Three golfers with Maine ties are competing this weekend in Wisconsin at the 41st United States Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship, being held at Erin Hills.

Bill Kennedy, Golf Columnist

Mid-Amateur means the player must be at least 25 years old with a handicap index of 3.4 or lower. Around the nation, there were numerous Mid-Am qualifiers which saw a record 5,708 players, all of whom were vying for 264 berths in the championship tournament.

The players with Maine ties are Sam Weiss, who actually resides in New York but plays during the summer at Blue Hills — which is on the coast of Maine — and has been a Maine tournament contestant since he was a junior. The second player is Harvin Groft, who lives in Berwick and plays out of a New Hampshire course, The Oaks in Somersworth.

The third player is Andrew Slattery. who lives in Falmouth and is a member of the Portland Country Club. That said, Slattery grew up playing at Martindale, and while there, he was one of a number of Martindale members who were significant Maine State Golf Association tournament players.

Slattery was an alternate for the Mid-Am, having shot 69 in a Connecticut sectional qualifier in August and earning alternate status during a playoff. Recently he received a telephone call in which he was told that he would be in the field if he could get to Wisconsin, which he did.

This is Slattery’s second USGA championship appearance, having been in the 2016 team competition.

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In the Maine Senior Women’s Amateur Championship Sept. 13-14 at Riverside North, two area players made the cut.

Leslie Guenther of Mingo Springs, a former Norway player, tied for ninth (81-77—158), and first-time Senior Amateur entrant, Heidi Haylock of Turner Highlands, was 17th (80-89—160).

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At the New England Golf Association Senior Amateur Sept. 13-14, held at Black Rock in Hingham, Massachusetts, two Mainers from Biddeford-Saco made the cut.

Scott Dewitt (73-76—149) tied for 21st and Keith Patterson (76-77—153) tied for 42nd. Bobby Myers of Martindale (84) was among the players who did not make the cut.

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Maine Golf, aka the Maine State Golf Association, is having its weekly play days for men and women.

For the men, there is Sept. 20 at Cape Neddick and Sept. 23-24 at Turner Highlands. The women will be playing at Sugarloaf on Sept. 20.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 10th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.