Par for the Course: Baker, Doran team up to win four-ball event

Martindale’s Joe Baker studies his putt on the ninth green during the second round of last year’s Maine Amateur Golf Championship.

People who know Joe Baker think he probably prefers being in a lake fishing boat or on a ski mobile over playing golf. He is that kind of native Mainer.

Baker teamed June 17-18 at Fox Ridge with his long-time golf friend Mike Doran to win their second Maine Amateur Four-Ball Championship in three years.

“Joe is a great partner,” Doran said of his 31-year-old partner who plays out of Martindale.

Baker was third in the Maine Amateur in 2016 and has been consistently among the Amateur contenders in recent years, having made the top 10 of the tournament in four of the past six years. Despite this, he is kind of flying under the Maine Amateur radar in terms of recognition. And, he is on the exempt list as a qualifier for the New England Amateur, July 18-20 at the Metacomet Country Club in East Providence, Rhode Island.

Does that have anything to do with his country background, learning to play golf at Paris Hill and attending Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School? It might. At Oxford Hills, he was better known as an outstanding baseball player than for his golf skills, which have improved over the years.

Baker is a many-times club champion at Norway, where he once shot a course-record 59. He is in his second season at Martindale.

Baker and Doran, a Mt. Ararat High in Topsham graduate, played against each other in scholastic competition, during which they developed the friendship and respect they now share as teammates.

“We seem to work very well together,” said Doran, who is the director of communications for the Maine State Golf Association and plays out of Sable Oaks. “There are times when I am out of a hole, and that doesn’t seem to faze him. He’ll calmly go for a birdie.”

As a relatively young team, the Baker-Doran tandem would seem to have many productive years ahead of them.

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Cameron Marquis of Fox Ridge was the medalist at the June 20 Maine Amateur qualifier at Poland Spring. He shot a 68 for the best score of the day by three shots. The 98th Maine Amateur will be July 11-13 at Brunswick.

With all of the Amateur qualifiers having been completed by June 22, the 132-player field is complete. There are 50 exempt golfers and 82 qualifiers in that field.

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In a June 19 MSGA Senior Tour event at Old Marsh, Rudy Plummer of Summit Springs was third in Net ages 63-67 (83/67), and his team of Ricky Plummer, Tom D. Smith and Tom Shupp also was third in Net (70/56).

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The MSGA Junior Tour begins this week with two events — June 28 at Belgrade Lakes, and June 29 at The Woodlands. There will be a Senior Tour event June 27 at Augusta and a Mid-Week tournament June 29 at Waterville. No Weekend Tournament has been scheduled.

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