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