Warren wins his 1st Amateur

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FALMOUTH FORESIDE – The round wasn’t a thing of beauty, but the result was for Shawn Warren of Windham.

Warren finally won the Maine Amateur Golf Championship on Thursday, shooting a 4-over-par 74 at Portland Country Club for a three-day total of 1-under 209 and a six-stroke margin of victory.

“I didn’t believe I had it until my putt went in [on 18] and Nancy [Maine State Golf Association executive director Nancy DeFrancesco] came over to congratulate me,” said Warren.

Jesse Speirs of Bangor, Toby Spector of Waterville, and Gary Manoogian of Westbrook tied for second at 215. Speirs posted a 72 Thursday, Spector a 74, and Manoogian a 71.

Mike Norris of Newburgh and Ricky Jones of Thomaston shared fifth at 216, with Norris posting a 73 and Jones recording the day’s best round of even-par 70.

“I was getting so disappointed” because of losing in match play in previous years, said the 20-year-old Warren.

“Match play is a whole week of playing good. Medal play is just three days,” he said.

For the previous five years, the Amateur had returned to two days of stroke-play qualifying followed by first two days, then three days of match play.

“My disappointment kept building every year I got bounced out of the tournament,” he said. A couple of years he had been the 36-hole medalist, but he had never been to finish the deal in match play.

This year, it went back to a stroke-play format.

“I circled the dates on my calendar when I heard that,” said a jubilant Warren, who had felt some pressure to win because of a change that he felt worked in his favor.

“It’s a huge relief to get this off my back,” said Warren. “This is something to get pretty excited about.”

He had to carry that pressure a little longer than he expected when the start of Thursday’s round was delayed by 4 1/2 hours due to the 3 inches of rain that fell on the course overnight and well into the morning.

“I’ve been up since 6,” said Warren. “I was definitely not happy when I heard we had a delay.

“All I was looking forward to was hitting off the first tee and getting to work.”

And that he did.

Todd Kirn of Kennebunkport, who started the day as Warren’s closest pursuer at five strokes back, and Ross McGee of Fairfield (six back) were in the final group with Warren but were never closer than four and five strokes, respectively.

Spector, playing in the next-to-last group with Speirs and 13-time Amateur champ Mark Plummer of Manchester, came closest as he played steadily and got within three shots on the front after Warren bogeyed Nos. 3, 6, and 7.

“I had eight straight pars, and then the wheels fell off,” said Spector. He bogeyed No. 9 and Warren birdied it a few minutes later to push the margin to five.

“He’s so solid, especially this week,” said Spector. “We were fighting for second on the back nine, and nobody wanted it.”

McGee, playing in the final group of a major tournament for the first time, also was feeling the pressure.

“Everything I did right the first two days went wrong today,” he said. “I was pretty nervous for a little while.”

McGee opened with a birdie, but then he double-bogeyed the next hole.

“That took a little wind out of my sails,” he said.

Putting was a struggle for everyone Thursday. The greens are normally quick, but the rain softened them quite a bit. The players kept leaving crucial putts short throughout the round.

“I kept telling myself to hit the ball harder, harder, and I still couldn’t get it there,” said Plummer, who finished with a 77.

“I was hitting the ball where I needed to all day long. I just couldn’t get the putts to go,” said Speirs, who missed short birdie putts on 10 and 11 that took him out of contention.

“It just didn’t happen today,” said Speirs.