BRUNSWICK — When her putt for par on the 18th hole dropped into the cup, Erin Holmes looked to the sky before pumping her right fist. Two years after taking a short break from competitive golf, Holmes had the biggest tournament victory of her life.
Holmes, 24, finished with a 1-under-par total of 221 over three days at Brunswick Golf Club and earned her first Maine Women’s Amateur championship. A Cumberland native playing out of Val Halla Golf Course, Holmes won by five strokes over Shivani Schmulen, a sophomore at Bowdoin College. Jade Haylock of Leavitt Area High was third at plus-6, one shot ahead of her older sister, defending champ Ruby Haylock, who also won the event in 2020.
“It’s been on my golf bucket list forever. To finally get it done, it feels amazing,” Holmes said.
After graduating in 2021 from Bucknell University, where she was a member of the golf team, Holmes stepped away from tournament golf until last year.
“I knew I wasn’t going to ever leave the game. I love it too much. I love competing, but I played 18 holes, 36 holes, every single weekend, and your body gets tired. Your mental game gets tired,” Holmes said. “I just needed a break, but I’m thrilled to be back.”
Holmes placed third last year behind Ruby Haylock and Bailey Plourde, both two-time winners.
“I think she needed the break because she was doing nothing but competing for all those years in college. That’s the difference this year. This is the biggest event she can play in. That competitive spirit got into her. She brought it,” said Mark Holmes, Erin’s father and longtime caddy.
Wednesday’s final round was the first in which Holmes didn’t shoot under par, but it didn’t matter. She began the day with an eight-stroke lead over Jade Haylock and Schmulen. Holmes opened the round with back-to-back bogeys, opening the door just a crack. But Schumlen and the Haylock sisters could get no closer than five shots, as Holmes closed with a 3-over 77.
“Today was definitely a grind. I was a lot less accurate off the tee, so I had to play a lot of things safer. I wasn’t making as many putts. Going into the last few holes knowing I had a six-stroke lead, or whatever it was, was really good for my mental game,” Holmes said.
Holmes’ round could’ve gone sideways when her tee shot on No. 7 hooked into tall grass to the left of the fairway. She found her ball, and turned it into her only birdie of the day.
“Bad old habits. I fell back into them today,” Holmes said. “I hooked my drive left (on seven). Luckily, we found it, and it’s wide open over there. I could get a club on it and hit a little wedge shot out of there. Luckily it’s a short par-5, and I stuck it close enough to pull it off.”
Holmes attributed her rough start not to nerves, but to too much excitement knowing victory was in her grasp.
“I definitely was overthinking my shots a little more. I had to take a step back and take it one shot at a time, like I did the two days before. It’s frustrating when you put together two rounds under par and don’t do it again,” Holmes said.
Mark Holmes said prior to the tournament that he and Erin talked about playing with confidence and aggressively.
“She’d always been a little careful in the past and had to chase. Our motto this week was no fear. Just hit it as hard as you can and see how it works out,” he said.
Schmulen, from Plano, Texas, opened her round with a triple bogey and was plus-7 for the tournament with nine holes to play. She rallied on the back nine, going 3 under to move into second place.
“Another kind of rocky start, but I got something rolling and kept going with that. I’m more than happy with how the week played out,” Schmulen said.
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