FALMOUTH FORESIDE – Jesse Speirs of Bangor knows the game of golf. Now he’s learning the sport of golf.

“Yesterday [Tuesday], I was trying to play too conservatively,” said the 19-year-old. “I was holding myself back.

“Today, I hit the ball the same as yesterday, but I was more aggressive.”

That aggression led Speirs to shoot a 5-under-par 65 at Portland Country Club on Wednesday and climb well up the Maine Amateur Golf Championship leaderboard after posting a 78 for his first 18 holes.

That 143 total left Speirs eight strokes off the lead, though, as Shawn Warren of Windham pounded out a 64 for a two-day score of 5-under-par 135.

The next closest pursuer is Todd Kirn of Kennebunkport, who shot a 66 and is at even-par 140, followed by Ross McGee of Fairfield, Toby Spector of Waterville, and Mark Plummer of Manchester at 141. McGee and Plummer posted 69s Wednesday, and Spector had a 70.

Next are Speirs, Joe Alvarez of Veazie, and Mike Norris of Newburgh at 143. Alvarez was also under par for the day with a 68, and Norris turned in a 70.

Forty-six players made the cut of 152 and will tee it up today for the final round.

After playing four holes early Wednesday morning to finish an opening round which had been halted by darkness Tuesday, Speirs had about an hour and 20 minutes to gather himself.

“I just chipped and putted,” said Speirs.

And rethought his approach.

“I was so afraid of making a mistake that I forgot I was just playing a game,” said Speirs. “But the more you free yourself up, the better off you are.”

With his rediscovered game philosophy, Speirs put a charge in a 3-wood and drove the first green, 293 yards away. Two putts later, he had his first birdie and he was off and running.

Speirs added another birdie on No. 3, then suffered his only bogey on the par-3 fourth hole.

“I flew the ball just past pin-high. It landed in the middle of the green but spun off [the front],” said Speirs.

He chipped to 5 feet but lipped out the putt on the top edge.

Speirs parred the rest of the front nine, then added birdies on 11, 14, 16, and 18 on the back.

He also had other good chances, he said, but couldn’t convert them.

“On 17, I left a 10-foot putt right on the edge,” recounted Speirs. “On 15, I had an 8-footer. I hit it so soft because it was downhill that it curled at the last second and hung on the edge. And on 5, I missed a 3-footer for bird.”

Those misses didn’t bother him.

“My mindset was not to try to make them,” said Speirs. “I just tried to put a good roll on them, and if they went in, they went in.

“That’s how I’m going to play from here on out.”

He won’t be concentrating on the people in front of him, either.

“I don’t worry about the field anymore,” Speirs said, “I just play against the course.”

Warren, who will be a senior at Marshall University in West Virginia in the fall and is the No. 1 golfer on the team, may not have to worry about the field anymore either if he plays today even close to the way he did Wednesday.

“This ranks right up there with one of my best competitive rounds ever,” said a smiling Warren, whose score was two strokes off the course record.

He shot a 10-under-par 62 in the Barrett East Coast Amateur at the Algonquin Golf Club in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, a couple of years ago, but he liked this one better.

“This is a tournament that means a lot to me,” he said.

Warren’s Maine Amateur troubles in previous years were due to the fact that only two rounds were stroke play to qualify for a match-play finish.

“In match play, more players have a chance to win,” said Warren. “In stroke play, the better players rise to the top.”

Warren had been the low qualifier or among the low qualifiers in his past tries but was always eliminated the early match-play rounds.

Now he feels confident of winning.

“I always thought I had the game to win this tournament,” said Warren, who in 2004 became the first amateur to win the Maine Open since 1971.

McGee, who graduated from Husson College this spring, was excited about playing among the leaders today.

“This is a unique experience for me,” he said, adding that he has been playing well this year. He shot a course-record 66 at Clinton Golf Course and also had a 65 at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.

“I thought 69 was good,” said McGee. “I never thought I’d get beat by four or five strokes.

“I’ll play like that again tomorrow and see what happens.”

Plummer, a 13-time Amateur champ, has similar feelings.

“I want to try to shoot one of those scores they [Warren and Speirs] shot today,” said Plummer, quickly adding with a smile, “And have them shoot one like I had [Tuesday].”