After qualifying and almost making the cut at the Maine Amateur Championship in July, he won the Maine Junior Amateur Championship for his age group earlier this month. And, recently he claimed his first Junior Club Championship at his home course.
All that was left was a final 36-hole match against reigning Senior Club Champion Doug Self, who recently shot two rounds of 77 in the Maine Senior Amateur at Brunswick Golf Club, for this year’s Men’s Club Championship.
Manuel defeated Self, 4 and 3 on Sunday to become the youngest club champion in the 118-year history of the club.
The two teed off early Sunday morning for their first 18, with Self drawing first blood by winning the third hole. Manuel bounced right back with a birdie on fourth, and took the lead by making par on the 452-yard par-4 sixth hole. A birdie on seven and par on the 600- yard par-5 ninth gave Manuel a 3-up advantage after the front nine
Self battled back to get to 2-down with a par on 13, and looked to pull even closer by making an easy 5 on the long par 4 14th hole. But, Manuel drained a long putt for bogey to halve the hole. Both players found the bunker on 15, and Self went first and almost holed out for birdie. His close par putt was conceded, and Manuel’s sand shot found the back fringe. Manuel calmly stroked the slippery 15-footer into the hole to save par and maintain his two-hole lead.
Manuel led 2-up through the opening 18 holes.
The second round began with Manuel making a routine par on No. 1 to increase his lead to 3-up as Self found trouble off the tee. The two exchanged birdies on No. 7 (Self) and No. 8 (Manuel), and a 1-stroke penalty cost Manuel the ninth hole when his putter accidentally moved the ball before his stroke on the putting green, leaving the match with Manuel leading 2-up after 27 holes.
The penalty stroke didn’t faze Manuel, who showed great focus by coming back on No. 10 and hitting his approach to three feet and tapping in for an easy birdie to go back to 3-up. Another 3, this time on the par-3 11th hole, gave Manuel a comfortable 4-up lead with seven holes to play.
Manuel found himself dormie after hole 13, and closed out the match with a 2-putt par on No. 15.
Manuel, an eighth-grader, started school today at Mt. Ararat Middle School.
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