Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor was in excellent condition for the 46th Paul Bunyan Amateur last weekend. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t in as good a shape as the tournament courses.

Penobscot Valley in Orono was the other course. Saturday’s opening round was rained out at both courses. Class A and B players were supposed to play at Penobscot on Saturday with classes C and D at Kebo.

Additional Photos

Rob Hatch of Buxton celebrates his hole-in-one with former president George H.W. Bush on Tuesday. Hatch was playing in Bush’s fundraising tournament at Cape Arundel.

The divisions swapped courses for Sunday. The weather deteriorated at both courses. The early starters, which happened to be the low handicappers at Kebo Valley, got the better part of the weather. The late finishers completed their rounds in heavy rain.

Ray Gay won the tournament with a 68. He also used the day as a tuneup for the Maine Amateur at Kebo, slated for July 6-8. Gay plans to play another practice round at the course before the tournament.

“It got pretty wet at Kebo, but the greens were in good shape,” said Gay, who was playing in the Bunyan for the first time. “It was really fun to play the course. I can’t wait for the Maine Amateur tournament.”

Gay followed up his Bunyan win by taking low-gross honors at last week’s Maine State Golf Association scholarship tournament at the Portland Country Club. Gay, who just completed his freshman season for the University of New Mexico golf team, shot a 67 at Portland, site of the Maine Amateur in 2011.

Gay used a great finish at Portland to edge Mark Plummer by two shots.

“I knew Mark was in with a 69,” he said.

Gay came storming home with three straight birdies on holes 12 through 14. He bogeyed 15 and 18, but eagled 16 and birdied 17. On the par-5, 16th, he reached the green in two and sank a 5-footer.

Gay won his first Maine Amateur two years ago at Biddeford-Saco. He’ll be a favorite next month but will be challenged by some other top players in the state.

Gay played in several tournaments for New Mexico. The Lobos play one of the top schedules in the country.

“I got to play a lot,” said Gay. “It was a good learning experience. I feel our team underachieved this season. We have pretty much the same team returning next season so we should do much better.”

Gay will play in the Monroe Invitational in Pittsford, N.Y., beginning Wednesday. 

TEE TO GREEN: Rob Hatch of Buxton, a lawyer for the firm Thompson and Bowie in Portland, got the thrill of a golfing lifetime when he scored a hole-in-one on the 359-yard, fifth hole at Cape Arundel during the George H.W. Bush Cape Arundel Celebrity Golf Classic last Tuesday.

“It was a crazy 48 hours after the hole-in-one,” said Hatch. “I’ve been fending off calls from my buddies giving me the business. I never knew getting a hole-in-one would cause this much attention.”

Playing in a scramble, Hatch, decided to go for the green with his driver after one of his playing partners was safely in the fairway. The traditional way to play the hole is hit a drive out to the right on the slight dogleg left and then hit a short iron over trouble. But since it was a scramble, Hatch decided to play aggressively, taking a direct line to the hole. Hatch had to knock his drive over a stream, heavy rough and a portion of an apple orchard.

“I saw the line the ball took, but I didn’t know where it came down because the trees block your view,” he said. “Once we got to the green, it didn’t dawn on us to look in the hole. Matt Cassidy, one of my playing partners, finally looked in the hole. His expression was priceless.

“We went crazy when we realized the ball was in the hole. To do that in that setting and for a great cause was pretty special.”

On the next hole, a short, par-3 over water, Hatch was about to tee up the hole-in-one ball, a Bridgestone label, when his partners stopped him.

“I got practically tackled by two of them,” he said. “I could have knocked the ball in the water and it would have been lost forever.”

Afterward, Hatch and the former president posed for a picture and got the hole’s flag signed by him and Bush.

The tournament’s proceeds go to Gary’s House, which provides lodging for families from away who have relatives being treated at Mercy Hospital in Portland. …

Last winter, the Maine Legislature passed a joint resolution to create a long overdue Maine Basketball Hall of Fame. To raise funds and to introduce the new Hall of Fame, there will be a Maine State Basketball Hall of Fame scramble at Kebo Valley in Bar Harbor on July 23. The tournament is open to men and women with an entry fee of $99 per person. After the tournament, players will have a reception with former Boston Celtics player and coach K.C. Jones, where details of the Hall of Fame will be unveiled. Deadline for entering the tournament is July 9. For more information or to register over the phone, contact Jill Reeves at the Mt. Desert Island YMCA at 288-3511 or email: info@mdiymca.org.

Mike Worroll, the head pro at the Purpoodock Club, tied for second in the New England Senior Open last week in North Sutton, N.H.

Worroll had rounds of 71-71-142 to tie with Rich Parker of Lebanon, N.H. Fran Marrello of New Canaan, Conn., won with a 141.

The 11th State of Maine Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame golf tournament will be played July 12 at Belgrade Lakes. Entry fee is $100. The fee includes golf, cart, gifts, prizes, refreshments and a membership in the Foundation. Proceeds go to the Chapter’s Scholarship Fund. For information, call Howard Vandersea at 729-4210 or at vanderse@suscomme.net

Qualifying for the Portland City Championship begins Monday at Riverside. The entry fee is $35 that covers the two rounds of qualifying.

Match-play rounds will be an additional $10 for non-Riverside members. Golfers can sign up in the pro shop. Qualifying ends July 5.

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be reached at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

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