores of 68 and 69 over the first two rounds of the tournament.

The 34-year-old Hayes, playing on his home course, bogeyed seven of the first 12 holes after netting a birdie on the first hole.

He birdied 16 and 17 but had to settle for a par on the par-four 18th while Spaulding birdied the final hole to sew up the win.

Hayes, who has already won the Maine Mid-Amateur and Downeast Metro tournaments this season and was the 2015 Maine Amateur winner, wound up shooting three-under par 210 over the three days after a 68 and 67 on the first two days.

They were the only two golfers who shot even par or better.

Spaulding, who will play golf at Loyola University of Maryland in the fall, played the front nine in one-over par compared to Hayes’ four-over par to transform a two-shot deficit into a one-shot lead.

They were tied after 11 holes as Spaulding bogeyed 10 and 11 and Hayes parred 10 and bogeyed 11.

Spaulding took the lead for good with a par on the par-three, 208-yard 12th hole while Hayes bogeyed it.

Spaulding expanded the lead to two shots with a birdie on the par-three 15th.

Hayes pulled one shot back with a birdie on the par-five 16th hole and both birdied the 17th before Spaulding finished his round with his birdie on 18.

Ronald Kelton Jr., also of Purpoodock, finished third with a five-over-par 218 (70-72-76).

Benjamin Bell of the Sanford Country Club wound up fourth at 219 (72-73-74) and Drew Glasheen of Waterville used the day’s best round, a 69, to move into fifth place at 220 (73-78-69).

Tied for sixth at eight-over-par 221 were Justin Irish (76-71-74) from the Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk and Michael Arsenault from the Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland Center (73-69-79).

Rounding out the top 10 in an eighth-place tie at 9-over-par 222 were Andrew Slattery (80-72-70) from the Portland Country Club, Joe Baker (76-72-74) from the Norway Country Club and three-time Maine Amateur champion Ricky Jones (72-74-76) from the Samoset Resort course in Rockport.

Spaulding won the 2022 New England high school golf championship and was a two-time winner of the Maine Junior golf tournament.