Bouchard, Mitchell in position to make BDN golf title bid

ROCKLAND – When first-round leader Jamie Place looks over his shoulder during Saturday’s second round of the Bangor Daily News Amateur Golf Tournament, he’s going to see two pursuers coming after him from opposite ends of the “A” flight spectrum.

Over one shoulder, Place (who shot a 1-under-par 69 at Rockland Golf Club Friday) will spy the experienced face of Al Bouchard, a 15-time veteran of the the state’s lagest amateur event who, at age 45, fired a steady, even-par 70 in the breezy conditions on the 6,010-yard layout.

Over the other shoulder, one stroke back, Place will see the youthful and determined countenance of David Mitchell of Ellsworth. Mitchell, 24, shot a hot and cold round en route to a 70 to open his second appearance in the BDN tourney.

For Bouchard, who has a handful of top-five finishes, finally winning the BDN would be the thrill of an amateur career that stretches back more than 20 years.

“I’ve won the city championship of Portland a couple of times, but that was back in the middle to late ’70s,” said Bouchard, a Falmouth native, who plays to a scratch handicap out of The Woodlands. “I really don’t play that much competitive golf. I’ve always enjoyed this tournament. It would be great to win it.”

A win would also take some of the sting out of what has been a difficult year for Bouchard. Because of the bad state economy, Bouchard was laid off from his job with a Portland construction firm last fall. He recently found another job with a dry wall company, but the months he spent unemployed took much of the joy out of golf.

“It’s hard to justify going out to play golf in that situation,” said Bouchard, a standout golfer for South Portland High School and the University of Southern Maine in his youth.

For Mitchell, meanwhile, winning the BDN would be an accomplishment on which to build his career as an amateur player. The 1985 Ellsworth High graduate currently spends half the year working at a restaurant in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., and the other half bartending at a sports bar in Ellsworth. During the day, he plays golf in both locations.

“I play for the fun of it,” said Mitchell, a nephew of 1987 BDN Tourney winner Dan Sargent. “I practice a lot. I’ve really only been playing halfway decent for five years.

“I was just aiming to finish in the top 10 when I started,” continued Mitchell, who shot 73-83-73 last year in his first BDN appearance. “I thought that would be respectable. I’m not out here expecting to win.”

Should the unexpected happen, however, Mitchell said he might be tempted to take the game a little more seriously. He might even decide to make it a career.

“I’ve thought about being a teaching pro someday,” said the 3-handicapper out of Bar Harbor Golf Club.

Whether or not it’s Bouchard who catches Place and makes a run at the title or whether it’s Mitchell, the two challengers have one thing in common. Both are glad to have the round at Rockland behind them. Both players prefer the layouts at Bangor and Kebo Valley in Bar Harbor, where the tournament finishes Sunday.

“This is the toughest of the three for me,” said Mitchell, who admitted he had to fight his nerves after playing the first nine at Rockland 4-under, then merely survived on the back nine.

“I had never been four-under before, especially in a tournament,” Mitchell said.

Bouchard said he’s been “up and down” at Bangor, but he is comfortable at Kebo.

“I usually play Kebo pretty well,” Bouchard said.

If the two challengers can maintain the form they showed Friday, and if they can catch Place, the finish of the BDN could well come down to the age-old battle between experience and youth.