25th Spudland Open is set

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The Spudland Open Amateur Golf Tournament will be celebrating its 25th year next month.

The 36-hole tournament, which attracts players from Maine and New Brunswick, will be held July 25-26 at Presque Isle Country Club.

The tournament was a pro event from its inauguration in 1968 through 1980. The following year it went to a strictly amateur format. Past winners have included current PGA Tour veteran Wayne Levi in 1975 and Maine amateurs Bob Girvan II of Kenduskeag and Troy Witham of Rockland.

The purse is $5,000 with overall winners in gross and net getting $325 in merchandise credit and a silver bowl. Prize money will also be split among three divisions with 10 gross and 10 net prizes in each division.

Tournament organizers, who are hoping for approximately 200 players, are trying to make this a special event this year.

On Friday, there will be a free practice round for all competitors. Later that evening, there will be a cocktail party and a putting contest.

After Saturday’s opening round, there will be a buffet picnic dinner and a casino night.

Following completion of the tourney Sunday, there will be a long drive contest, then an awards ceremony.

The entry fee is $45 and the deadline is July 17. For more information, or to enter over the phone, call pro Terry Adams at 764-0430.

The recently completed Bangor Daily News Amateur Golf Tournament had its share of odd moments, as most golf tournaments seem to have.

While the weather forecasts had called for showers and thunder showers during the tournament, the rain held off for the most part.

However, Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor apparently had some wild swings Sunday which didn’t have anything to do with golf.

Early in the morning, there was a downpour. After a while, that stopped and the fog rolled in.

Soon, the wind came up and blew the fog away. Eventually, the wind died and the weather turned into a steady drizzle for a while.

Finally, late in the day, it poured again.

At Bangor Municipal Golf Course, the weather was overcast and humid, but there was no rain. Some early season wet weather, though, was the probable cause of an unusual occurrence for eventual winner Brian Lawton of Hampden.

On the seventh hole, a long par-4 which has a long stand of trees on the left and the driving range on the right, Lawton hit his ball to the right to stay in the clear.

His shot worked perfectly, leaving him in the rough with approximately 135 yards to the green.

When Lawton hit his shot, however, a ball popped up in the air and dropped behind him.

For a moment, it was thought Lawton had completely mishit the ball. But a quick look toward the green, though, provided a view of a ball arcing gracefully straight for the flag. That ball stopped approximately 12 feet short of the cup.

Attention returned to the ball which had flopped behind Lawton. Its now noticeable red stripe identified it as a range ball, but where did it come from?

There were people using the driving range, but there had been no warning shout, and the way the ball landed and bounced suggested it had made only a short flight.

Closer inspection of the area from where Lawton had played his ball showed a ball-sized hole in the ground.

Lawton’s tee shot had stopped on top of the range ball, which had become covered over with grass after probably plugging in the spring.

With the specter of a two-stroke penalty hanging over him, Lawton missed the birdie putt on No. 7, then struggled for par on No. 8.

A check by Bangor Muni head pro Austin Kelly of the rule book and then the decisions book, plus a check with Rockland Golf Club pro Peter Hodgkins, found the same situation had happened before and was covered in the decisions. There was no penalty because Lawton had played his own ball.

“It’s funny that happened because that came up at a rules seminar I went to last year,” said Hodgkins. “That decision was just put into the book. It’s only happened a couple of times.”

Well, one more time can be added now.

Finally, Stephen Burtchell of Mars Hill realized every golfer’s dream by getting a hole-in-one.

It came Sunday on the 132-yard, par-3 fifth hole at Rockland. Burtchell was playing with Charles Anderson of Bangor and Edmond Brissette of Ellsworth.

Burtchell, a 19-handicapper, finished with an 84, his best round of the tournament.