Speirs leads team, but 81st in NCAA tourney

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Bangor native Jesse Speirs of the Texas Christian University men’s golf team is tied for 81st after two rounds of competition in the NCAA Division I Central Regional at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club.

Speirs shot a 9-over-par 81 Friday to go with Thursday’s opening-round 76 for a total of 13-over 157. He is the low scorer among the Horned Frogs, who are 28th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Dawie Van Der Walt of Lamar leads at 4-under 140. The final round is today.

TCU, seeded ninth in the regional, is in 25th place out of 27 schools, posting daily totals of 332 and 315 for 647. The Horned Frogs are 62 strokes behind leader Tulsa and 40 behind 10th-place Texas A&M.

The top 10 schools advance to the NCAA championships May 30-June 2. Those schools’ team members qualify for individual play as well as the top two individuals from among the nonqualifying teams.

Speirs got off to a rocky start Friday. Starting on No. 10, he opened with a double bogey, birdied the next hole, then added a bogey and two more doubles on his next three holes. He played the next 11 holes 1 over before suffering another double bogey on his 17th hole and parring the last for his 81.

Thursday, he started with a birdie, double bogeyed No. 4, bogeyed No. 5, birdied the next two, and bogeyed No. 8. He double bogeyed 11, birdied 12, then bogeyed 15 and 18 for 76.