If you are into Pine Tree State golf trivia, here is something that might surprise you.
Minot, Maine, population 2,500, is where numerous state and club golf tournament winners either have lived or currently reside.
Bill Kennedy, Golf Columnist
Ladies first. Kristin Kannegieser of Minot and a member of the Portland Country Club won the women’s club championship this year. She is almost always a contender for the Maine Golf Women’s Amateur championship, having won it in 2007 and 2010. She and her son, Will Kannegieser, also won the parent-child state championship in 2018, while playing out of Martindale. Want more? Kristin is a three-time Maine Golf Women’s Senior champ — 2017, 2018 and 2021, and the 2021 Maine State Golf Women’s Player of the Year.
Add to this list: Melissa Johnson, the five-time Martindale women’s titlist 2011-15. Then there is longtime Minot resident and Minot school teacher Karen Nichols, who became the 1988 women’s champion at Martindale after three playoff holes. In addition, Jackie Rybeck captured the women’s title at Fairlawn in 2021.
Next is the men.
The aforementioned Will Kannegieser, who grew up playing out of Martindale and then Portland, currently is living in Massachusetts, where he works in real estate. He was a state junior match play champion twice and was Martindale men’s champion in 2020 and 2021. Also, he qualified for the 2019 U.S. Amateur and with his Williams College teammate, Sam Goldenring, they qualified in 2020 and 2021 for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball championship.
Curtis Jordan took the men’s match-play crown this year at Portland. He grew up in Minot having attended Edward Little High School, where he played varsity golf and basketball. In those days, he was a member at Martindale and worked at Fox Ridge. Among his golf accomplishments are qualifying for the USGA Amateur Four-Ball in 2016 with Craig Chapman.
Interestingly, Curtis’ father Steve, once shot a 66 at Martindale. Because of a medical condition, he now plays one-handed.
Also in the “Minot mix” is Andrew Slattery, winner of the 2014 Maine Amateur, while a member at Martindale, where he won the club championship in 2015 and 2017.
And it gets better, because two of the kids who grew up in Minot, Jordan and Slattery, in their adult life, are members of the board of directors of Maine Golf.
And finally, there is Keegan Fennessy, a Poland Regional High School graduate, who was the No. 1 player on the varsity golf team, which was undefeated for three seasons 2003-05. He also was a varsity basketball and baseball player. Golf became his living, as a member of the Hooter’s Tour, and as an assistant pro, teaching the game in Florida.
Fennessy, the 2004 Maine State Class B golf champion and low amateur at the 2009 State Open, has returned to his Maine roots, as general manager of Summit Spring.
Arguably, it could be said that little Minot, Maine, is the home of golf champions.
*****
A total of 15 scholarships have been awarded to 2023 Maine high school graduates by Maine Golf. Among them is Annabelle Steeves of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, who is the recipient of the $1,500 Davis Richardson Memorial Award.
Scholarship awarding by Maine Golf dates back to 1950, with nearly 600 recipients since then receiving $2 million in grants, based on need, academic records and school/community activities. There were in the neighborhood of 50 applicants this year, and when you consider that the recipients get $1,500 for each of their four college years, it was well worth the time to file an application.
Persons interested in making a contribution to this fund can obtain information online at brian@mainegolf.org, which is the email address of Brian Bickford, Maine Golf executive director.
*****
The upcoming Maine Golf schedule is a busy one. The men’s B and C championships will be Aug. 22-23 at Old Marsh. The Mixed Championship is slated for Aug. 26 at Val Halla. A Men’s Play Day is Aug. 25 at Spring Brook, while the Women’s Play Day is Aug. 22 at Bridgton Highlands.
Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 11th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
