Once she stopped looking at her scorecard, Kelsie Dessent’s nervousness went away.
“I didn’t look at my scorecard the whole round, and I played my best golf of the season,” Dessent said.
Additional Images
Dessent, of Fairfield, was the girls winner at the Maine Junior Amateur championship on Wednesday at Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland. Dessent, who will be a senior at Lawrence High School in the fall, shot a 77 in the final round to win by 10 strokes.
Dessent made it through the tournament with just one double bogey. Dessent had two birdies during the two-day tournament, one on each day. She birdied the par 5, 390-yard ninth hole on day one. On day two, Dessent birdied the par 3, 145 yard eighth hole.
On day one, Dessent felt great after the front nine, especially with the birdie on hole nine, but looking at her scorecard caused nerves to flare up.
“It made me count everything in my head,” Dessent said.
For Wednesday’s second day, Dessent didn’t look at her card until her round was complete. While she waited out a rain delay, Dessent sat quietly and focused on what she had to do when she returned to the course. The result was her 77, the best girls round of the tournament. Her birdie on hole eight came a day after she took a double bogey on the hole.
Dessent has one more tournament before the high school season starts. She’ll play in the Janet Drouin Memorial Open Championship at Natanis on Aug. 18-19.
• • •
The Maine Match Play Invitational will be played Tuesday through Thursday at Sable Oaks Country Club in South Portland. A relatively new tournament, the Match Play Invitational is in just its fifth year. Matt Greenleaf won last year’s tournament at Fox Ridge in Auburn.
The tournament features the top finishers from the Maine Amateur Championship, plus other invited players. The longest match in the tournament’s history came in 2012, when Joe Alvarez needed 24 holes to beat Mike Doran at Natanis.
Among those expected to compete at Sable Oaks next week is recent Maranacook graduate Luke Ruffing, who tied for seventh at the Maine Am last month.
“I love match play. I like the mindset of it,” Ruffing said after completing his round at the Charlie’s Maine Open last week at the Augusta Country Club. “You just have to beat one guy. It’s a lot easier.”
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.