Spector recuperating from heart surgery Golf standout had emergency procedure

Seven-time Women’s Maine State Golf Association champion Abby Spector of Waterville suffered severe complications following heart surgery and had to be rushed by ambulance to Portland to undergo emergency open heart surgery over the weekend.

A nursing supervisor on Wednesday at Maine Medical Center in Portland said Spector, who will turn 23 next Thursday, was listed in fair condition.

Gary Spector, Abby’s father, said, “She’s satisfactory.”

Doctors on Thursday had repaired a hole in Spector’s heart that she apparently had had since birth, according to Dick Browne, head pro at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro where Spector has been working. She later suffered complications which necessitated the immediate trip to Portland, he said.

“She’s in great shape and that’s why she’s still with us,” said Browne.

Ken Raynor, head pro at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, said, “She’s physically strong and mentally tough and that helped her endure.”

Raynor has worked with Spector on her swing in the past and was going to be working with her in Florida this winter to get her golf game ready for an attempt to qualify for the LPGA Tour next fall.

“I spoke to Abby today and her spirit was good. She knows she’s been a lucky girl,” said Raynor.

“We’ve all been saying prayers for her,” added Raynor, who said that her situation was very much on the minds of the members of the Maine chapter of the New England PGA pro-am tournament Monday at The Woodlands Club in Falmouth.

“She’s coming through a drama that none of us would like to go through,” said Raynor.

Spector, who completed a four-year golf career at the University of North Carolina this spring, had been competing as recently as two weeks before her initial surgery. She led the Maine team, with Pennie Cummings of Wayne and Laurie Hyndman of Cumberland Foreside, to a tie for 20th place in the USGA State Team Championship at Wellesley (Mass.) Country Club. Individually, Spector finished tied for seventh with a three-day total of 7-over-par 226.

Spector had considered turning pro earlier this year, but postponed that decision in order to play a couple of tournaments with her younger brother Toby and to compete in the State Team Championship.

She was the only female to compete against male pros and amateurs in the Greater Portland Open in June and the Maine Open Championship in August. She was second among the amateurs in the GPO and 10th among the amateurs in the Maine Open.

In between, at the end of July, she won her seventh WMSGA crown, shooting a course-record 2-under-par 69 at Boothbay Country Club on the final day to win by 11 strokes.

Spector won her first collegiate golf tournament last fall at the Pine Needles Invitational in Southern Pines, N.C. Spector shot a three-day total of 5-over-par 218 and led her Tar Heel squad to victory in the 11-team field.

Spector also shot women’s course records at J.W. Parks Golf Course in Pittsfield, with a 66, and Northeast Harbor Golf Club, with a 63, last year.

Spector won the schoolgirl golf title all four years at Waterville High School, 1995-98, and was a member of the Purple Panther team that won the state Class A title in 1996.

Cards and flowers can be sent to Spector at Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall Street, Portland 04102-3175 or to her home at 14 Dalton Street, Waterville 04901.