But you still need to activate your account.
BANGOR – As a young amateur golfer, Jesse Speirs, a 15-year-old from Bangor, is still learning how to play the game.
Thursday, he used a bit of knowledge he gained recently to surprise the field in the 36th Greater Bangor Open with a 7-under-par 62 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course.
That score, believed to tie the GBO course record, put Speirs two shots ahead of pros Mark Szewczyk of New Oxford, Pa., and Eric Snodgrass of Moundsville, W.Va., and three up on Mike Dugas of Pittsfield, the head pro at J.W. Parks Golf Course.
Tied at 66 are 1998 GBO winner John Connelly of Perrysburg, Ohio, 1995 champ Eric Egloff of Rockville, Md., Corey Harris of West Hartford, Conn., Jeff Dantas of Pawtucket, R.I., and Mark Urbanek of Princeton Junction, N.J.
Defending champion Jim Salinetti of Lee, Mass., tops a group at 67. Other players of note include John Hickson of Old Orchard Beach and Joe Cioe of Crystal River, Fla., at 68, Jim Nickerson of Freeport at 69, Mike Baker of Bradley at 71, and amateur Mike Norris of Newburgh at 71.
What Speirs learned at the World Junior Championships in San Diego was the knockdown shot, which flies low to bore through the wind. The ball also has a high spin rate which helps it check up when it lands.
“That course [Torrey Pines] made me so much better,” said Speirs of the PGA venue. “It played 7,200 [yards] the first three days and 7,400 the last day. I had to hit a low knockdown shot about every hole.”
Speirs was able to get the ball close to the flag on many holes Thursday, setting up some short attempts at birdie.
The approach shot on the 18th hole was a good example.
“I hit a 6-iron knockdown, really a three-quarter punch,” said Speirs. “It came out just the way I wanted it to.”
The ball hit the center of the green, rolled across the side of the left mound, and curled down toward the cup, stopping 8 feet away.
“I was a little excited,” said Speirs. “I was thinking I needed the putt to make 62. I told myself to stop thinking like that and just put a good stroke on it.”
The ball broke a little left to right and dropped in the center of the cup for his seventh birdie – with zero bogeys.
“I was standing on a slope, too,” he said. “It wasn’t awkward, but it made me think more about the putt.”
It helped that Speirs is playing on one of his home courses.
“When you’re in a tight situation, it’s nice to know you’ve hit a shot a hundred, a thousand, times already,” he said.
Speirs was only in two tight situations Thursday, on the 12th and 14th holes.
“On 12 [a long, dogleg-right par 4], I was just into the trees on the left,” said Speirs. He hit onto the back of the green and two-putted for par.
On 14, a straight but long par 4, he was in the left rough with an unusual lie.
“It was sitting up in the rough, but the grass was still over it,” he said. “It came out fluffy and short, and I got up and down [for par] from there.”
Despite how well the round turned out, Speirs felt he could have done better.
“No matter what you shoot, you always leave something out there,” he said.
The one he left out there was on 17, a 340-yard par 4.
“I was 2 yards short [of the green on his tee shot], and I hit the wrong [chip] shot,” Speirs said.
He tried to hit a lower shot with some spin on it, but mishit it and the ball rolled 15 feet past the cup. He two-putted for par.
“I learned something there,” he said. “Don’t do it tomorrow if I have the same shot.”
Speirs isn’t necessarily looking for a repeat of his round today.
“If I shoot 67 or 68, I’ll be happy. I just want to be consistent,” he said.
Dugas is one of the leading players in the Maine chapter of the New England PGA this year, despite only playing a couple of times a week. He likes the opportunity to go up against the pros who play almost every day.
“It’s fun to see where your game fits in,” he said. “Sometimes it fits in nice like today.”
Dugas got down to 5 under par, but a bogey on the last hole cost him.
“I’ve been playing pretty well in competition,” said Dugas. “I’ve been making quite a few birdies, but I’ve always had a few bogeys creep in.
“It happened again today.”
Salinetti felt OK about his round.
“I’m not in great position,” he said. “But if I hang around 67 each day, I’ll be right there.”
The field will be cut down after today’s round for Saturday’s 18-hole finale.
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