BRUNSWICK

Augusta’s Mitchell Tarrio entered the opening round of the Maine Junior Amateur Golf Championship playing well, recently shooting a 65 at Natanis Golf Club.au

His solid play continued on Tuesday with an opening round 3-under par 69 at Brunswick Golf Club, giving the Kents Hill student/athlete a three-shot lead through 18 holes in the boys 16-18 flight.

Tarrio is in today’s final group, along with Portland’s Jeremy Baker and Cape Elizabeth’s Ryan Collins.

For Tarrio, the front nine went well. He came out strong, with birdies on two of the first three holes. After a four-putt double bogey dropped him back to even, Tarrio closed with four birdies on the final five holes for a 4-under 31 through nine.

“Besides the four-putt, my putting was phenomenal, closing the front nine with four birdies. That was all that it was, along with the wedges,” said Tarrio. “After that I played pretty lights out, with eight birdies on the day. The last four tournaments I am 12-under par.”

With the players opening play on Brunswick Golf Club’s back nine, many of the leaders excelled. Baker, Percy Zertz of George Stevens Academy, South Portland’s Thomas Higgins and Max Woodman of Lincoln Academy made the turn at 1-under par.

In the girls 16-18 competition, Cape Elizabeth’s Elizabeth Lacognata shot a 4- under par 32 on the opening nine holes, while Jordan Laplume, who finished second in last week’s Maine Women’s Amateur at Rockland Country Club, went out at 2-under par.

“The front and the back are just too opposite courses, and not knowing the course on the back and understanding yardages is where I struggled,” said Lacognata, who shot an 11-over par 49 coming in for an opening 81, five shots behind Laplume, who finished at 2-over par 76. “It was two opposite nines. Tomorrow is another day, and we know the course is capable of going pretty low out here.”

“I have been hitting the ball really well. I was disappointed with the way I finished in the women’s amateur, and I had never shot 2- under on nine before, so that was exciting,” Laplume said.

Tarrio fell back to 2-under par with a pair of bogeys on his second nine, but picked up birdies on two of the next three holes before a bogey on the closing par 5 gave him a 69.

“The first two par 5s were tough, and if you get out of position on those you find yourself in a tough spot,” Tarrio said. “I pulled my drive on the second par 5 into the woods and I was lucky to get out of there with a bogey. I was just happy to get back to 3-under par.”

Topsham’s Willie Kavanaugh had himself in a solid position after a tough start.

“I started off bad (4-over through five holes), but then I hit a couple good putts, a 40-footer for birdie on nine, and I hit with a pretty good rhythm after that,” said Kavanaugh. “I just want to finish in the top 10. Good luck to everyone else.”

Kavanaugh was still at 2- over par through 14 before a pair of double bogeys coming in put him at 5-over par 77, eight shots behind Tarrio.

Cade Charron, also of Topsham, began with two bogeys and two double bogeys on the opening four holes to quickly fall off the pace, finishing his opening nine holes at 8-over par. But, he gathered himself from there, shooting a solid 38 coming in to finish at 9-over par 81.

“Off the tee I wasn’t hitting the ball real well, and the greens were rolling pretty quick. I just couldn’t get used to them,” said Charron. “After that, I started hitting the ball well. I finished with a 38 on the front, so I feel really good going into tomorrow.”

Ethan Sclar of Freeport faced a similar fate as Charron. After a birdie and two pars to begin his day, three double bogeys over a fourhole stretch dropped him back. He finished the first nine holes at 7-over par and ended his day at 15-over par 87.

Baker was tied with Tarrio through 12, but two bogeys coming in completed his opening round 72, and Collins shot 36-37-73 to end at 1-over par, four shots back along with Zertz. Armand Ouellette (Saco), Higgins, Woodman and Brogan Kane (Scarborough) are five shots behind.

Boys 13-15

Topsham’s Parker Bate was tied for the lead at the turn, matching Cooper Bay (Portland) and Bennett Berg (Portland) at 4-over par 39.

The closing nine allowed Berg to pull into the lead, with his 42 putting him at 9- over par 81 for a one-shot advantage over Scarborough’s Alden Griffiths (40-42- 82) and Portland’s Nick McGonagle (41-40-81).

Bay and Bate sit three shots back, with Bate firing a 45 coming in for a 12-over par 84.

Freeport’s TJ Whelan shot 92 in the opening round, matching Topsham’s

Ty Henke.

In the girls’ 13-15 flight, Mia Hornberger of North Turner leads after an 87. Ruby Haylock of Hartford is four shots back.

And, in the 12-and-under flight (nine holes), Owen Moore has a three- shot edge over Lucas Flaherty and Sebastien Martinez.

The final round is underway at Brunswick Golf Club.