Bailey Plourde watches her chip on the second green during the Maine Women’s Amateur at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course on July 21, 2021. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Injuries have made for a more wide-open feel for the Maine Women’s Amateur Championship.

Defending champion Bailey Plourde is in the field, but still working her way back from back surgery early this spring. Kristin Kannegieser, coming off of three straight third-place finishes and four straight top-fives, is out due to a torn ACL suffered on the ski slopes during the winter.

As a result, the action at the top of the leaderboard could be looking a little different this time around. The tournament begins Tuesday with the first of three rounds at Portland Country Club in Falmouth.

“I absolutely feel like we all have a shot in this thing,” said Jordan Laplume, the 2019 champion. “I think we all do every year, which is mostly the fun of it. I think it’s a super competitive tournament all the time, and it always comes down to short game and who can beat the course the best.”

Plourde had emerged as the Am’s dominant player, with wins in 2018 and ’21 by three and six strokes, respectively, and a runner-up finish to Ruby Haylock in 2020 after the two players cleared the rest of the field by 18 shots (she missed the 2019 tournament). But the Newcastle native and Sheepscot Links player began experiencing pain due to a herniated disc during her final fall season with Berry College in Georgia that only worsened into the winter, and doctors in January told her she needed a discectomy to fix the problem. Plourde underwent the procedure in early March.

“I will be just trying to go out there, have fun and complete the three days,” Plourde said. “I think it is definitely going to be a big mental battle for me, just trying not to have too big of expectations, because who knows what’s going to happen.”

Plourde said she opted to have the surgery early to give her a chance to play the Am. She resumed golf activities about a month ago and has only played three 18-hole rounds this season, but two came in the last two days and were both pain-free.

“The big thing is keeping it loose. I have to stretch pretty extensively before and after the round, and I have to ice immediately after I play,” she said. “I think I’ll be OK physically, it’s just going to be a battle for the next three days.”

Plourde, one of the field’s longest players, said she can still hit the shots she was hitting, but consistency is the question. Nevertheless, she expects her competitiveness to return when she takes the first tee.

“Oh, for sure,” she said. “I’m sure once I tee off, winning will be on my mind.”

She’ll be in the lead group starting at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning along with Haylock and Laplume (Groups are arranged according to handicap, with lower handicappers playing earlier). Haylock followed up her 2020 victory with a runner-up finish last season, and the Turner Highlands player, who will start a collegiate career at Bates College this fall, said she’s been practicing more than she’s been playing in recent weeks and focusing on her short game.

“It’s been kind of nice, but I’m excited to get my competitive mindset back for the Am,” Haylock said. “I think my chances are definitely there. It all comes down to how I can perform in the actual field. I feel like you can only prepare yourself so much for the tournament in terms of practicing, and getting your mindset there.”

Laplume is going into her final season of collegiate golf at Merrimack College.

“It’s really not me versus Ruby or me versus Bailey,” Laplume said. “It’s going to be us versus the course and how each of us plays when we need to play well.”

Since winning the two-round Am in 2019 at Webhannet Golf Club with a 74 and 69, Laplume hasn’t been able to break 76 and has shot over 80 three times in six tournament rounds. She said she’s eager to find her form from three years ago.

“The last two years, I did not play to the best that I could have, so I’m really thinking this year I’m going to try to turn it around,” she said. “I just felt comfortable and stress-free (in 2019), so I’m really trying to go into this week with a good mindset of being confident and don’t overthink things.”

Lurking behind the first three, and perhaps poised to surge toward the top, is a group of Erin Holmes, Erin Leland and Rachel Smith, all of Val Halla Golf Course. Smith tied for third in the 2020 Am, and all three carry handicaps below 6. Notables in later groups include 2020 Maine junior champion Lindsay Cote and Morghan Dutil, both of Husson University, and Jade Haylock, Ruby’s younger sister, who won the Class B high school title last fall.