Nicolay holds two-round lead > Hampden native John Hickson fires 65, moves into contention

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FALMOUTH FORESIDE — For most of the pros in this week’s 82nd Wendy’s Maine Open Golf Championship, it’s part of their job.

They get up in the morning, they go to work, they do the best they can, then they go home.

“Like any job, it can get frustrating,” said John Hickson, a Hampden native now working at Bath Country Club. “Today, I didn’t feel as much of that.”

With good reason.

Hickson blistered Portland Country Club to the tune of a 5-under-par 65, the day’s best round, and moved into a tie for third behind tournament leader Benjamin Nicolay of Paris, France.

Nicolay, playing early, posted a 66 Thursday for a two-day total of 7-under-par 135. He leads Rich Parker of Lebanon, N.H., by three strokes. Parker shot a second straight 69 for 138.

Hickson, at 139, is tied with first-round leader Todd Setsma of Bradenton, Fla. Setsma struggled a bit for 73 Thursday. Dave Gunas of Hebron, Conn., is fifth at 140 after a 71 Thursday, and Ron Philo of Waterbury Center, Vt., is sixth at 70-141.

Mike Baker, the assistant pro at Bangor Municipal Golf Course, and Gorham Country Club head pro Mark Fogg lead a big group at even-par 142. Baker shot 70 Thursday, Fogg a 72.

After Thursday’s round, the field was cut to the low 40 and ties for pros, 15 and ties for the amateurs for today’s 18-hole final at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth.

While Hickson shot a 2-over-par 74 in Wednesday’s first round at The Woodlands, he thought he was striking the ball well.

“Yesterday, I hit 15 greens [in regulation], I just didn’t make any putts,” he said. “I had one bad swing that caused me to make double [bogey].”

Thursday was different.

“I didn’t have any bogeys. I made the putts you think you should make,” said Hickson.

He birdied the first hole from close range, then reeled off six pars before making back-to-back birdies on Nos. 8 and 9.

“I made a 5- or 6-footer on 8, and an 8-footer on 9,” said Hickson.

He also missed some from that distance, such as on 10, but he sank a 5-footer for birdie on 12, and made his last birdie on the par-5 16th when his blast from the right front bunker stopped 6 feet from the cup.

Hickson also got up-and-down from the front bunker on 18 to save par and preserve the bogey-free round.

Hickson, who is at least the second player among the leaders, along with Setsma, who is an expectant father, felt some anxiety before the first round, but his thought process was clear Thursday.

“Maybe if I’d shot another 74, 72, I would have felt the anxiety again,” said Hickson.

After the two-day score Nicolay posted, it wouldn’t be surprising if everybody else was a little anxious.

Nicolay still thinks he can score better.

“If I had putted well, I could have been three shots better,” said Nicolay, who gave himself plenty of birdie opportunities.

“I hit 17 greens,” he said. “The only one I missed was on the fringe.”

Nicolay has only one idea for improving his putting.

“They’re dying at the hole. Then they drift right or drift left,” he said. “I just wish some of my putts were more firm.

“If I do that [Friday], I’ll be OK.”

Nicolay birdied the first hole, a short par-4, and the par-3 fourth for 33 on the front, then birdied 12 and 16 for another 33.

“Two [approach shots] I knocked very close, and the other two [birdies] were short putts,” said Nicolay.

Parker, the 1988 Greater Bangor Open champ and a past winner of the New Hampshire Open twice and the Vermont Open once, was also around the hole a lot, but didn’t make as many putts as he thought he should have.

“I had nine [birdie] putts inside 10 feet,” said Parker, who only made one, on the par-3 17th.

Parker, who started on No. 10, two-putted for birdie on 16 after hitting a 6-iron approach shot in on the 510-yard hole, then birdied 17. He parred from there until No. 7, when he missed a 6-footer.

“I woke up this morning and my vision was a little blurry,” said Parker, who wears glasses away from the course. “It never did clear up.”

But he still thought he should have made some of the putts anyway.

“I don’t care if you’re blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other, you should make a couple of those,” said Parker.