Hayes ready to challenge for title Waterville standout Abby Spector seeking sixth straight championship

You don’t need to own a crystal ball or be Kreskin to predict the winner of this week’s Women’s Maine State Golf Association Championships. A quick refresher course in Maine golf history tells you all you need to know.

Abby Spector has won the last five WMSGA championships without being seriously challenged. Need to know more? She now has successfully taken her game outside the state, recently winning the New England Women’s Golf Association Championship.

So when the Waterville resident tees off this morning at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, most of the field will have already conceded Spector her sixth title in a row.

Most. Not all.

Playing with Spector in the 7:20 a.m. group will be 18-year-old Tiffany Shoppe of Lamoine and 19-year-old Alyssa Hayes of Cape Elizabeth.

Spector, 20, was victorious by 12 strokes at Augusta Country Club in Manchester last year. Hayes and Shoppe battled for second place with Hayes grabbing the runner-up spot with a birdie on the last hole.

Hayes, in only her third year of tournament golf, is especially looking forward to taking on Spector this week.

“I’m hoping to give her a run,” said Hayes. “I think I’m getting to a point [where] I can give her a run.”

Hayes knows she has her work cut out for her, though.

“I’m very respectful of her game,” said Hayes. “She’s a great player.

“But I’m focused.”

Other challengers to Spector’s reign include 13-time WMSGA champ Martha White of Hampden and her sister, five-time winner Pennie Cummings of Lewiston.

White is the only other golfer to have won six championships in a row.

The tournament, the 71st, marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the WMSGA.

Ninety-six players are arranged into four flights of 24 players each. The top flight includes golfers with a handicap index of 10 down to Spector’s 1.5.