OAKLAND — Sometimes when it rains, it pours.

Much like the passing squalls that dumped heavy amounts of precipitation on Waterville Country Club two of the last three days, when things started to go bad for Emily Bouchard, they did so in bands.

Bouchard entered this year’s Maine Women’s Amateur as the two-time defending champion, but on Wednesday’s final day of the tournament, she shot a frustrating 11-over-par 84 to finish with a two-day total of 164. Two separate rough stretches prevented any chance of Bouchard making it three in a row, as she dropped five strokes between holes seven and nine and another six strokes between holes 13 and 16.

The finish put her in seventh place, seven strokes back of tournament winner Leslie Guenther.

“It’s been a frustrating day,” Bouchard said. “I don’t have too much too say to be honest.”

Like the other golfers in contention Wednesday, Bouchard had to deal with a 1-hour, 8-minute rain delay — which hit while she, Guenther and Mary Brandes were on the ninth hole. Even still, Bouchard was not about to blame her performance on the weather.

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“We’re all in the same boat. We’re all in the same conditions at the end of the day,” she said. “Moaning and groaning is not going to get me anywhere. I have to come back and play better here next year.

“…It’s the conditions. You take what you get. Whether it’s sunshine, wind, rain or whatever it might be, you have to play through them.”

She — like the rest of the field — battled through the rainy conditions early and soggy course later, yet there was not the same edge to her game that carried her to Women’s Am titles in each of the two previous years.

“I haven’t had the same sharpness that I had on Monday,” she said before pausing for a moment. “What Monday?”

What Monday indeed.

The Women’s Am was originally scheduled to be a three-day tournament beginning on Monday and, when Bouchard left the course that day, she still believed it would be just that. She had just wrapped up firing an even-par 73 and was poised to carry the lead into the tournament’s second day — until torrential rain washed out the round.

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As much as the Biddeford-Saco Country Club golfer tried to push what could have been out of her memory and restart her tournament, she simply could not do it.

“I tried to swallow that pill as hard as I could but no matter what I told myself…it’s disappointing obviously,” Bouchard said. “It’s hard to move forward from that. You hear a lot of, ‘nice round Monday,’ but at the end of the day what round? You work hard to post a good score and you leave here knowing you’re in the lead. You come back the next day and everyone is at square one. It’s disappointing.”

Even with Bouchard’s struggles Wednesday, Guenther still felt her lead was never completely safe. She has seen over the past few years what Bouchard is capable of and knew if she got going, she would be tough to stop.

“She is a beautiful golfer and she is a real competitor,” Guenther said. “I would never discount her no matter how far back she was.”

Unfortunately for Bouchard, that run never happened.

She entered the day five strokes back of the lead and was still within striking distance after the first three holes, but a bogey on No. 7 — followed by two straight double bogeys — pretty much put her out of contention.

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: Evan_Crawley


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