MANCHESTER — Caleb Manuel spent 18 days in Australia. He got back Friday. Three days later, he was playing in the first round of the Maine Event golf tournament at Augusta Country Club.
“Today was the first round I’ve played in a couple of weeks,” he said. “I didn’t expect too much today. I was just knocking the rust off.”
Manuel may have been rusty, but he didn’t look it. The Topsham native and University of Georgia player shot a 4-under 66, good for a share of the first-round lead with Oakland’s Drew Glasheen. Six players are tied for third at 1 under, with the final round scheduled for Tuesday.
The Maine Event, in its fourth year, is open to male and female players as well as amateurs and professionals.
“I hit it pretty solid,” Manuel said. “I missed a few events and wanted to play a little more than what I had on the schedule before I go back to school, so I threw this one in there. I’ve got U.S. Am qualifying (at The Ledges in York) on Wednesday, so this is kind of helping me prepare for that.”
Manuel’s trip to Australia was “a little break” from golf – he said he hit three times at a driving range and never got on a course – but he was sharp on Monday. He birdied three of his first five holes on a bogey-free front nine and added two more on the 11th and 15th holes. The birdie on 15 came when he chipped in from in front of the green, leading to a smile and high-five with caddie Parker Bate.
“The chip-in was the highlight, probably,” Manuel said. “We talked about chipping in before it happened. I missed like a 6-footer on the hole before, and I was like ‘Let’s try to make this one.'”
Manuel’s round was matched by Waterville Country Club’s Glasheen, who was a weary wanderer himself – Glasheen worked a night shift at the Sappi mill in Skowhegan and came straight from work to the course.
“My mentality was ‘Stay awake,’ ” Glasheen said, laughing. “Then sleep, sometime.”
Jack Quinn, 15, left, and his caddy, Jade Haylock, 16, bump fists after Quinn sank a 20 foot putt for a birdie on the first hole during the opening round of the Maine Event on Monday at the Augusta Country Club in Manchester. Haylock, who was also competing, caddied a few holes before she needed to report for her tee time. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Glasheen’s red-eye round began with a bogey, but he heated up quickly with a birdie on the third hole and then three straight on the sixth, seventh and eighth. He parred the next six holes, then sandwiched a bogey on 17 with birdies on 16 and 18.
“I didn’t make any mistakes, really,” he said. “I made a few putts on the front nine, left myself in some good spots there. … I had 10 feet for birdie on most of the holes on the front nine.”
Thea Davis of Plymouth leads the women’s flight after shooting a 2-over 75 (Augusta is a par 73 for women). Davis, who tied for fourth in the Women’s Amateur last year, made three birdies en route to a two-shot lead over two-time Women’s Amateur champion Ruby Haylock and Ruth Colucci, and a three-shot advantage over Jade Haylock.
“I got some good breaks and capitalized on them and made some good putts coming down,” Davis said. “I was visualizing well today what needed to be done. I wasn’t trying to overthink it.”
Six players shot 1 under, including Jeff Seavey, the pro at Goose River Golf Club. Seavey carded birdies on the sixth, eighth and 14th holes to lead the professional flight.
Jack Quinn, 15, of Gardiner, right, tees off on the second hole as Shawn Warren watches during the opening round of the Maine Event on Monday at the Augusta Country Club in Manchester. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
“I scrambled well early, made a couple of really good sand saves on 2 and 7,” he said. “I played solid, I kept it in front of me all day long. I didn’t drive it great, I think I only hit five or six fairways. But of the six fairways I hit, I birdied three of them.”
It was a different story for fellow pro and defending champion Shawn Warren, who found fairways and greens all morning and afternoon but who couldn’t capitalize on the putting green. He shot 2-over 72 and is tied for 16th.
“It’s one of those places that you think you’ll be able to take advantage of it, with it not being the longest golf course, but at the end of the day you have to be able to hole some putts,” he said. “I wish I could say it was the greens’ fault. It really wasn’t. The greens were in great shape, the golf course was perfect. It was just one of those days.”
Rounding out the group at 1 under were Garrett Olson, Max Woodman, Brian Angis, Mick Madden and Jack Quinn. Madden (Cheverus) and Quinn (Gardiner) are entering their sophomore years of high school, reflecting the youth presence at the tournament. According to Maine Golf Executive Director Brian Bickford, 48 of the 87 players in the field are under 30 years old.
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