Tuesday, June 4, 2013

When the Going Gets Tough.......... Michael Thompson Gets Going

Michael Thompson tees off from the 18th hole during the 2012 US Open.  Copyright USGA/Michael Cohen.
by Roz Roberts III

Michael Thompson has always said he loves golf courses that play hard.  He loves playing in the US Open which has traditionally been considered the most difficult test of golf.  He likes it when par is considered a good score.  The term "Michael Thompson Golf" has been thrown around and basically means playing to get on the green as fast as possible, making a few putts for birdie when the opportunities arise, embracing challenges, and always trying to have fun while you're doing it.

Michael finished T2 at the US Open last year and he finished as the low amateur at the 2008 US Open which definitely shows that Michael not only enjoys difficult courses but he plays well on them.  To underscore the fact, I ran across an interesting stat the other day that pretty much proves the point.

The stat I ran across was this:  the three hardest scoring tournaments on the PGA Tour this year were:

Rank
Tournament
Venue
Average
Strokes Over Par
1
The Masters
Augusta National
73.412
+1.412
2
The Honda Classic
PGA National
71.318
+1.318
3
Memorial Tournament
Muirfield Village
73.256
+1.256

In these three tournaments, Michael finished T25, 1st, and T8th (in that order).  Those are obviously some pretty good results but how good?  I went through all the players who played in all three and came up with the following average finish results:

Player
Average Finish
Michael Thompson
11.33
Justin Rose
12.33
Charl Scwartzel
14.00
Tiger Woods
35.33
Lee Westwood
45.00
Branden Grace
64.33
Rory McIlroy
74.33

There were several players who probably would have been high on this list but they didn't compete in one of the events (for example, Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar didn't play at the Honda Classic).

So what's the point of all of this?

Just this, Michael not only likes hard courses but he thrives on them.  Bring on those difficult conditions at Merion!!!

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