Thursday, January 31, 2013

Thompson Playing Well in Scottsdale

Twitter photo via @sformz
by Randy Roberts

Michael shot 2 under par today, which has him sitting in T58th going into friday's second round.  He tees off at 11:48am Arizona time (10:48am PST) and again will be playing with Jimmy Walker and Ken Duke.

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After today's round, a news station in Tucson released the following interview.  In it he recaps what he learned last year while out on tour.

Tucson News Now

Tompson Returns to Arizona For The Waste Management Phoenix Open



by Randy Roberts

Michael Thompson will be returning to his home state of Arizona when he plays in the Waste Management Phoenix Open this week.  Growing up in Tucson, about a two hour drive to the south, Michael Thompson dreamed of playing in a PGA event in Arizona when he was a boy.  This will be the second time fulfulling that dream, as he played in the event last year, and I'm hoping that the familiarity of the course will benefit him in his second try.  We heard that he'll have quite a crowd following him as numerous friends and family members from Arizona will be making the trek to Scottsdale to watch him play.

Michael will be teeing off at 7:48 Arizona time (6:48 PST) with Jimmy Walker and Ken Duke.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Farmer's Recap: Rain, Fog and Trick Shots

Michael Thompson hits his second shot on hole #4 during round 4 of the 2013 Farmer's Insurance Open. The round was suspended a hole later for darkness.

by Roz Roberts III

I will remember the 2013 edition of the Farmer's Insurance Open for rain, fog, and trick shots.  The first two rounds were played in wet rainy conditions while Saturday's third round was fogged out which meant a lot of golf would have to be played on Sunday.  But during the fog delay, Michael Thompson got a little game of golf trick shot pig with Graham DeLaet (see the video here:  trick shots during fog delay).

Sunday started early for Michael when he started his third round at 7:20am in the morning.  Unfortunately, Michael's day would be a long one where he just couldn't get things going.  He played the first 18 holes at three over par carding 3 bogeys and 15 pars.  His fourth round started a mere 20 minutes after he finished the third round and started off with a pair of double bogeys in the first three holes. After that, he settled in but finished the day with 12 straight pars.  For the day, Michael didn't card a single birdie before the round was called for darkness.  The fourth round continued on Monday and Michael birdied his first hole of the day (hole #6).  He made par on the remaining three holes of the day to finish the fourth round at three over par.  Ultimately, he finished tied for 78th.


Saturday, January 26, 2013

Thompson Finishes Even Stronger


I bet you didn't know that Torrey Pines South had a "waterfall"
by Randy Roberts

After finishing the first round at the Farmers Insurance Open at -1 on the easier North Course at Torrey Pines, I knew Michael Thompson would need to shoot under par for round 2 to have a chance at the cut.  Playing the more difficult South Course and with a steady rain falling, things were not going to be easy.  Michael's chances at making the cut were looking as bleak as the weather as he approached the 13th hole at +3 for the day.  Michael never gave up though, and on the 13th hole he got hot, holing out from the sand for birdie.


He followed that up with two more birdies on the 14th and 15th and topped off the day with another birdie on 18.  Finishing at -1 for the day, -2 overall he made the cut with room to spare with the cut line settling in at -1.  He starts the third round tied for 53rd.  More rain is forecast for saturday, so it will be another wet round.

He tees off at 7:50 PST with Brian Harmon and Sang-Moon Bae.

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Thompson Finishes Strong



by Roz Roberts III

Michael Thompson fought off a mid-round double bogey to finish his round with a solid birdie to post a one under par 71 at the Farmer's Insurance Open on Thursday.  He is currently tied for 72nd.

Michael's round was highlighted by a tee shot on the 197 yard par 3 third hole that came to rest inside of 2 feet.  That hole began a stretch in which he birdied 3 of his last 7 holes.  On his final hole of the day (the par 5 #9), Michael found the fairway off the tee and his second shot came to rest around 8 feet from the hole.  He hit a solid putt that did everything but find the bottom of the cup.  He tapped in for a closing birdie that moved him into red figures.

The greens were running very slow due to overnight and early morning rain and putts were coming up short all day for all three members of Michael's playing group.

Showers are forecast for most of the day tomorrow.  Michael, James Driscoll, and Jeff Overton will tee off from hole #1 on the South Course at Torrey Pines tomorrow at 9:10am.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Thompson Takes On Torrey Pines

Michael Tees Off at Torrey Pines North During the Zurich Pro-Am


by Roz Roberts III

Michael Thompson will be making his second start of the 2013 PGA Tour season at one of his favorite venues:  Torrey Pines in San Diego.  Torrey Pines is certainly one of the ThompsonTide's favorite venues since it's in our backyard and our family descends on Torrey Pines en masse.  This year will be no exception so follow our Twitter feed which will hopefully contain updates from the course.

