FALMOUTH — Mike Doran pulled out his lucky Srixon ball and shot a 2-under-par 68 Tuesday to take the first-round lead in the 92nd Maine Amateur Championship on a blazing hot day at Portland Country Club.

Doran, a member at Sable Oaks in South Portland, used three birdies, a bogey and 14 pars to head into the second round a stroke ahead of defending champion Ryan Gay of Pittston and 2010 runner-up Jason Gall of Cumberland.

Doran had used the same golf ball in a tournament over the weekend at Lakewood Golf Course in Madison.

“I found it in my bag and thought it might have some mojo,” said Doran, who said he has played Portland Country Club only three or so times. “I don’t know where the bad stuff is. Sometimes ignorance can be bliss.”

The field of 132 will be cut to 40, including ties, after today’s round, setting up Thursday’s final round.

Doran, who is the junior coordinator for the Maine State Golf Association, bogeyed the sixth hole, then birdied 10, 12 and 18 for the lead.

Gay, 20, a two-time Maine Amateur winner, led the field until Doran came in just after 3:30 p.m.

Gay birdied five holes and bogeyed four, including his final two of the round for the 69.

He had a chance to eagle the 16th, a 510-yard par 5, when his approach shot landed about 12 feet from the cup.

But he settled for a birdie after his first putt nearly darted in before sliding just wide of the lip.

“I hit the left edge and it didn’t break,” said Gay.

“It’s all about the greens out here. You have to be precise with these greens. My only putts for birdie were tap-ins.”

Gay won the Maine Amateur in 2008 and 2010 and is attempting to become the first back-to-back winner since Ricky Jones in 2003 and ’04.

Gall, who is a member at Portland Country Club, bogeyed the first four holes but recovered with birdies on Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11 and 16.

“After the first four (holes) I felt like I didn’t have it,” said Gall. “I three-putted the first hole, hit the second in the trees, the third in the bunker and the fourth hooked over the green. I thought, ‘let’s get back to basics.’“

Gay teed off at 7:30 a.m. in the first group of the day paired alongside Jones, the 2010 Maine Mid-Amateur winner and a two-time Maine Amateur champion, who finished at 4-over 74.

They were joined by Maine Junior champion Joe Walp, a recent qualifier for the USGA Junior Championship, who finished with a 79.

Jones double-bogeyed the third hole and bogeyed two more.

“(Today) I’ll probably try to go for the pins,” he said. “My swing didn’t feel truly there.”

Mark Plummer, a 13-time winner, finished at 4-over 74 and said he was impressed with the course and his younger competition.

“I feel like I’m intruding at a junior tournament,” Plummer joked. “The course was beautiful, in perfect shape, really the best I’ve ever seen it.

“I low-stepped the sixth and seventh (holes) and gave away three (strokes), but other than that I played well.”

As the day progressed, thunderstorms threatened to the east, with a hazy sky hanging over the ocean in the distance, but they never materialized.

Jason Harris and Kent St. Charles finished even par to round out the top five.

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at: jmenendez@pressherald.com

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