Gay giving veteran Jones challenge

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SACO – Ryan Gay of Pittston found out Wednesday how difficult it is to hang onto a lead, but he’s not discouraged in his bid to win the 89th Maine Amateur Golf Championship.

The 17-year-old Gay finished with a 2-over-par 73 at Biddeford-Saco Country Club and now sits in third place with a two-day total of 140.

Gay, who will be a senior at Gardiner High School this fall, has two formidable foes in front of him. He trails two-time Maine Amateur champ Ricky Jones of Thomaston by three strokes and 13-time Amateur winner Mark Plummer of Manchester by two.

Jones and Plummer each posted a 68 Wednesday for 137 and 138, respectively.

Whited Ford Paul Bunyan Amateur victor Joe Alvarez (68 Wednesday) of Hampden is fourth at 142, and Michael Nowak (69) of Belgrade is fifth at 143. Jesse Speirs of Bangor shaved five strokes for even-par 71 and is at 147. Defending champion Eric Higgins of Kennebunk shot a second straight 75 for 150.

Forty-two players made the cut at 154 and will play in today’s 18-hole finale.

Gay hopes a few putts drop this time.

“I hit it really well on the front,” said Gay. “I had a lot of good shots at birdie.”

He only made one, though, on the third hole, when he two-putted from 20 feet. He parred the other eight holes.

On the back, he three-putted No. 10, then pulled his second shots into the trees on both 11 and 12 and bogeyed all three.

“On 11, my club slipped a bit – because my hands were wet from the humidity, I think – and I smothered it. That came out of nowhere,” he said.

On the next hole, a 500-yard par 5, he was sitting OK after his tee shot on the dogleg-right hole, but he was burned when he tried to move the ball around the corner.

“It was a double-cross,” said Gay. “I tried to cut the ball [to fade], but I came over it and got a pull hook instead.”

When he tried to hit out of the trees, he hit one and the ball bounced over to the 13th tee. He ended up making 6.

“I did well to just salvage bogey,” he said.

He parred the last six holes as his putter continued to let him down.

“I had a lot of good looks, but I didn’t make anything,” he said. “A lot of them hit the edge of the cup on the high side. None of them fell.”

Jones’ round was almost the exact opposite of Tuesday’s.

“Everything straightened out for a change,” he said. “I hit a lot on the fairway and a lot on the green.”

His putting continued to be his strong suit.

“I made the putts I should’ve made,” he said. “I didn’t make any bombs. I made ’em all [Tuesday]. That’s the way it goes.”

After bogeying the first hole, he birdied 4, 7, 10 and 12 before suffering his second bogey on 14. He added a birdie on 17.

Jones thought going off in the first group Wednesday was a big help. They played in 31/2 hours instead of 41/2.

“I wasn’t sitting around thinking about [the bad shots]. It’s a lot less stressful when you’re hitting it good instead of just trying to keep it in play,” Jones said.

Gay is not ready to settle for second or third place.

“You’ve got to go into every tournament thinking you have a chance to win,” he said. “One-forty is a good score, but three back is not.”

Gay knows he can’t play conservatively and expect Jones and Plummer to make mistakes.

“I don’t know Ricky, but he’s a great player,” said Gay. “And Mark’s not coming back to the field. He’s too good, too smart and too experienced.”

Gay plans to keep on doing what he has been doing, getting on the greens in regulation and trying to make putts.

“If I fall behind, I’ll have to start going after pins,” he said. “I want to play aggressively enough to give myself a shot.

“We’ll see how it goes [Thursday].”

dbarber@bangordailynews.net

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