LEEDS — The 2021 Springbrook Golf Club men’s and women’s club champions come from the same family.

Monmouth siblings Trevor and Abby Flanagan won the club titles in mid-July. Trevor shot an even-par 71, defeating Brandon Marcotte by three shots, to earn the men’s title, while Abby’s 10-over-par 81 bested Deb Murphy by three shots.

“(Winning) feels pretty good,” Abby, who graduated from Monmouth Academy earlier this year, said. “I really started focusing on golf these past two years. The goal during the summer is the two big tournaments — the club championship and the women’s amateur — and to come out on top in one of those feels pretty good.”

At the women’s amateur, which was held July 19-21 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course in Bangor, Abby finished tied for 24th. Last fall, she won the Class C girls individual state championship.

The Springbrook club championships were supposed to be two-day tournaments, but heavy rain on Sunday, July 18, didn’t allow every golfer to finish their rounds. Abby played 12 holes that Sunday and Trevor completed only five.

Trevor, who graduated from Monmouth Academy in 2019, said the threat of subpar weather helped him have the right mindset for the first day of the tournament.

“Ed Balboni, the head pro here, said he had seen the forecast and we could get up to 3 inches of rain tomorrow, so the second round could be canceled, this could be a one-day tournament,” Trevor said. “My thought instantly was — they say you can’t win it on the first day but you can lose it, but my thinking was I am going to try to win it on the first day, just in case (the second day is canceled).”

Abby and Trevor’s father, Don Flanagan, who finished four shots behind Trevor in the men’s championship, said he is proud of the siblings not only for their championships but for how they respect the game of golf.

“It’s a neat thing and they have worked hard at golf,” Don, the Monmouth Academy golf coach, said. “I am happier on the type of people they turned out to be as young adults, and they are respectful to the game and the people they play with is the biggest thing I am proud of them for.”

Abby credits her putting for her victory.

“I think my putting is what worked the best,” Abby said. “With any golf round, you are going to have those bad shots, and I definitely had my fair share of those. You just move onto the next shot.”

The short game was also on point for Trevor during the Springbrook championship.

“I was hitting the ball pretty well, keep it in front of me, keeping it in play off the tee box and trying to get a wedge in my hand,” Trevor said. “My wedge game was really strong, everything inside 50 yards I was putting within a couple of feet, usually, and I was rolling in putts when I needed to.”

The siblings couldn’t keep tabs on how each other were doing during that first round because of their respective tee times.

“I had no idea (how she was doing) because she was teeing off in the last group, she was two hours behind me, I was on the other side of the course,” Trevor said. “I was trying to focus on my game and hoping she was doing well. When I got done, I was anxious to see how she was doing.”

Don, however, did take the time to be a dad while playing his round.

“It was neat looking around the course and trying to gauge how good they are doing from their body language, seeing them hit some good shots, some bad shots, while trying to focus on your own game,” Don said. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t look around to keep track of them to see how they are playing.”

The Flanagan household was overflowing with enthusiasm ahead of that Sunday’s scheduled round.

“It was pretty exciting knowing that after the first day (if the second day got canceled) we were both the leaders in the clubhouse and we would be the club champions,” Abby said. “I knew going into the second day we were both capable enough to put two good scores in a row.”

Trevor missed qualifying for the Maine Amateur by one shot and ended up caddying for his dad. He said that experience helped him prepare for the club championship.

“Being on his bag gave me a view on how that tournament style is like,” Trevor said. “It’s 36 holes (before the cut), it’s 54 holes if you make (the cut). If you look at the first 36 holes as its own tournament to get through the cut, it’s just a grind hole-after-hole. You can make a double (bogey on the first hole of the first round), but you know you still have 35 holes left ahead of you, you have to keep grinding. … It gave me a lot of insight on how that tournament is like.”

COMPETITIVE FAMILY

Having three high-level players in the family leads to ever-present on-course battles.

“I think it’s super cool, growing up (Trevor) and I were each other’s competition,” Abby said. “We would go out and try to outdrive him and beat his score.”

A regular round between father and son usually has the stipulation attached to it that whoever loses has to drive home.

The interfamily competition and the club championship experience are valuable to the Flanagans as they prepare for the upcoming college golf season. Trevor will be a junior at St. Joseph College in Standish, while Abby will be a freshman at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

“Playing in any competitive tournament helps me,” Trevor said. “The more tournaments you play in the more comfortable you get, the more (it becomes) a regular (occurrence). This helps me a lot because it was a (scheduled) two-day tournament and a lot of our big tournaments at St. Joe’s are two-day tournaments.”

Don knows where he stands in the Flanagan power rankings.

“It’s fun to come out as a family and play,” Don Flanagan said. “I have quickly become the third-best in the family the past couple of years. They can become very competitive with each other, which helps make them better, too.”

« Previous

Field hockey: Maine Field Hockey Festival returns as a summer centerpiece

Next »

Celtics complete deal with Mavericks for guard Richardson