Spector remains in front of field Hayes sets mark, trims lead to 4

BOOTHBAY – As is the job of caddie, Josh Kershner offered Abby Spector some encouragement as the two walked down a shaded path from the Boothbay Country Club’s par-4 fourth hole to the fifth hole tee box.

“Good [par] four,” said Kershner, who is also Spector’s boyfriend. “Another par to add to the collection.”

Fifteen pars in the second round of the 73rd Women’s Maine State Golf Association championship weren’t part of the plan for six-time champion Spector, who would have liked a few more birdies. But the Waterville native used her consistent play Wednesday to hold off a strong early challenge from defending champ Alyssa Hayes.

Hayes matched par with a women’s course record 71 for the day, but only managed to cut one stroke off Spector’s first-round lead. Spector had another 72 for a two-round total of 144 and a four-stroke edge over Hayes.

“She obviously can go low, so it’s never safe, but I’m happy to maintain some sort of lead after how she played on the front nine,” Spector said.

Pennie Cummings, who was grouped with Hayes and Spector and will likely be with them again for Thursday’s final round, carded a 78 for a two-day total of 155, good for third place. Leslie Guenther’s 79 Wednesday put her fourth at 157. Julie Treadwell and Megan Angis are tied at 161.

Play resumes today with the leaders teeing off at about 10 a.m.

Spector, who closed out a four-year career at the University of North Carolina this spring, said she was going for a more conservative approach Wednesday, especially with a five-stroke lead.

“Today I was just trying to get par on every hole,” said Spector, who had one birdie and two bogeys in the round. “I just wanted to play steady and let them mess up, so to speak. And that’s pretty much what happened. I set myself up so I could get a pretty easy par on almost every hole.”

It was Hayes who started out strong, racking up five birdies on the front nine en route to a 32. She recorded a birdie on the par-4 first hole despite landing in some short rough on her tee shot. Her second shot put her within 5 feet of the pin.

“I was hitting my driver a lot better today and I was hitting my irons really well, so I didn’t have many long putts,” said Hayes, a Cape Elizabeth resident who will be a senior at East Carolina University this fall. “I was putting better on the front nine than on the back nine, but it was mostly my irons. I was really confident.”

Hayes whittled Spector’s overall lead to one stroke after nine holes.

Hayes looked solid on the back nine at first, parring the 10th and 11th holes, but Hayes bogeyed the 12th and 13th and then double-bogeyed the par-4 14th after sending her second shot into some rough behind the green.

“It’s a disappointment now and when it was going on, but I was like, thank God I’m out of there,” she said. “I just wanted to get some birdies coming in.”

Hayes didn’t record any birdies after the 14th, but she parred the final four holes of the round.

Spector struggled on the greens, as she had Tuesday. She had a chance to pick up a stroke on Hayes on the 13th hole after Hayes putted out for a bogey, but Spector missed her second putt and also recorded a bogey.

“I just tried to play to the [100-yard markers],” Spector said. “I overshot them a little, but I just tried to set myself up for some more birdies today than I did yesterday, which I did, but I just didn’t make the putts.”

Cummings, who is also a former WMSGA champion, shot a 6-over 42 on the front nine, but she recovered with a birdie on the 10th and seven pars to match Spector’s 36 on the back.