Spectacular Back Nine Makes the Cut

Michael Thompson's tee shot from hole #10 during the second round of the Northern Trust Open.

by Roz Roberts III and Randy Roberts

For the second day in a row, Michael Thompson's final nine holes of the day were a thing of beauty.  Just as he did in round one, Michael finished his final nine holes at two under par without a bogey on a course that has gotten the better of many of the world's best golfers.  He finished round one at one over par for the day and two over par for the tournament which is inside the cut line by one shot.  There are currently only 26 golfers under par for the tournament.

Since we followed Michael's group all day, we can report that Michael's shot of the day came on the par 3 6th hole shown above.  Michael's tee shot ran up the slope behind the green, reversed directions as gravity took over, and ran back down to the hole leaving him with a 6 ft birdie putt, which he made.  Jeff Overton who was playing in Michael's group then did a similar maneuver, deciding to go for the bank shot instead of trying to make a 48 foot putt from the front of the green.  His shot rolled to within a foot of the hole which he made for a tap-in par.  We were happy to see Overton birdie the last hole of the day to make the cut on the number.  Ryuji Imada had a rather colorful scorecard today, making 5 birdies, yet finishing at 7 over par.  He was having trouble with chips landing short and missing putts.  He earned a good round of applause at the end though when he chipped in from 12 yards.  Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.

Six golfers still need to finish their second rounds as round two was suspended due to darkness.  Since not all golfers have completed their second rounds, tee times for round three have not been set.  Michael and his caddie Matty thought that they might tee off from the tenth hole around 9:00am PT.  Based on the current scoring, it looks like Michael might be paired with fellow University of Alabama alum Bud Cauley.  Michael sounded excited by the prospect and, via Twitter, said

"Hope I get to play with fellow Crimson Tider Bud Cauley tomorrow."

Television Coverage
The Northern Trust Open will be carried on both the Golf Channel and CBS.  All times are ET.

	Sat	Sun
Golf	1-2:30pm	1-2:30pm
CBS	3-6pm	3-6:30pm

Online Scoring Links
Leaderboard
Michael's Scorecard
Michael's Shottracker
Michael's Group On Shottracker