MANCHESTER — Matt Campbell started the final round of the Charlie’s Maine Open playing dream golf and finished it off playing clutch golf.
Campbell defeated Peter French in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to claim his second Maine Open championship at Augusta Country Club on Wednesday.
“I love it up here. It’s so much fun,” Campbell said. “I just get really good vibes. Flying up from Florida, I was like, ‘I’m going to win.’ I had that vibe last time I won.”
French (Franklin, Massachusetts) played the final four holes of regulation at 4-under par, including a birdie on 18 as Campbell watched, to force a playoff, the first at the Maine Open since 2012.
The playoff started on Augusta’s No. 4 hole. Both players had similar drives, but French’s second shot was short, while Campbell’s put him only about four feet from the hole.
“He hit a great shot in there, and I came up a little bit short,” French said. “I thought I hit a better shot in there.”
French’s long birdie putt came close but missed, and Campbell quickly sank his to lock up the win and the $9,000 prize money.
Campbell, of Clifton Park, New York, opened the second and final day of the Maine Open among a cluster of seven golfers at 4-under, and two strokes behind French and Chelso Barrett.
Campbell needed only two holes to catch up. He birdied No. 1 then hit a hole-in-one on No. 2.
“Career start, right?” Campbell said. “If I get off to a hot start, I usually can put together a halfway decent round. Out here, you have to make birdies to win, so to get off to that start, it’s like a dream start, almost.”
Campbell, who played in the 2017 U.S. Open, said the hole-in-one was his fifth, but his first in tournament play, and his first in six or seven years.
“Three-quarter (swing with) 9-iron,” he said. “We were high-fiving up on the tee.”
After only two holes, Campbell was a 7-under for the tournament. In the next group, French birdied No. 2 to also move to 7-under.
Barrett (Henniker, New Hampshire) bogeyed the first hole to fall out of the lead for good.
Campbell played bogey-free the rest of the round (he only had one bogey in the two days) and held at least a share of the lead for the remainder of the tournament.
Campbell and French were both at 8-under at the turn Wednesday, then Campbell took a one-stroke lead with a birdie on the 10th hole.
He added birdies on the 14th and 16th holes to reach 11-under.
Jack Wyman (4-under) of South Freeport was the low amateur for the fourth time at the Maine Open. He edged Minot’s Will Kannegieser by one stroke. Kannegieser birdied four of the final five holes to finish the tournament at 3-under. Both Wyman and Kannegieser will play in the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course next week in California.
Jeff Seavey, a teaching pro at Samoset Resort, was the low Maine Chapter Professional at 4-over.
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