MANCHESTER — After a scorching start to the tournament, Sean Bosdosh had finally been caught.

There was no panic, though, for the PGA professional. A stretch of birdies over six holes in the middle of his final round allowed Bosdosh to reclaim his lead. Then slowly, his biggest competitors faded.

Bosdosh shot a 1-under 69 on Wednesday to finish 11 under overall and win the Charlie’s Maine Open at Augusta Country Club. The Clarksburg, Maryland, native came back from a two-stroke deficit to edge Topsham’s Caleb Manuel (9 under; 2-under 68 Wednesday) and also hold off fellow Marylander Zach Barbin (8 under; 1-under 67).

“I hit the ball really well today, and my putting was good,” Bosdosh said. “I just try to focus on my routine, and I do a really good job of hitting the ball well when all I think about is my target and my process. … I felt like I got better today; I struggled off the tee, but I maintained composure.”

After both players birdied the first hole and made par on the second, Manuel made birdie on No. 3 to move within two shots of the lead. Then, with Bosdosh bogeying the fourth hole and double-bogeying the fifth, Manuel made par on both to take his first lead of the tournament. A birdie on No. 6 put him two strokes ahead.

Bosdosh, though, immediately got back within a stroke as he birdied the seventh hole and Manuel made par. Then, on No. 8, Manuel bogeyed as he accidentally knocked his ball backward on a practice swing and was assessed a one-stroke penalty, allowing Bosdosh to draw even at 9 under with a par.

“It just kind of alarmed me because I was like, ‘Whoa, I just hit my golf ball,’ and I kind of knew what happened; that’s never happened to me,” Manuel said of the miscue. “I still felt like I hung in there and played solid. At least I lost by two strokes and not one (because of the mistake).”

Bosdosh retook the lead with birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 to go ahead by two strokes. Manuel sank a 50-foot putt for birdie on No. 11 that cut Bosdosh’s lead back to a shot, but Bosdosh answered with a 40-footer for birdie on No. 12 to restore the two-shot advantage.

A three-putt double-bogey for Manuel on No. 13 gave Bosdosh a four-shot lead, which dropped to three with a bogey on No. 14 that put Bosdosh at 11 under with Manuel and Barbin at 8 under. Bosdosh then made par over each of the final four holes to secure the two-stroke victory.

The bogey on No. 16 was uncharacteristic of Manuel after he had eagled the hole on Monday and made birdie on Tuesday.

Still, even with the overall title largely out of reach, he was able to birdie each of the last two holes to win the Maine professional title by 10 strokes over Boothbay’s Everett Najera.

“The ball just carried a little bit farther than I wanted to,” Manuel said of his tee shot on the 16th hole. “I thought the bunker was 295 (yards) to carry, and it flew that and went all the way down. It was still nice to birdie the last two; I’m happy with the way I finished.”

Bosdosh matched his 1-under performance from a day earlier after coming one stroke shy of the course record with a 9-under 61 on Monday. But it was still plenty satisfying to Bosdosh after the rough start.

“I’m glad I came back and won it, but what I’m more excited about after all the practice I put in is to see myself able to calm myself down, focus on my routine and get back to what I’m good at,” Bosdosh said.

Barbin had briefly overtaken Manuel for second after 16 holes before the Manuel’s birdies earned him a sole share of runner-up honors. Will Frodigh (Westwood, Massachusetts) shot the best round of the day with a 4-under 66 to finish fourth at 7 under, and Zane Thomas of Las Vegas shot a 1-over 71 to finish fifth at 5 under.

The Maine senior crown went to John Hickson of Northport, who shot 5 over for the tournament to beat out Jeffrey Seavey of Rockland (7 over). Jack Quinn of Litchfield and Eli Spaulding of Freeport both finished at 1 under overall to finish tied for the Maine junior and amateur crowns.
“I definitely checked out a lot of the boxes with the goals I had,” Spaulding said. “I obviously wanted to shoot under par, so that par on the last hole was nice to keep it in the red. The last two days were more of a grind, but that’s golf, and you just kind of have to play with what you’ve been given.”

“I played really solid,” Barbin said. “Caleb got off to a really hot start. Sean got off to a fine start and then kind of floated a little bit, but then he came back really strong toward the middle stretch. It’s a long day of golf, especially with the rain delay, and you just never know, so I just try to focus on what I can control.”

The Maine senior crown went to John Hickson of Northport, who shot 5 over for the tournament to beat out Jeffrey Seavey of Rockland (7 over). Jack Quinn of Litchfield and Eli Spaulding of Freeport both finished at 1 under overall to finish tied for the Maine junior and amateur crowns.

“I definitely checked out a lot of the boxes with the goals I had,” Spaulding said. “I obviously wanted to shoot under par, so that par on the last hole was nice to keep it in the red. The last two days were more of a grind, but that’s golf, and you just kind of have to play with what you’ve been given.”

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