BANGOR – Tovie St. Louis was asked by her father what she wanted for her 18th birthday.

Her reply was, “a golf trip to Maine,” said her father, pro Dan St. Louis.

Dan knew what she meant and today the 5-foot-2 amateur from Royal Palm Beach, Fla., will tee it up as one of about 110 players in the opening round of the $50,000 Greater Bangor Open sponsored by Hollywood Slots in Bangor.

She even had a plan in mind.

“She said she wanted to beat my butt,” said Dan, an Orono native who said he has played in approximately 20 GBOs.

He wriggled his way out of that challenge, though.

“I decided to caddie instead,” he said. “She’s caddied plenty of times for me over the years. I decided it was my turn.”

His work begins at approximately 6:45 a.m. today as she prepares for an 8:39 tee time as the lone female in the field; she’s possibly the first female player since two pros participated in the 1975 GBO.

Among the favorites in the field for the 40th GBO are two-time defending champion Matt Donovan of Pittsfield, Mass.; 1995 GBO winner and 2005 Chrysler Q-School Shootout victor Eric Egloff of Sandy Spring, Md.; ’01 titlist Jim Salinetti of Lee, Mass.; Todd Westfall of Clendenin, W.Va., who won the New England Pro Golf Tour’s Le Baron Hills Open in Lakeville, Mass., last week; and ’03 GBO winner William Link IV of Acton, Mass.

Also, Christian Bartolacci of Langhorne, Pa., and Shepherd Stevens of Waterbury, Conn., tied for low pro at 8-under-par 63 in Wednesday’s pro-am.

Among the amateurs, Tom Caron of Bangor posted a 64 in the pro-am, and Ross McGee of Fairfield was in the hunt at the Maine Amateur last week.

While Tovie has been around golf her whole life (“She’s been driving the cart ever since she could see over the steering wheel,” said Dan with a laugh), she only started playing four years ago, just before her freshman year at Royal Palm Beach High School.

Ironically, it was in the GBO pro-am, and she was hooked.

Her mother, K.C., wasn’t sure she should take it up, though, because Tovie was already committed to volleyball, which has the same season as golf in Florida, as well as being a state champion tennis player.

“I told her, ‘Coach has been waiting for you for five years,'” said K.C., who agreed to a compromise. If Tovie made the varsity or JV team, she would hold off on golf.

Tovie was placed on the freshman team, so mom let her pursue golf.

Her first two years of high school, she played golf, volleyball, basketball and tennis.

“After my junior year, I just dedicated myself to golf,” she said. “I was home-schooled, and every day I was at the golf course when it wasn’t raining – or a hurricane.”

The dedication paid off, but – outside of high school events, which she could still participate in – she avoided tournament play, even though she shot a school-record 2-under-par 34 in one match. Her best 18-hole score is 74.

“Everybody told me to do tournaments,” she said, “but I said no. … I didn’t want to shoot 105. I wanted to know I could compete.”

Her parents got her over that hurdle by entering her in four events on the Calloway PGA Junior Tour Series.

“I did it and found out I could compete with kids who had been playing since the third grade,” said Tovie.

Her first event was in Lexington, Ky., and she played the next three weeks as well in Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

“I realized what it was like on tour,” she said.

She also realized something else.

“Everything was completely different [from Florida],” she said. “The hills, the greens, chipping, the grass.

“But I got better with each event.”

She also discovered that players were more focused than she expected.

“I called home and said, ‘Mom, they never leave the course,'” said Tovie.

She started doing the same thing – practicing several hours a day, playing, then more practice.

Tovie tied for 12th in her first tournament but improved to fourth in her final one.

“I thought it was easy when I started, but I found it’s not as easy as it looks,” she said.

Tovie, who has a handicap index of 1.8 from the men’s tees at The Breakers’ Rees Jones Course where Dan is the head pro, played in a pro-am scratch event with her dad. She recorded six birdies herself and they came in fourth.

“Dad wasn’t there to help out the little kid,” she said with a smile as she needled her dad.

The effort led the club pro to call the athletic director at NCAA Division II Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., where LPGA Tour pro Patty Rizzo is the women’s golf coach.

After talking with Rizzo, all three agreed that was the place for Tovie.

“She can help Tovie with the parts she needs help on,” said Dan, who has been helping her a lot himself.

Donovan, who first saw Tovie when she caddied for Dan in the 2004 GBO, has been impressed with the progress she has made already.

“She’s gotten so much better so fast,” said Donovan. “She’s beaten guys in Florida her own age.

“It’ll be a great learning experience for her.”

Donovan, the only back-to-back winner in tournament history, is hoping for a better experience for himself as this season has not been going well.

“I’ve found it tough to get any kind of rhythm,” said Donovan, who said it was due partially to having a couple of tournaments washed out.

“It’s more mental mistakes than anything. … I’m getting in my own way mostly,” he said.

He’s trying to stay upbeat.

“I’m looking forward to [the GBO]. It’s been very good to me the last couple of years,” he said with a little smile.

Michael Sims of North Smithfield, R.I., won Wednesday’s driving contest with a blast of 335 yards. He was followed by Kevin Silva of New Bedford, Mass., at 334.3, and Salinetti at 332.6.