BELGRADE LAKES

The Maine State Golf Association will host the 99th Maine Amateur Championship for the first time in the event’s storied history this year at Belgrade Lakes Golf Club.

The three-day event begins on Tuesday with opening-round action. The second round is slated for Wednesday, with the final round featuring the top 40 scores and ties set for Thursday.

Belgrade Lakes opened in 1999 to rave reviews and has been named among Golf Magazine’s top 100 public courses in the U.S., in addition to being named the No. 1 course in Maine.

Last year’s championship was held at Brunswick Golf Club and was won by South Freeport-native Jack Wyman with a score of 5- under par 211.

Wyman is in the field again this year to defend his title, and will join Ron Brown, John Hayes IV, Ricky Jones, Mark Plummer and Andrew Slattery as the only former champions in the field of 132 players.

In all, there were 55 exempt players to register, and 77 who earned their spots at qualifiers in June held at Biddeford-Saco Country Club, Poland Spring Golf Club and Waterville Country Club.

This championship is a 54- hole stroke play competition. The field for the championship will be cut to the low 40 two-day scores, plus ties, for Thursday’s final round. Any player that makes the cut will be exempt from qualifying for the 2019 Maine Amateur Championship at Portland County Club.

Additionally, the top 16 and ties will earn a berth in the 2018 Match Play Invitational, to be played at Falmouth Country Club in August.

Fun Facts — The field is comprised of 132 players representing 46 different golf clubs from around Maine. … Sable Oaks Golf Club has the most players in the field with 11, followed by Falmouth Country Club with nine and Brunswick Golf Club, Martindale Country Clue and Val Halla Golf Club with eight each. … Twelve of Maine’s 16 counties have at least one player in the field. … There are two sets of brothers competing in the championship — Joe and Mike Walp from Falmouth, and Eric and Gavin Dugas from JW Parks Golf Club. There is one father and son duo in the field — Tim Estabrook and his son Ben, both from Penobscot Valley Country Club. … The oldest player in the field is Ron Brown (69), and the youngest are Cade Charron, Thomas Higgins, Caleb Manuel and Armand Ouellette (16). The average age is 34.7.

Field — The field is made up of players from the following golf clubs, with the number of players from that club in parentheses — Augusta (6), Bangor Municipal (1), Barnes Brook (3), Bath (1), Biddeford-Saco (7), Boothbay Harbor (2), Bridgton Highlands (1), Brunswick (8), Cobbossee Colony (1), Dunegrass (2), Dutch Elm (1), Fairlawn (1), Falmouth (9), Fox Ridge (1), Freeport (1), Hidden Meadows (1), Houlton (1), JW Parks (2), Kebo Valley (1), Lakewood (1), The Ledges (2), Martindale (8), Natanis (1), Nonesuch River (3), Norway (2), Old Marsh (1), Penobscot Valley (4), Poland Spring (2), Portland (6), Presque Isle (1), Prouts Neck (2), Purpoodock (5), Riverside (3), Rockland (2), Sable Oaks (11), Samoset (4), Sanford (1), Springbrook (1), The Woodlands (3), Turner Highlands (1), Val Halla (8), Waterville (5), Wawenok (1), Webhannet (2), Willowdale (2), York (1).

The course will play as a par 71 and will measure around 6,600 yards for the championship.