Jack Wyman admitted that golf wasn’t his primary sport growing up.
Basketball was the sport of choice for Wyman, and that’s understandable.
He played on Falmouth High School teams that included Mr. Maine Basketball Bryant Barr, who wound up playing with NBA star Steph Curry at Davidson College in North Carolina, and Stefano Mancini, who played at Loyola University-Maryland.
“We had a couple of real good teams,” said the left-handed Wyman, who was the Yachtmen’s starting point guard his junior and senior years.
He also played on state championship golf and tennis teams, but that changed when he attended Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts.
“Endicott was good for me,” said the 27-year-old Wyman, who now lives in South Freeport and captured his second straight Maine Amateur Championship on Thursday at the Belgrade Lakes Golf Club.
“I had a good balance between golf, my social life and having fun. So I never got burned out on golf. I had a good career,” he added.
“I increasingly got more addicted to golf. That’s why I’m still playing as much as I am today,” said Wyman who helped Endicott win Commonwealth Coast Conference titles three times in four years. “It wasn’t until college that I was able to take my game to the next level.”
He wasn’t heavily recruited in high school because he played in the shadows of golfers such as Ryan Gay and wasn’t exposed to higher levels of golf like the American Junior Golf Association.
But Wyman won’t have much time to savor his one-shot Maine Amateur victory over 17-year-old Cole Anderson because the New England Amateur Championship will be held at his home course, the Portland Country Club, beginning Tuesday.
It will be a three-day, 72-hole tournament. They will play 36 holes on the final day.
“I’m really excited. Hopefully, I’ll play well out there,” he said. “The Portland Country Club is beautiful. It’s right on the water so wind can play a factor in the conditions. The greens will be fast. It will be a good test.”
Wyman got a business degree from Endicott and works at a golf course in South Carolina in the winter.
But he plays golf full time the rest of the time and is weighing his options concerning a pro career.
“I’m just going to work as hard as I can at my game. I’m going to give it my all and see if I can play well enough to compete at the next level,” he said.
He was impressed with youngsters Anderson, who will be a senior at Camden Hills High School in the fall, and former Bangor High golfer Drew Powell, who will be a sophomore at Brown University in Providence. Powell finished fourth, four shots behind.
Anderson has verbally committed to attend Florida State University.
He predicted they will both have “great careers.”
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