Brown opens Amateur title defense today

Ron Brown Jr. of Cumberland Foreside will open defense of his Maine Amateur Golf Championship today against 125 challengers at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth.

Brown rolled to a wire-to-wire victory at his home club last year, The Woodlands in Falmouth.

Among those challengers will be a player in his own 7 a.m. group, Bob Girvan II of Kenduskeag.

Also participating, and always a threat to win, is 11-time Amateur champ Mark Plummer of Manchester. Plummer will tee off at 10:30 a.m. today, then lead the pack at 7 a.m. for Wednesday’s second round.

Other contenders include Mike Norris of Newburgh, Ryan Day of Ellsworth, and Brian Bickford of Damariscotta.

The field will be cut after the second round for Thursday’s 18-hole finale.

While not rated quite as difficult as The Woodlands, Purpoodock presents a tight, tree-lined layout with some undulating fairways and a little water mixed in.

Purpoodock was the site of the Unionmutual Seniors Golf Classic, a tournament held for Senior PGA Tour players but not an official event, in the mid-1980s.

It also hosted the Maine Amateur, sponsored by the Maine State Golf Association, in 1987.