The Maine Amateur Golf Championship returns to a prior format when first-round play begins today at Augusta Country Club in Manchester.

After conducting the event for 27 years as a medal-play tournament, the Maine State Golf Association is bringing match play back to decide its premier amateur event.

And one of the proponents is the defending champion, Mark Plummer of Manchester, who won 10 of his 11 Maine Amateur titles under the medal-play format.

He is also the last golfer to win the Maine Amateur when it was match play, in 1973.

“There are quite a few reasons,” said Plummer about why he advocated the change.

“I think it’s a better format for this type of tournament,” he said.

“It’s more fun for the players, it’s more fun for the people watching, and it gives the golf course back to the club sooner [in the day],” said Plummer.

The tournament begins with two days of stroke play. The top 16 players advance to match play Thursday and Friday with two sets of 18-hole matches each day. Winners advance, losers are eliminated.

Plummer is considered the overwhelming favorite by many in the field because Augusta Country Club is his home club, but he’s not so sure.

“I was one of the proponents [of match play] – before I knew it was going to be at Augusta, by the way,” said Plummer. “I don’t think match play favors me at all. I think it gives another 8-10 golfers a chance to win.”

In match play, a bad hole won’t sink a player’s round and a good hole won’t be enough to carry a round.

“You can shoot an awful round and win, and you shoot a good round and lose,” said Plummer. “In medal play, you’ve got to grind out every single hole. In match play, you know exactly what you have to do. It’s right there in front of you.”

To get to match play, though, may require a more aggressive approach than some of the players were used to under the stroke-play format. Then, the top 40 and ties after the first two rounds advanced to the 18-hole finale. Now, only 16 will move on.

“It’s really two tournaments,” said Plummer. “The first one is to get into the top 16, then you start another, hopefully.”

Ron Brown Jr. of Cumberland Foreside, who won the Amateur in 1975 and ’99, said, “There’ll be a number of good players who shoot a pair of 75s who will not make the top 16.”

Brown thinks the change may actually be good for him.

“If the Maine Amateur had been match play all along, I probably would have won more than two,” he said. “At my age [early 50s], it’s probably better for me that it is match play.”

Greg Hanna of Augusta, who finished second to Plummer by four strokes last year, agrees that it may be easier for someone to beat Plummer.

“You can take an 8 on a hole and only be one [hole] down instead of four [strokes],” said Hanna. “You can take a risk or two in the match.”

Hanna feels he’ll contend, but it’s not his favorite format.

“I’m a better player when I can just go out and make a bunch of pars,” he said.

Hanna doesn’t think it will be a cakewalk for Plummer, though.

“He’s definitely going to have a long week,” said Hanna. “I’m sure he’s not looking at anybody lightly.

“He’s going to try and pound each and every one of us.”

Plummer said, “Obviously, I know the golf course, but on the flip side, there’s more pressure because it is my home course.”

While the thought of playing Plummer on his home course will be intimidating to some, Plummer is sure that there will be some who welcome it.

“Thirty-five years ago, when I was 15 or 16, there was always the hope that I would play [Dick] Diversi, [Dr. Ray] Lebel, or [Jim] Veno in match play,” said Plummer. Diversi of Waterville won five Maine Amateurs in a row in 1953-57 and six overall, Lebel of Falmouth also won six, and Veno won twice.

“I’m sure there are a lot of young kids out there,” said Plummer, laughing, “who would like to knock my jock off.”

Stroke Play/Match Play

After 27 years, the Maine Amateur Golf Championship is switching from a three-day stroke-play event and returning to a match-play format.

In stroke play, a golfer’s score for each hole is added to his overall total. Golfers compete against the entire tournament field. The player with the lowest total over the course of the event (it was three days in the case of the Maine Amateur) is the winner.

In match play, a golfer goes head-to-head against one other player. The golfer with the best score on a hole wins that hole. Holes where the two players have the same score are halved (tied). When the difference between a player’s number of holes won and his opponent’s holes won is greater than the number of holes remaining to play, the match is over and the loser is eliminated.

For instance, Jack Smith wins six holes and Robert Jones wins three with five halved over the first 14 holes of an 18-hole match. Smith is considered plus-3 and only needs to win one more hole or halve two of them to win the match. Jones would be eliminated. If Jones and Smith are tied after 18 holes, they go to a sudden-death playoff. The first to win a hole wins the match and the other player is eliminated.

If there are other matches, the winners are paired up and the process continues until there is only one player left.