Golfers play at the Kebo Valley golf club near Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor in May 2020. Kebo Valley is hosting this week’s Maine Amateur Championship. AP file photo

Golfers from the Lewiston-Auburn area competing in Maine Amateur Championship will start the tournament with a long drive.

Not off the tee; on the turnpike.

The Maine State Golf Association is holding the 102nd edition on the annual tournament this week at Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor, which is nearly a three-hour car ride from the Twin Cities.

In eight of the past 10 years, the Maine Amateur has been within an hour’s drive of Lewiston. It was held at Sunday River Golf Club in 2012 and York Golf and Tennis Club in 2016, and both of those courses are about an 80-minute drive from Lewiston.

The distance didn’t stop area players from signing up for this year’s tournament. Mike Doran, the MSGA’s director of communications, said there were only four exempt players — players who did not have to qualify — who didn’t register for this year’s tournament, plus one player who withdrew for work reasons. The MSGA normally sees a couple of players withdraw prior to the tournament each year.

Instead of driving to and from Bar Harbor three consecutive days — the Maine Am runs Tuesday through Thursday — players are staying in Bar Harbor for the tournament and will make most of the three days.

“I didn’t hesitate, as long as I got the time off from work (then) I’d go,” Minot native Will Kannegieser said. “I am excited to go outdoors, just to go to the carriage paths (at Acadia National Park), visit the coast and beaches. For me, it’s like a mini-vacation and a chance to play golf.”

Minot’s Will Kannegieser follows through on his drive off the 10th tee at Spring Meadows Golf Club in Gray during the first round of the 2020 Match Play Invitational. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Kannegieser finished third at last year’s Maine Amateur at Biddeford-Saco Country Club, finishing seven shots behind Camden native Cole Anderson, who won the tournament for the second straight year. Kannegieser also won the MSGA Match Play Invitational in 2020 and 2019.

Anderson, a redshirt sophomore on the Florida State University golf team, is one of the four exempt players who didn’t register. Instead, he’ll be playing in the Southern Amateur — a prestigious amateur tournament that has been won by several PGA Tour players before they began their pro careers — in Mississippi.

Kebo Valley is Maine’s oldest golf course and the eighth oldest in the United States.

“It’s been around, and playing a course like this, where both PGA Tour pros have played as well as past presidents, it’s exciting to go up there,” said Auburn’s Jace Pearson, who plays out of Martindale said.

Since Bar Harbor is a popular tourist destination in the summer, and tourism is much less slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic than last year, players needed to plan ahead to find a place to stay.

Craig Chapman, who plays out of Fox Ridge and lives in Auburn, will have his wife Nicole in Bar Harbor with him. They booked a room at a Days Inn before he even qualified for the tournament in June.

“I was just thinking ahead because I know the middle of July, with the reopening (of the state), it was going to be a happening place,” Chapman said. “I figured, why not book it early and why not get a good rate? It worked out.”

Don Flanagan of Monmouth, who qualified in June at Fox Ridge, experienced the the return of tourists to Bar Harbor first-hand after a recent practice round at Kebo.

“I will tell you one thing, tourism is back at Bar Harbor, if (last Tuesday) was any indication of what to expect the rest of the summer,” Flanagan said. “It was busy, the streets were busy, a lot of pedestrians, it was crowded. So, it’s good for the area, and bringing (the Maine Amateur) to town will help most of the hotels and bed and breakfasts for the week.”

It’s not uncommon for PGA Tour players to rent a house with fellow players, their coaches, caddies or significant others during a major tournament. Pearson and a few other players and caddies are sharing a house about five minutes away from Kebo Valley.

“I am fortunate to play with a bunch of other good golfers who were proactive to get a house about four months ago,” Pearson said. “We actually avoided the troubles a lot of the late entries and people who waited the last minute to find lodging.”

Pearson had to go through the qualifying process this summer to earn his spot in the tournament. If he hadn’t been able to qualify, there were plenty of golfers who were willing to take his spot in the house.

“With Kebo being such a destination and everybody wanting to get back up there, getting a house that early, we didn’t look at it as a big risk,” Pearson said. “They were going to fill it up one way or another.”

Jace Pearson, of Martindale Country Club, watches his drive off the 10th tee at Spring Meadows Golf Club in Gray during the first round of the 2020 Match Play Invitational. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Kannegieser is staying at a residence with a family friend and is going to enjoy the experience away from the course by visiting some of the tourist attractions.

Flanagan is just staying at a hotel just outside Bar Harbor.

“Everything on the island is pretty booked right now,” Flanagan said.

Kannegieser and Pearson both said they heard about fellow players either finding places to stay in Ellsworth, which is 40 minutes away from Bar Harbor, or Bangor, which is 75 minutes away from Mount Desert Island.

“You could stay in Bangor if you had to,” Kannegieser said. “It’s ways away, but it’s not so far away from where it’s impossible.”

Kannegieser said a player he knows camped out the last time Kebo Valley hosted the tournament, in 2010.

In between rounds, players are planning to make the most of their time in Bar Harbor.

“It’s still competitive, don’t get me wrong, but I am a little more relaxed than I have been in the past,” Chapman said. “Going up to Bar Harbor, I am looking forward to doing other things, as well, after the golf. I believe we’ve booked on Tuesday night with another couple an hour-and-half boat ride at sunset. So we are looking forward to that, and it’s going to be fun.”

Flanagan is excited to be spending time with his son Trevor, who just missed qualifying by one stroke. He’s an alternate in the field, and if he can’t get into the tournament he will caddy for his father.

“It’s going to be good, valuable time with father and son,” Don Flanagan said. “I don’t expect him not being in the field (in the years to come). To have the opportunity for him to be on my bag, we will make the most of that.”