Gary Manoogian of Westbrook won the Maine Senior Amateur Championship last week at the Brunswick Golf Club. Manoogian, 58, shot rounds of 73 and 69 to win by a stroke over three golfers – Ron Dery of Biddeford-Saco Country Club, Tom Bean of Augusta and Gary Laliberte of Bath. There were 82 players in the tournament.

This was Manoogian’s first so-called individual “major” on the Maine State Golf Association circuit. He has contended in a few Maine Amateur championships with his best finish a tie for second at the Portland Country Club in 2006. Manoogian has also won a couple of state Two-Man Championships with a partner.

Manoogian had a bogey-free final round at Brunswick on Thursday.

“I kept the ball in play, and got up and down for par when I missed a couple of greens. I had three birdies,” he said.

Manoogian had an idea how he stood on the back nine.

“I had heard Ron Dery got to 3 under for the tournament,” said Manoogian.

Dery, playing in the last group, dropped a couple of shots coming in, including a bogey on 17. Dery had to birdie 18 to force a tie, as did Laliberte. Bean, in the third-to-last group, had an uphill eagle putt of 15 feet on 18 that would have put him in a tie. He tapped in for birdie.

“I had to make that eagle putt,” said Bean while watching the final two groups finish.

Manoogian’s win highlighted an already strong summer on the links. He has been a leading player on the MSGA’s Senior Tour and in weekly amateur tournaments. By most golf standards, Manoogian took the game up relatively late.

“I didn’t start playing until I was 25,” he said. “I stopped going to the beach and went to the golf course.”

Once he started playing, he was hooked.

“I played every day and dropped my handicap from an 18 to a 6 in a year. It was tough dropping it any lower for a few years, but now my handicap is close to 1.

Being a bartender when he started to play, Manoogian had his days free to play golf.

Manoogian was an all-state basketball player at Westbrook High in 1975.

“Gary is a completely self-taught golfer,” said Randy Hodsdon, director of rules and competition for the MSGA.

“To my knowledge he has never taken a lesson. I played a lot of golf with Gary when I was the pro at the Falmouth Country Club. He is a very good putter. He was a good athlete. His ability as a golfer is all natural instinct. He is a much better ball striker than he was 15 to 18 years ago. I’ve seen a few natural golfers and he might be the best I’ve seen.”

Manoogian is a longtime member of the Falmouth Country Club, where the quality of golfers at the course has helped to keep his game sharp.

“We have a strong group of senior golfers,” said Manoogian, who has won five club championships at Falmouth.

Manoogian is the owner of the Casa Novello Restaurant on Main Street in Westbrook. He said he plays three to four times a week.

Tee to Green: The Maine Golf Hall of Fame will induct six members on Sept. 10 at the Poland Spring Resort. Jane Diplock, Brian Enman, Meredith Hudson Koerner and Romeo Laberge will be inducted with the late George Ellis and Phil Gerber. In addition, two special awards will be presented. Austin Legge of Cape Elizabeth will receive the Junior Golfer of the Year Award from the Maine Golf Hall of Fame and Scott Hoisington will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Maine Golf Superintendents’ Association. The dinner is at 6 p.m. with inductions at 7. A scramble golf tournament begins at 1 p.m. For tickets to the induction and to play in the golf tournament, call Hall executive director Gary Rees at 341-2911.

Ron Brown Jr. of Cumberland scored his fifth career hole-in-one while playing in last week’s Maine Senior Amateur Championship at Brunswick. Brown, a two-time Maine Amateur champion, aced the 95-yard fifth hole at Brunswick, using a pitching wedge. He was playing with Andy Bowden of Falmouth and Dan Falcone of Riverside.