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BAR HARBOR – Joe Alvarez of Hampden and defending champion Ricky Jones of Thomaston shot their way to the top of the leader board Friday in the 44th Whited Ford Paul Bunyan Amateur Golf Tournament, but their methods were completely opposite.
Alvarez chipped and putted well on his way to a 1-over-par 71 at Kebo Valley Golf Club, while the second-place Jones had trouble making putts and trails by two strokes.
It’s another two shots back to Kent Salfi of Hidden Meadows GC in Old Town at 75, followed by Ben Estabrook of Veazie, Dan Dalfonso of Rockland GC and Mitch Spaulding of Portland Country Club at 76.
In the B Flight at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, Carl Poirier of Piscataquis CC leads by one stroke with a 76.
At Rockland Golf Course, Chandler Buie of the Bangor Golf Association and Bucky Owen of Penobscot Valley CC shared the lead in the C Flight with an 80.
“I didn’t hit the ball that great,” said Alvarez. “I only hit seven greens [in regulation].”
He was happy to score as well as he did.
“Normally, when you miss as many greens as I did, you don’t score very well,” Alvarez said.
But he was able to get the ball close enough on his next shot to be able to save par most of the time.
“I only missed two putts inside 5 feet. That’s a plus for me,” said Alvarez, who tied for second behind Jones last year.
Jones, on the other hand, had trouble making the 5-footers.
“After (No.) 6, I had a bunch of 5- and 6-footers, and I kept lipping out,” he said.
He didn’t actually lip them all out. On 12, he left it short, and he also missed on 9 and 10.
“On 15, I was 5 feet and it lipped out on the high side, and on 16, I had a 4-footer and it lipped out on the high side again,” Jones said.
“I always struggle here for some reason,” he said. “I always seem to be on the wrong side of the hole with a sloping putt.”
All of that came after Jones got off to a slow start. Already 1 over par after a bogey on No. 2, he three-putted for bogey on No. 5, then double bogeyed the par-3 sixth “with a shank.”
“I almost cleaned out a group on 14 green,” he said with a wry smile of the 45-degree tee shot.”
He birdied the next hole, bogeyed No. 8, then sank a 3-foot birdie putt on 11. He parred in from there.
After making bogeys on six and eight, he finally made a birdie on 11.
“I didn’t hit a quality tee shot until 11,” said Alvarez.
He knocked a wedge to 5 feet and made the putt. He then hit his approach on 12 to 4 feet but missed, and hit an 8-iron approach shot to 6 feet on 13 and made that to get back to even par.
“Those were my only three good iron shots of the day,” he said.
Alvarez parred the next three, bogeyed No. 17 and parred the final for his 71.
Still, it was good enough to lead.
“I thought the course was set up tough,” he said. “They tucked a lot of pins.”
Division A moves to Rockland Golf Club today before finishing at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono on Sunday.
Alvarez plans to be a little more aggressive at Rockland, Jones’ home course, than he was at Kebo.
“There are certain holes at Rockland you can take advantage of, some of the short par 4s,” he said. “But you’ve got to play smart.”
That’s more of what he did Friday.
“I usually play Kebo more aggressively,” he said. “Today, I played more smart.
“There are times to be aggressive and times not to be.”
Salfi had one bad four-hole run Friday. He bogeyed Nos. 7 and 8, double-bogeyed 9 and bogeyed 10. Everything before that stretch and after it was a par.
After today’s round, the top 6-9 scorers in each of the three divisions will be re-paired for Sunday’s 18-hole finales.
dbarber@bangordailynews.net
990-8170
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