Earlier today, Michael played in the Zurich Pro-Am in a group that included Gary LeVox, the lead singer of Rascal Flatts.  The group looked like they were having fun but Gary called it "the most expensive round of golf of my life".  I'm not sure if his record label didn't pay for the entrance fee or he had some wagers on his round!

Michael Thompson and Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts After Today's Zurich Pro-Am at Torrey Pines (posted by Michael via Twitter)

The Farmer's Insurance Open will utilize both the North and South courses at Torrey Pines for the first two rounds.  The North course is significantly shorter and usually scores a couple shots better than the difficult South course.  After the cut, both weekend rounds will be played on the South Course.

Michael will be playing with Jeff Overton and James Driscoll during the first two rounds.  The trio will start round 1 on the tenth hole of the North Course at 10:20am PT.

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Let the 2013 PGA Tour Season Begin!


by Randy Roberts

Well, here we are again. I hope you all enjoyed the PGA Tour's short offseason.  If you're a returning reader, thanks for joining us again in 2013. If you're new to the site, welcome.

If you're like me you're excited to see what Michael Thompson has in store for 2013.  As his wife Rachel Thompson explained on her most recent blog post, this will be a shortened season due to the restructuring of the PGA Tour season.  Michael is in good shape to begin with due to finishing in the top 70 on the money list in 2012.  The top 70 from the previous year gets access to all of the invitational tournaments the following year, thus providing more opportunities to improve position on the money list.  If you haven't already, you should go read Rachel's blog. In it she talks about some of the nuts and bolts of the business side of golf and talks about what they were up to during the offseason. It's a good read and she's pretty funny too.

From a PGA Tour press release, here's some of the details about the changes made for the 2013 season:

2013 PGA TOUR 
• For the first time in the FedExCup era, the 40-tournament official money schedule will give the season a definitive end at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, the fourth event in the FedExCup Playoffs. The 2013-2014 PGA TOUR Season officially begins three weeks later with those tournaments that formerly made up the Fall Series; those events begin awarding full FedExCup points.
• Year seven of the FedExCup includes 36 events before the Playoffs, one less than 2012 due to the Mayakoba Golf Classic moving to its own unencumbered fall date in the 2013-14 PGA TOUR Season.
• The CIMB Classic and World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions become official events on the PGA TOUR (official victory, full FedExCup points, official money; winners qualify for Hyundai Tournament of Champions).
• For the first time, the Web.com Tour becomes the path for the PGA TOUR’s 50 new membership cards. The top 25 players on the money list for the Web.com Tour Regular Season will earn cards but must play the Finals for positioning. The Web.com Tour Finals will determine an additional 25 cards, based on cumulative earnings in those events, as well as the positioning of all 50 cards.
What's in store for this week?
Michael is playing at the Sony Open which is being held at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.  This will be his third time playing the event.  Last year he finished T-6th, which was one of his best finishes of the year.

Michael is teeing off at 11:50 local time (2:50 PST) and will be grouped with Bart Bryant and Colt Knost.

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Thompson Rolling Into 2013




by Roz Roberts III

If you hadn't been paying attention, you might think Michael Thompson's 2012 PGA season was pretty similar to the one he had in 2011.  After all, he managed to make 15 of 25 cuts in both seasons and he only had one more top 10 finish in 2012 than he did in 2011 (7 vs. 6).  

However, those stats don't really tell the whole story.  Michael took a lot of positive steps forward in 2012 and none was bigger than his second place finish at the US Open.  He played in much bigger events in 2012 than 2011 including the US Open, the Open Championship, the Players Championship and he was still able to consistently make cuts.  He also improved 41 spots on the Fedexcup Points list and made nearly 50% more money than his rookie season.

Looking forward, 2013 will be an exciting year for those of us following Michael as he looks to take even more steps forward into the upper echelons on golf's biggest tour.  This year, Michael has already locked up spots in the Masters and the US Open.  In addition, he will be playing in the bigger tournaments for the second or third time so he will be more familiar with the courses and routine of playing these bigger PGA Tour events.

Will Michael find a way to hoist a first place trophy in 2013?  Only time will tell - but I would not bet against it.  History has shown that Michael plays well on courses that he is familiar with and there will be far more of those in 2013 than ever before.

Michael will begin his 2013 season this week in Hawaii.  His early season schedule will include stops at Torrey Pines, the Phoenix Open, and Riviera.  

As usual, the ThompsonTide will have links, recaps, and all sorts of other goodies to help you follow Michael's 2013 season.  If you have any thoughts/comments/suggestions for us feel free to send us e-mail at:

roz@thompsontide.com
randy@thompsontide.com

Roll Tide!