In 1965, the Bangor Daily News sponsored the first Paul Bunyan Amateur Golf Tournament to help generate interest in golf in the area.
A total of 119 golfers competed in the 54-hole affair, which was held at Pinewood (now Lucerne), the Bangor Municipal Golf Course and Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.
This weekend, the tournament celebrates its 50th anniversary. The 2014 Bunyan, a 36-hole tournament, will take place Saturday and Sunday at the PVCC and the Kebo Valley Golf Club in Bar Harbor.
The tournament, which is held on two of the finest courses in Maine, has undergone a number of changes over the years. Several different courses in eastern Maine have hosted it in the past.
The Paul Bunyan tournament was initiated four years after a local 72-hole tournament that included pros and amateurs had ended due to financial problems. At its inception in 1965, it was just for golfers in the Bangor Daily News’ eight-county circulation area.
Vince Ferrara was the first winner.
“He was from the base,” said longtime Bunyan participant and Bangor resident Mike St. Thomas, referring to the former Dow Air Force Base in Bangor. “He was short and he had to be in his 20s. He could hit the ball a mile.”
The players all used to play the same course on the same day, but when the list of entrants reached 228 in the early 1970s, the decision was made by the tournament committee to divide the golfers up and have all the courses in play each day to speed up play.
In 1975, all in-state residents were included and, in 1996, it was opened to out-of-state players as well as in-state players.
The Bunyan has enjoyed its noteworthy longevity because “it’s mostly just a fun tournament,” according to PVCC general manager Charles Melino.
“Some of the guys play really seriously and a lot of guys are out there to spend the weekend playing golf with good friends and having a good time,” Melino added.
Matt Barnard, the director of Harris Golf which manages the tournament and owns PVCC, said the Bunyan is a “little bit of a different animal compared to a traditional golf tournament because there are two types of players.
“You have the hardcore competitors like [defending champ] Ricky Jones who is in it to win it. Then you have the others who aren’t here to win it but they’re here because they want to play with their dad or their friends or they love coming here and getting the opportunity to play these two great courses,” said Barnard.
“Having the opportunity to meet and play with different people is a massive draw,” said St. Thomas, who has played in virtually every Bunyan since 1970. “You get to play with people you wouldn’t normally play with or communicate with.”
Houlton native Barry Hobert said the tourney is a social event for a lot of the golfers.
“You get together with your buddies and play different courses,” said Hobert, who posted the second lowest net score in 1967 after having just graduated from Brewer High.
Bangor Muni golf pro Brian Enman won the 1972 Bunyan and noted that one of the attractions, which is still true today, is that “it’s the first real big tournament of the year for amateurs, especially in this area.
“It’s something everybody looks forward to,” he added. “It’s still a nice tournament to win because you’re competing against a lot of good players.”
“It has become a fabric in a lot of lives,” said Barnard.
The tourney has encountered several changes over the years.
In 1979, due to an overload of tournaments, the PVCC bowed out of the Bunyan and was replaced by the former Tidewater Golf Club in Trenton. Tidewater eventually became the Bar Harbor Golf Course and it enjoyed a long relationship with the tournament until 1997.
The Rockland Golf Club had a long run as one of the tournament courses but when it went from a three-day tournament to a two-day event in 2009, Rockland was eliminated. That left Kebo Valley and the PVCC as the two courses.
PVCC replaced Bangor Muni in 2006.
A Junior Bunyan tournament was started in 1970 for players ages 13-17 and it was held at the Hermon Meadow Golf Course. It enjoyed a long existence but was eventually dropped. The top four finishers from the Junior Bunyan qualified for the (senior) Bunyan.
There has been discussion about bringing back the Junior Bunyan.
In 1987, Milo’s Barb Hamlin became the first woman to play in the Bunyan and that eventually led to a women’s division in 1993. Thirty-nine women entered the first year they had their own division and Lori Frost won it.
When the numbers dwindled to 27 in 1996, the division was dropped. However, the women’s field returned in 2010 and Bucksport’s Whitney Hand claimed the title in the division, which has continued.
When Harris Golf took over management of the tournament in 2009, one of the changes was reducing it from a three- to two-day event.
“It didn’t take too much of a decision to change it,” said Barnard, whose company owns nine golf courses in Maine.
“The event was struggling a little bit. It was having trouble moving forward. Having a three-day tournament is tough because everybody works and has family things going on. A lot of people wanted to play in it but didn’t want to play three days. So we took Friday out of the equation and it made a big difference. We got a lot of positive comments about that,” said Barnard.
Players come from everywhere and the field has been capped at 288 players.
“We have a group that comes up from Georgia every year and some who travel from the West Coast,” said Melino. “And we get a lot of people from southern Maine who love to play Kebo Valley and Penobscot Valley once or twice a year.”
Because it is an amateur tournament, players earn pro shop credit instead of cash. This year, the $99 entry fee covers the cost of a Saturday night banquet at PVCC.
Hobert said the fact the tournament offers four divisions based on a golfer’s handicap (A, B, C, D) as well as a seniors class and a women’s division has been beneficial.
“Even at my age, 66, I still like to compete. But it’s hard to compete against someone [much younger] like Ricky Jones. I like playing in the seniors division because I can compete in that class,” said Hobert.
“It has made things interesting,” said Rick Ambrose, who won the Bunyan in 1969 and 1971 and set a competitive course record with a 66 at Kebo in 1971. He also has a 62 at PVCC.
Melino said if friends or relatives want to play together, they will do what they can do to accommodate them as long as they are in the same division.
There have been other recent developments.
In 2011, the Harris Golf group decided to have foursomes instead of threesomes but that brought play to a crawl and it was switched back to threesomes in 2012.
“That drastically hurt the pace of play and we heard the complaints,” said Barnard.
Brewer’s Bob Collins, who figures he has played in 20 Bunyans, said, “It’s a local tournament. There are a lot of local golfers and there’s a lot of local interest. You get to play on nice courses that you might not be able to play. It’s a great amateur tournament.”
Collins said his claim to fame is matching former President William Howard Taft’s 27 on the 17th hole at Kebo during one Bunyan.
“But I always enjoyed playing in it,” he said.
Longtime Maine golf star Mark Plummer of Manchester has recorded the most Bunyan victories with 11, the last coming in 1994. Jones has collected five titles (2013, ’07, ’05, ’04 and ‘01) and the late Bob Girvan II of Kenduskeag won three (1995, ’82 and ’77).
Recent two-time champs include Ryan Gay of Pittston (2010-11) and Bangor native Jess Speirs (2002-03).