Thursday, June 21, 2012

Thompson Heads Into Travelers With Momentum

by Roz Roberts III

After his career best second place tie last week at the US Open, Michael Thompson is headed into the first round of the 2012 Traveler's Championship with momentum and solid history in this event.  Michael finished fourth in this event last year when he posted a closing round 62 which gave him the clubhouse lead after four rounds for the first time in his PGA Tour career.  He had a similar result last week when he was the clubhouse leader for 90 minutes before Web Simpson knocked Michael from the top spot by a single shot.

Michael will have to deal with the added media attention and high expectations that come with world wide scrutiny but based on interviews he did early in the week, he seems ready for the challenge.

"The key to playing good professional golf is you can't think about what everybody else wants or expects you to do, and I have trouble of falling into that trap of trying to live up to the expectations that I believe others are putting on me. It's not that people actually tell me go win or that we expect you to do this and that, but we as golfers put a lot of pressure on ourselves to begin with.
We don't need all that extra pressure from the outside world. In a sense we kind of almost need to distance ourselves and really stay focused on what we want to do as individuals and our goals and stick to our process and keep it one shot at a time, one day at a time. And the more I can do that, the better off I'm going to be.
Last week's over for me. The moment I showed up for the charter Monday morning I was already trying to get my mind ready for this week because it's a new week, it's a new opportunity. I've gotta go in this week with no expectations. Just because I finished well last week doesn't mean I'm going to play well this week.
Golf is a game where there's a lot of ebbs and flows, and you really want to try to ride the flows as much as you can. But you also have to understand that the low points are going to happen, and I might have a terrible week this week. I have no idea. But if I go out and do my drills on the driving range and on the putting green and focus on my chipping and really learn the feel of the golf course, then most likely I'm going to have a good week. And a good week to me might be different than a good week that you expect of me or that somebody else expects of me. So again, I have to keep my expectations in check and just go out and play. "

First Round Tee Times
Michael will be playing the first two rounds with Bart Bryant and Matt Jones.  They tee of from the first hole at 8:18am ET.

Video Coverage
This week's tournament will be covered by the Golf Channel and CBS.  In addition, the PGA Tour's Live @ streaming will be on the air covering all groups through holes 15 and 17.

Thursday
Golf Channel
3-6pm ET
Live @
11am-6pm ET

Friday

Golf Channel
3-6pm ET
Live @
11am-6pm ET

Saturday

Golf Channel
1-2:30pm ET
CBS
3-6pm ET
Live @
11am-6pm ET

Sunday

Golf Channel
1-2:30pm ET
CBS
3-6pm ET
Live @
11am-6pm ET

Online Scoring Links



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