Bangor’s Jesse Speirs has made the cuts in four of the last five events on the Web.com Tour after missing the cut in his first five tournaments, but one bad round in each tournament has been preventing him from making significant headway on the money list.
The Web.com Tour is one step below the PGA Tour and the top 25 money-winners will earn their PGA cards for next season.
Speirs is currently 144th on the list with earnings of $6,280. The golfer who owns the 25th spot on the money list, Joel Dahmen, has made $71,705. Tour leader Wesley Bryan has pocketed $280,692 after 10 tournaments.
Speirs was tied for ninth after the first two rounds of the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic this past weekend with a 9-under par 135 but he ballooned to a 78 on the third day before finishing with a solid 68 to wind up tied for 61st at 7-under par 281.
He has had a round of 77 or worse in six of his 10 tournaments. He has also had nine rounds under 70, which prompted him to say “that shows you [the potential] is there.”
“Things are getting squared away. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. I’ve been driving it real well, my chipping is a lot better and and I’m rolling putts well.
“Now I’ve just got to do a better job of not wasting shots. I have to do a better job after a bad swing. You can’t afford to hit consecutive bad shots. You can’t hit every shot perfect but you can’t let it snowball,” said the 29-year-old Speirs. “I have to make sure I’m going the right things mentally.
He added a bad round has to be par or 1-under par.
“You can’t have just two or three good rounds. It has to be all four rounds. The money is top-heavy so I’ve been killing myself [financially] on the weekends after making the cut,” he said.
Speirs will play 11 tournaments over the next 12 weeks through the end of August.
The next tournament, the Rust-Oleum Championship at the Ivanhoe Club in Illinois, started Thursday.
Despite his ups and downs, Speirs is having fun.
“I had always dreamed about playing on the PGA Tour and this is the only way to make it. I have to make the most of my opportunity this year,” said Speirs, who noted that he can earn a PGA card with “three or four good weeks” on the Web.com Tour.
He will need to finish in the top 75 to return to the Web.com Tour and be eligibile to play in all the tournaments next season. Those who finish 76-100 earn conditional status and will earn an exemption into the second stage of the Web.com Tour qualfying tournament.