VASSALBORO — Jade Haylock has witnessed her older sister, Ruby, win many big golf tournaments, including the past two state championships and a Maine Women’s Amateur.
At Natanis Golf Course’s Tomahawk course on Friday, Ruby Haylock got to see her little sister pull off a big win in the Class B state golf championship.
Jade Haylock, a Leavitt freshman, won the girls title with a 11-over 83, finishing four strokes ahead Ruby Haylock, a senior, who tied for second with another Leavitt freshman, Alexis McCormick.
The Leavitt girls took top three spots at the Class B state golf tournament Friday at Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro. From left, Jade Haylock shot a 83 to win the state title, and Ruby Haylock, center, and Alexis McCormick tied for second with 87. As a team the Hornets placed second. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
That trio teamed up up with Billy Visconti, who shot the seventh-best boys score (81), to help the Hornets earn a runner-up finish in the team competition with a score of 338, second only to Yarmouth’s 322.
Eli Spaulding, a Freeport sophomore, shot a 4-under 68 to claim the boys individual title.
Jade Haylock overcame a slow start that included a bogey on the third hole, her first hole of the day. Throughout her round, though, Haylock felt like she had control of her driver.
“I was really worried about that. I’ve been working on the range for quite a long time with it because they haven’t been good. I had a couple practice rounds here, and it wasn’t good. (Drives) were going everywhere. I’m glad it worked out today,” Jade Haylock said.
Mentally, Jade said she was able to stay focused after a bad shot.
“I had a couple doubles, but I didn’t let it disappoint me, and it usually does. That’s where my game goes downhill, but I was able to recover today,” she said.
For Ruby Haylock, who won the 2020 Maine Women’s Amateur title and finished second in that tournament this year, Friday was just one of those days. She was 1-under through four holes, but back-to-back bogeys on five and six derailed her round.
“Nothing felt right. I hit my shot, and it just didn’t go where I wanted it to. I couldn’t get my tempo quite right,” said Ruby Haylock, who this summer won the Maine Junior championship and was third in the girls division at the New England Junior Amateur.
Eli Spaulding talked to his dad, Andy, on Thursday night about what Eli might need to shoot Friday to win the boys Class B state title.
“He said, ‘Dad, I think I have to go 3-under to win.’ I didn’t say anything, but I was thinking, I don’t think so,” Andy Spaulding said as he watched Eli’s round Friday.
With a number of good golfers in the field, Eli Spaulding’s instincts were correct, but his math was off. Spaulding shot a 4-under 68 that didn’t just win the boys individual title, it dominated the field. Spaulding finished nine strokes ahead of his nearest competition, Yarmouth’s Andrew Cheever and Kellen Adickes of Lincoln Academy, who tied for second at 5-over 77.
“I wanted it to be under 70. I knew the course was playing somewhat easy. The greens were rolling easy. The fairways were soft, so I was just like, you’ve got to go out, play your game, and be aggressive. There’s no laying back at this course,” said Spaulding, who played for Maine in the New England junior championships this summer and won the state junior title this summer. “This is something I wanted to check off my list. I wanted to get that final win of the season, and it feels really good to do so.”
While Leavitt had the top three girls finishers, Yarmouth placed four players in the top 11 of the boys field: Cheever, Nate Hagedorn (79), Quinn Federle (81) and Sebastian Martinez (85).
“We’re a solid team. We all work together well. We’re all best friends now. We play golf a lot together,” Cheever said.
Spaulding didn’t pull away from the pack until he hit the back nine. Spaulding held a one shot lead over Adickes when he reached the 10th hole, which he birdied with a 25-foot putt. On the 311-yard, par-4 hole 11, Spaulding’s tee shot pulled left, just off the fairway. Knowing he had to continue playing aggressively, Spaulding took his approach shot over the trees blocking his view and landed his ball just off the green. Two shots later, Spaulding gave fist pump when he sank his putt for par.
Three consecutive birdies on 13, 14, and 15 sealed the win for Spaulding, who made his only bogey of the round on 16.
“I was just thinking of every hole, every shot. I wasn’t thinking about what anybody else was doing,” Spaulding said. “Greens were fast and I was adjusting to that.”
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