But you still need to activate your account.
BANGOR – When the final round of the 36th Greater Bangor Open golf tournament began Saturday, an amateur was playing with two pros in the final group – and the amateur had a three-stroke lead on the pair.
Many of the pros focused on trying to beat each other for the $10,000 first-place check; the amateur’s result was of no concern to them.
Paul Dickinson of Apopka, Fla., was not one of those pros.
“I come to a golf tournament to win,” he said emphatically after doing just that.
Dickinson ran in a 40-foot birdie putt on the last hole at Bangor Municipal Golf Course to win the $50,000 GBO, beating 15-year-old amateur Jesse Speirs of Bangor and pro Ryan Ouellette of West Palm Beach, Fla., by a stroke.
After Dickinson drained his putt, Speirs still had a chance to send the tourney to a playoff.
The gallery ringing the final green (normally No. 9 as the nines were reversed for the last round) watched in eager silence as Speirs lined up his 8-foot downhill putt for par.
Speirs stroked the ball with confidence, but the crowd – which had swelled throughout the day to about 200 people by the end – groaned as the ball slid by on the right.
“It looked like there was more break than there was,” said Speirs, who counts Bangor Muni as a home course.
Dickinson shot a 3-under-par 66 Saturday for a three-day total of 200. Speirs, the leader after each of the first two days, posted a 70 for 201, and Ouellette had a 67 for the same total.
George Blackshaw of Amston, Conn., posted a 64 to finish fourth at 203.
Jim Nickerson of Freeport shot a 65 to take low Maine pro honors at 204.
Others at 204 were Adam Decker (69 Saturday) of Exton, Pa., Aaron Russell (65) of Charlotte, N.C., Kyle Gallo (66) of Kensington, Conn., Mike Hyland (68) of Marlton, N.J., and Peter Maki (69) of Hopedale, Mass.
Dickinson thinks focusing on the cash restricts a golfer’s improvement.
“If you play to make money, you’re not playing to your full potential,” said the 26-year-old Dickinson, who wants to fulfill his potential.
“I just want to win. I want to beat everybody,” added Dickinson.
That outcome looked to be in doubt as Speirs, who had led outright or was tied for the lead since the first round Thursday morning, led by a stroke coming down the last hole.
Speirs, Dickinson, and Ouellette all reached the green in two. Speirs was about 45 feet below the hole, Dickinson 40 feet below and a couple of feet left of Speirs, and Ouellette about 18 feet short of the cup.
Speirs rapped his putt solidly at the cup and it scooted over the right edge.
Then it was Dickinson’s turn, and his putt rolled smoothly into the cup.
“That was a hell of a putt he made to win,” said Ouellette.
Ouellette’s birdie try just went by on the left.
The struggle for the victory didn’t really heat up until the short par-4 14th hole.
Speirs stuck his chip shot about 8 feet from the hole, Ouellette chipped to 10 feet, and Dickinson went one better when he chipped in for eagle.
Ouellette, then Speirs made their birdie putts, and Speirs led by two over Dickinson and three over Ouellette.
Speirs got in trouble on the 15th, the long downhill par-3, and made double bogey, while Ouellette made birdie and Dickinson got up and down from the right bunker for par. Suddenly they were all tied.
Dickinson had a chance to grab the lead on 16 by making an 18-inch birdie putt, but it lipped out.
“When I missed that short putt, I was shocked,” Dickinson said.
A short putt on 17 also spun out, but he felt better about it.
“I hit it right where I wanted,” he said. “If you do everything right and it still doesn’t go in, you can’t do anything about it.”
Then came 18, where everything went right and it did go in.
“I was mentally strong all day,” said Dickinson. “Luckily, I came out one shot ahead.”
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