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Sugarloaf welcomes Maine’s top golfers for the 2009 State of Maine Championship

 

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Professional and amateur golfers to compete side by side for cash and prizes

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CARRABASSETT VALLEY, ME – For the seventh consecutive year, the Sugarloaf Golf Club will play host to Maine’s top professional and amateur golfers as they compete for cash, prizes, and ultimate bragging rights as the state’s top golfer in the 2009 State of Maine Championship, August 17-19.

 

Nearly 100 golfers will converge at Sugarloaf for the 36-hole medal play tournament, which matches up Maine’s top professional and amateur golfers in junior, senior, and 18-50 year-old categories. To compete in the tournament professionals must be a member of the Maine Chapter of the New England PGA, while all Maine residents are eligible to compete in the amateur category.

 

The Sugarloaf Golf Club has hosted the event for the past six years and 14 out of the last 16 years. The course has proven to be a challenge for even the best players, rewarding good shots while punishing poor ones.

 

“This tournament has returned to Sugarloaf year after year because it’s a true test of golf, even for the top professionals,” said Scott Hoisington, Sugarloaf’s Director of Golf. “And when you have the kind of challenge that Sugarloaf presents, you can be assured that the best player is going to win. It’s similar to a U.S. Open course in that regard. At the end of the day there’s no question who the top golfer is.”

 

Among this year’s competitors will be last year’s winner and five-time tournament champion Bob Darling from Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn, as well as 2007 champ John Hickson from Dick’s Sporting Goods.

 

Sugarloaf Golf Club has been recognized by Golf Digest as one of America’s Top 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses. The Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design is sculpted from the natural terrain that lies in the Carrabassett River valley. The most memorable holes on the course, the String of Pearls, is a six-hole sequence that runs alongside the Carrabassett River. Starting with the 10^th hole, players are treated to terrific views of the Crocker Cirque from the elevated tee that sits 90 feet above the fairway. The bunkers protecting the front of the green, along with the rushing waters to the back, make this short par-4 more challenging than it may appear.

 

Even more dramatic than number 10, the par-3 11^th features an elevated tee with dramatic views of the green 125 feet below and the Bigelow Mountain Range on the horizon. The roaring river alongside the green provides an easy distraction to even the most confident of players. Island greens and fairways that parallel the Carrabassett River add challenge and splendor to one of the finest examples of mountain golf found anywhere.

 

Applications to play in the 2008 State of Maine Championship are available on the Maine chapter page of the New England PGA web site at www.mainepga.com. Sugarloaf is offering specially priced tournament lodging at the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel. For more information and reservations, please call 1.800.THE.LOAF or visit www.sugarloaf.com.