Eli Spaulding, a three-time Class B individual champion, is one of the golfers who could breakthrough at the Maine Amateur now that three-time champion Caleb Manuel has turned pro. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

For the first time in three years, there will be a new winner at the Maine Amateur Championship.

And for the players teeing it up next week at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth in the tournament’s 105th rendition, the season’s most sought-after title is feeling all the more up for grabs.

“Exactly. It’s definitely exciting this year,” said Brunswick Golf Club’s Eli Spaulding. “I didn’t really start thinking about it until after Caleb turned pro, and then I kind of had the realization ‘Wow. This year, it’s anyone’s tournament.’ It’s definitely exciting for, I think, pretty much all of us.”

The player Spaulding was referring to was Caleb Manuel, who won three straight championships from 2021-23, but formally ended his chance for a four-peat by turning pro in June. During his run, Manuel was the clear favorite in a deep field, and his dominance was never more evident than during his 11-shot win last year at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

“Caleb just absolutely kind of waxed the field,” Spaulding said.

Now the question becomes who gets their turn.

“It does completely open it up and change where anyone who’s just playing the best can win,” said Ron Kelton, who plays out of Purpoodock. “And there’s a bunch of people out there that can do that.”

Ron Kelton, from Purpoodock Club, finished second at the Maine Amateur last year. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Kelton, who was second last year and tied for third the year before, is one of them, as are players like fellow Purpoodock player John Hayes IV, who won the tournament in 2015 and has finished sixth or better each of the past four championships, Mike Arsenault Jr. (tied for 10th last year, runner-up and fifth place the two years before) and 2014 champion Andrew Slattery (eighth last year).

“This is my 21st Maine Am, so I’ve seen the whole cycle of young, junior, college kids come in, dominate and they leave,” Hayes said. “Selfishly, it’s nice for the field that he’s gone, but you want the field to be stacked and to beat the best players.”

Following the trend of dominant high school players turning into Maine Am winners (Cole Anderson won two straight out of Camden Hills, right before Manuel won his three out of Mt. Ararat), Spaulding could emerge as the player to beat in his first Maine Am since finishing his Freeport High career with three individual state titles.

The Loyola University of Maryland-bound Spaulding showed he was on the verge of breaking through by tying for fourth last year with Bennett Berg, one shot behind Tyler Baker, but there are other impressive rising juniors in the field including Jack Quinn, Marc Twombly, Will Farschon and Kellen Adickes.

“It’s definitely a different feeling, kind of a different game plan,” Spaulding said. “I think on the mental side of things, you kind of have to go into the tournament preparing to be leading or around the lead after Round 1 or 2, which is something that I’ve never been able to do in the Maine Am before.”

Whoever prevails will find a bigger prize awaiting them than before. A Maine Am title is always coveted, but winners this time, as is the case with all state amateur championships, will automatically qualify for the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota in August.

“That’s something that I’m definitely excited about, and is kind of in the back of everyone’s minds,” Spaulding said. “The golf community in Maine is so tight, so at the end of the tournament, for one of us to be able to play in the U.S. Am and kind of represent our state … is something that will be really, really cool to see.”

Kelton didn’t hesitate when asked if he’d make the trip were he to win the trophy on Thursday.

“Automatic in. No question,” he said. “It’s a high priority (on the) list for me.”

The players seeking that chance will have to deal with a course that is ready to test them. Purpoodock isn’t overly long at 6,403 yards, but it offers sloped fairways and quick, undulating greens that could force golfers to pay for misplaced shots or lapses in focus.

“It’s not even hitting a terrible shot. You can be dead middle of the fairway and feel like you’re standing upside down,” Kelton said. “The lies that you get at Purpoodock, they can make or break a round.”

With difficult lies and approaches everywhere, precision and decision-making with approach shots will be key.

“Purpoodock’s really going to be about wedge play,” Hayes said.

The course’s sharpest teeth are at the 10th, 11th and 12th holes. No. 10 features a green that’s hard to hold with water on the right and sand on the left. No. 11, one of the hardest holes in the state, is a dogleg left that forces the player to hit a long drive and still have more than 200 into the green. No. 12 is a 208-yard par 3 with no safe place to miss the green.

“Everyone has to start off 10 one day, and I can easily see someone going double-double-double to start those three holes,” Kelton said. “You can be 6-over after three holes and say ‘Well, this tournament’s over.’ ”

The holes afterward are score-able – provided the player has survived.

“(Nos.) 14 through 18 is where the tournament will be won,” Hayes said. “If someone’s going to lose the tournament, it’ll probably be 10 through 12.”