ROCKLAND – Lori Frost has definite priorities in life. They’re faith, family and friends, and then whatever else, including golf. But this summer, golf has snuck up there – even to the point that Frost hated to get off the Penobscot Valley Country Club course one afternoon despite the fact that she knew there was a 25th anniversary surprise party for her and her husband, Jim, planned for that night.
And what did they do on June 21, the exact day of their anniversary? Why, play a practice round, of course.
“Golf is starting to overtake [everything else],” Frost said. “… 25th anniversary it was like, OK, so I have to leave the golf course for my own 25?”
Frost may wonder where golf stands in her life, but you can’t argue with the results that have come from her focus this summer.
The defending Women’s Maine State Golf Association champion won her second straight title Wednesday afternoon at Rockland Golf Club, shooting a 4-over-par 77 to hold off Leslie Guenther of Hebron and win the 75th amateur championship by six strokes.
“I really wanted this, more than last year,” said Frost, a Brewer resident who plays out of PVCC in Orono. “Last year was like, I’ll come in. … But this one I wanted. It’s much more rewarding.”
Guenther finished with an 82 Wednesday for a second-place total of 240. Mary Brandes of Falmouth, who was even with Guenther going into the final round, shot an 83 for a total of 241 and third place. Hermon’s Martha White, a 13-time winner, was fourth with a total of 245 and also won the senior title. The junior winner was Bucksport’s Whitney Hand, whose 247 was also good for fifth.
Frost was up two strokes on Hand after Monday’s round but had a slim one-shot lead over Guenther and Brandes Wednesday morning. She and Guenther remained close, drawing even after the fourth hole, but Frost was consistent from there, while Guenther struggled a bit.
After bogeying the fourth, Frost reeled off five straight pars for a one-over 38 on the front nine. Guenther had birdied the second and parred the fourth, but bogeyed the next four holes. She had a birdie on nine, but Frost still had a three-shot lead at the turn.
“When we got to even, I was thinking, this is fun, and I had a smile on my face,” said Guenther, who plays out of Norway Country Club. “I played six well but bogeyed, played seven well but bogeyed, and that’s just one of those things, hitting reasonable shots and going away with bogeys. It was good to get one back on nine, but I three-putted on 10 and I think I just ran out of gas.”
Guenther did birdie 11 to get within two strokes. Despite five bogeys on the back, Frost stayed ahead with birdies on 13 and 16 – she made a spectacular chip onto an elevated green and into the hole on 16 – and pars on 11 and 17.
By the time the lead group got to 16, there was a small gallery watching Frost’s birdie chip. One shot a round like that makes all the practice worth it, she said to a spectator while walking to the 17th tee.
“It wasn’t a tough shot. I had a lead and the wind and it went in,” Frost said. “Even better.”
Guenther parred 16, which also helped give Frost more breathing room.
Frost shot a 76 in Monday’s first round, but the 77 Wednesday came with a much easier time on the greens. Frost had at least seven three-putts in the first two rounds, but just one in the third. She also opened the round with two par putts.
“That gave me a boost,” she said. “… Even putts that I missed I’d say to Jim, ‘Gee I stroked that well.’ … The ones I missed felt good. And I made some putts today.”
Brandes, a member at The Woodlands in Falmouth, had a 44 on the front but got back into the race with a 39 on the back despite posting a seven on 16. She birdied 11.
White also shot a 77 Wednesday. Her sister, 2004 runner-up Pennie Cummings of Wayne, finished eighth overall (252). Seven-time champion and Waterville native Abby Spector was 23rd overall (274). Spector achieved her pretournament goal by playing without a cart. Last year Spector used a cart while recovering from emergency open-heart surgery in the fall of 2003.
Golf
WMSGA CHAMPIONSHIP
At Rockland Golf Club
Lori Frost 78-81-77-234
Leslie Guenther 82-76-82-240
Mary Brandes 85-73-83-241
Martha White 82-86-77-245
Whitney Hand 78-84-85-247
Megan Angis 84-83-82-249
Marie Blanchette 87-78-86-251
Pennie Cummings 88-84-80-252
Liz Coffin 84-89-81-254
Julie Treadwell 90-84-82-256
Kristin Kannegieser 86-85-85-256
Helen Plourd 83-88-85-256
Rosemary Lyons 88-86-85-259
Kathi O’Grady 90-90-80-260
Viola Kemp 87-88-88-263
Micki Meggison 95-87-84-266
Kit Bartlett 90-93-85-268
Margo Audiffred 89-94-85-268
Barbara Olson 89-90-90-269
Becky Warren 92-89-89-270
Marlene Viger 92-92-87-271
Jean Cassidy 97-86-90-273
Abby Spector 89-90-95-274
Rebecca Dyer 88-94-93-275
Cathy Lamontage 91-97-90-276
Jeanne Fifield 96-92-91-279
Bern Michaud 95-92-92-279
Madolin Fogarty 88-93-99-280
Linda Holmes 90-90-100-280
Marcia Chute 95-96-90-281
Nancy Gould 93-95-94-282
Pam Johnson 94-95-93-282
Bobbie Andrus 97-92-94-283
Marcia Blake 93-96-95-284
Jane Diplock 91-98-95-284
Darby Vigue 93-96-95-284
Sue Brooker 94-96-94-284
Denise Hennessey 95-92-98-285
Cheryl Paulson 94-96-96-286
Terry Morris 93-97-96-286
Betty Farrand 99-96-92-267
Kaye Pierson 94-93-101-288
Arlene Adams 97-95-96-288
Ann Nemi 99-99-97-288
Jill Lewis 94-95-100-289
Janet Drouin 96-98-95-289
Donni Witham 95-94-104-293
Brenda Berry 95-100-98-293
Nancy McEwen 97-95-102-294
Ilse Pfander 96-97-101-294
Charleen Wiseman 100-99-96-295
Norma Michaud 101-95-99-295
Sharon Nelson 99-97-99-295
Ann Lang 96-103-97-296
Peg Buchanan 93-105-100-298
Marilyn Rice 107-88-103-298
Cheri White 100-101-98-299
Ruth Harper 97-100-102-299
Karen Feeney 99-107-94-300
Penny Bohac-Crdlo 98-100-102-300
Jean Young 95-105-101-301
Claudette Amoroso 100-105-97-302
Wendy Bean 103-96-103-302
Charlotte Cole 96-106-101-303
Jeanette Morrill 98-99-106-303
Linda Pearse 113-100-93-306
Nancy Pratt 101-101-105-307
Bobbi Berry 103-101-104-308
Marion Feeney 105-106-98-309
Janice Poulsen 104-105-107-316
Susan Wootton 114-107-97-316
Janice Ogler 102-108-110-320
Mary Kaufman 118-105-99-322
Natalie Dunton 104-119-101-324
Sherrill Rollins 102-114-108-324
Jane Howard 111-105-113-329
Trudy Dorval 120-109-102-331
Doris Borkstom 112-115-106-333
Shirley Fifield 120-127-114-361
Amber Quinn 84-WD-WD
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