Sunday, April 1, 2018

Mission Accomplished

Michael Thompson hits his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston. (April 1, 2018 - Source: Stacy Revere/Getty Images North America) 
by Roz Roberts III

Although the ThompsonTide guys have been closely following Michael Thompson's medical extension all year, we haven't been posting much information about it.  Call me superstitious but I didn't want to verbalize anything that might "create a disturbance in the force" which would make Michael feel more pressure than I'm sure he was already feeling.

Coming into this week, Michael had one more start on his extension and he needed 3 more FedexCup points to earn his 2017/2018 full PGA card back.  Basically he had to make the cut as a tie for 68th or better would get the job done.  After a great first round he was set to make the cut, which he did but then an odd thing happened.  A historically large group of 90 players made the cut which meant there was going to be a secondary cut on Saturday.  Michael played well on Saturday and made it past that hurdle as well.  The only remaining hurdle was to finish better than 68th.

Michael had a great round on Sunday and finished tied for 14th.  In fact, Michael was within one hole of finishing inside the top 10 for the first time this year but a bogey on his 72nd hole prevented that from happening.  Despite the bobble at the last, Michael earns a major medical extension which will allow him to set his schedule for the rest of the year since he is now at PGA Tour priority 22 (ahead of the reshuffle list) and he also earns a spot in The Players Championship.

One interesting stat for the week that showed just what a good week Michael had is the greens in regulation.  For the week, Michael finished first in GIR where he hit more than 87% of his greens.

Online Links For Those With a Lot of Time On Their Hands
Medical Extensions
Major Qualifiers
PGA Tour Priorities