A winner in his own mind now

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/08/2009 (6206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Adam Speirs would be a great lab rat for anyone studying confidence.

Last spring and summer, his excellent play indicated it was only a matter of time before he’d win on the Canadian Tour, and he did just that at the Greater Vancouver Charity Classic in June.

It appeared to be a breakthrough season until the drought of 2009 hit.

This year, Speirs has missed six of seven cuts in Canada, made just $4,985 on the tour and stands in 84th place on the money list.

He was down in the dumps about it all until Monday, when his skill and confidence re-appeared at the Great-West Life St. Charles Invitational.

His eight-foot eagle putt on the last hole of the annual pro-am completed a round of 61, shattering the course record.

The competitive mark had been held by former Masters champ Bob Goalby, who shot 64 on June 26, 1982 at the Peter Jackson Champions. Current Links at the Lake head pro Al Scott equalled the score some years later.

The casual course record at St. Charles was believed to be Stew Bannatyne’s 62, but a new card is going up on the wall at the venerable old club after Speirs made seven birdies and two eagles Monday on a layout of 6,457 yards with some tricky pins.

“It came out of absolutely nowhere and I had a great time,” Speirs said Tuesday. “And I feel calmer this morning for some reason.”

That’s because the frustration of the 30-year-old’s season had been building to a point of inner turbulence.

“I think maybe I’ve been getting a little impatient regarding the big picture. You know — life in general,” Speirs admitted. “You’ve been doing this for awhile now and feel like you should have a little more success.

“So I start to not play great and I question it. I’m 30. How long will I do this? I have allowed all those thoughts to compound and I have been putting pressure on myself that way.

“It’s not so much my golf, just the picture of my life in general not going exactly according to plan.”

By now, and like so many aspiring professionals before him and still to come, the bright lights of the PGA Tour are the goal.

Something’s always getting in the way, and for Speirs this year it’s been his counterproductive patterns on the course.

“My reverse bounce-back has been the worst in the league,” he said Tuesday. “I make a birdie and always seem to bogey the next hole. It’s momentum-killing, drive-killing, all those bogeys and missed putts. And it’s very evident.”

Monday, Speirs said he tried to dismiss some of those thoughts and confront others.

He made no bogeys, and several times chased away some demons.

“The point of my day was that I wanted to win (the pro-am) more than anything,” he said. “By the time the mid back nine rolled around, I figured I was going to win. But on the 18th tee, it made me focus on staying aggressive, to test myself to try to create a little pressure for a situation this year.

“This year, there hasn’t been anything close to pressure in a competition for me. Monday, I backed off a couple of tee shots to try to get those damn thoughts out of my mind, how I’d playing all summer. It was so nice to have a negative thought enter my mind and to battle it out of my mind, and to be able to follow through on making some shots.”

He was especially pleased with the driver and three-wood to eight feet on the par-5 ninth hole of the McKenzie nine to finish the deal.

“You never know where something good comes from,” Speirs said. “Maybe this will catapult me the rest of the season and to Q-school, but whatever happens, this whole thing was so much fun.”

This is a week away from tournament competition before three straight weeks, in Montreal, Seaforth, Ont., and at the Canadian Tour Championship in St. Catharines, Ont.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca