ORONO, Maine — Staci Creech will return to defend her title when the Maine Women’s Amateur golf championship tees off on Monday at Penobscot Valley Country Club.
Maine’s best golfers go will go head to head in a three-day medal play event at a course that opened in 1924 and is a classic Donald Ross design that will challenge all of the competitors.
Creech, who plays out of Bangor Municipal Golf Course, will battle against other top competitors such as 2014 champion Leslie Guenther as well as Kristen Kannegeiser, Mary Brandes and Bailey Plourde.
The tourney is a collaboration of Maine’s two women’s golf associations, the Southern Maine Women’s Golf Association and the Women’s Maine State Golf Association.
Both organizations offer weekly tournaments throughout the season. Women who are members of either organization and meet the entry qualifications are eligible to play in the championship. Junior golfers can qualify by playing in either association’s weekly events or Maine State Golf Association-sponsored events.
A highlight of the Maine Women’s Amateur is the presentation of the Abby Spector Award that is presented Wednesday “in recognition of the Maine female golfer who best exemplifies the spirit of the game through a unique combination of her ability and sportsmanship, her perseverance and courage, and her passion for and commitment to promoting the growth and enjoyment of the game of golf.”
Spector won seven Maine Women’s Amateur titles, won a New England Amateur crown and enjoyed a fine career at the University of North Carolina. Complications from heart surgery almost ended her life in October 2003, and she temporarily suffered vision and motor skill problems.
She is now a PGA pro at Riverside Golf Course in Portland.