Michael Thompson's preparation to return to the PGA Tour continues this week in Springfield, Illinois at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS.
Michael will tee off from the 10th hole at 7:08am local CDT (5:08am PDT)>
Riding a strong back nine in the second round of the UNC Health Championship, Michael Thompson made it two consecutive cuts made in his return to competition after a three year break due to injury. Michael shot a four under par 66 to climb the leaderboard 50 places and is in a tie for 16th heading into the weekend.
Michael will tee off in the third round, Saturday morning at 10:10am EDT (7:10am PDT) from the first hole.
After an up and down first round at the Visit Knoxville Open, Michael Thompson played a stellar second round shooting a bogey free six under par 65. He moved from outside the cutline into a tie for 43rd, more than good enough to play the weekend.
Michael will tee off round three from the 10th hole at 7:52am EDT (4:52am PDT) Saturday morning.
The Korn Ferry Tour online resources are remarkably good with Shotlink data and (almost) real-time data. You can use the links below to follow Michael's round live or you can use the Tourcast tool to view his round shot by shot after the fact.
by Roz Roberts III
It has been just over three years since our last post. Michael Thompson has been recovering and rehabbing from a series of injuries but he is back in competition this week on the Korn Ferry Tour. Michael will use a couple of Korn Ferry Tour events to get ready for his eventual PGA Tour return.
This week, Michael tees off at 6:45pm EDT (3:45am on the west coast) on Thursday morning in the Visit Knoxville Open which is being played at the Holsten Hills Country Club.
I haven't been able to find anyone streaming this tournament so I think we will be stuck following online using the following links.
by Roz Roberts III
Michael Thompson and the reset of the PGA Tour entourage head to San Antonio, Texas this week for the Valero Texas Open. Michael will look to follow up on his best performance of the year (T19 at the Valspar Championship) in the final event before the Masters.
Michael is paired with Chad Ramey and Trey Mullinax for the first two rounds. They tee off from the 10th hole at 11:09 PDT (1:09pm local CDT).
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by Roz Roberts III
Judging by the quality of his playoff beard, Michael Thompson is fully ready for the FedexCup Playoffs. That's a good thing because they start tomorrow at the Fedex St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee. The first event is open to the top 125 players in the FedexCup points list. Michael currently sits at 103. In order to advance to round two at the BMW Championship Michael will need a strong enough finish to move him up into the top 70.
Michael is grouped with Callum Tarren and Max McGreevy for the first two rounds. They tee off from the 10th hole at 9:43am ET (8:43am in Memphis).
by Roz Roberts III
Straight off his second top 10 finish of the year, Michael Thompson returns to Blaine, Minnesota as a past champion for this week's 3M Open.
Michael made the most of his opportunities at last week's Barracuda Championship where he made the cut on the number and then proceeded to equal his low round on the PGA Tour with a 9 under par 62 on Saturday and ultimately finish tied for 9th.
Michael will be grouped Cameron Champ (last year's 3M Open winner) and Chez Reavie (last week's Barracuda Championship winner) for the first two rounds of the 3M Open. They tee off at 12:44pm local time (10:44am PT) from the first hole. The group is a featured group on the PGA Tour's streaming (see the link below).
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Michael's Interview After Winning the 2020 3M Open
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by Roz Roberts III
After an unexpected start at The Players Championship last week, Michael Thompson will once again be in action a this week's Valspar Championship. This is the last stop on the Florida swing.
Michael didn't get into The Players until Friday morning as the last alternate in the field when Tyler McCumber withdrew due to a shoulder injury. Thursday's first round had been delayed due to heavy rain and McCumber's group was scheduled to tee off just before the horn blew ending the day due to darkness. Michael ended up finishing tied for 60th but it was an unexpected payday based on the fact that he started the week as the 5th alternate.
Michael will be playing the Valspar Championship with Joel Dahmen and Andrew Landry for the first couple of rounds. They tee off from the tenth hole for Thursday's first round at 1:03pm EDT (10:03am PDT).
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| Michael Thompson tees off from the first tee in Saturday's final round of the Farmers Insurance Open. |
by Roz Roberts III
Michael Thompson had another strong round at the Farmers Insurance Open's final round on Saturday shooting a three under par 69 to finish tied for 11th. Michael's round featured an eagle on #6 for the second day in a row and a near hole in one at the par 3 8th. The only blemish on his scorecard in the fourth round was a double bogey on hole #4 after he hit his second shot into the hazard left of the green.
Michael's round had several shots that just barely missed besides the near hole in one. His bunker shot on hole 17 nearly fell into the hole after breaking away from the hole at the last moment. He also had a birdie putt on 15 come up just a few inches short of the hole. Despite the near misses, Michael's fourth round still moved him up eight spots on the leaderboard. The tie for 11th also moves him up the Fedexcup points list to 46th.
Every aspect of Michael's game looked sharp this week. His bunker play was spectacular where he was 9 for 9 in sand saves for the week including his birdie hole out on hole #14 and near hole out on #17 during the final round. His bunker play led him to being 1st in the tournament in strokes gained around the green (+5.188). He was also strong off the tee where he was tied for 7th in driving accuracy and he was 9th in strokes gained tee to green (+6.520).
Michael's tie for 11th his his fourth top 15 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open in 10 starts. He has made the cut in 7 of his 10 trips to San Diego not counting the US Open (which would make it 8 of 11).
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Michael Thompson hits his second shot from the rough on hole #10
in Saturday's final round of the Farmers Insurance Open. |
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by Roz Roberts III
Michael Thompson's third round at the Farmers Insurance Open got off to a bad start. He opened with back to back bogeys. But from that point on, he played fantastic golf and shot four under par including an eagle at hole #6 and a closing birdie at hole #18. For the day, he shot a two under par 70 and is tied for 19th heading into Saturday's final round.
Michael will be grouped with Justin Rose and Taylor Montgomery for round four. For the third consecutive day, Michael tees off at 10:30am PT. The group will tee off from the first hole.
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| LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 28: Michael Thompson unmarks his ball on hole #1 of the South Course at Torrey Pines during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. |
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| LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 27: Michael Thompson plays his second shot on hole #12 from the rough during Thursday's second round at the Farmers Insurance Open |
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| LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 28: Michael Thompson hits his tee shot on hole #1 at the Farmers Insurance Open during the second round. |
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| Michael tees off from the fourth hole at Torrey Pines North. |
by Roz Roberts III
Michael Thompson put together a nearly flawless round of golf at the Farmers Insurance Open during Wednesday's first round. He used a combination of driving accuracy, strong iron play, putting and some timely scrambling to card an eight under par (64) on Torrey Pines North course and is currently in second place. The North course is decidedly easier than the South course at Torrey Pines but Michael took full advantage on Wednesday.
Thompson didn't miss a green in regulation until his 12th hole but he was still able to putt for birdie out of some short rough. He didn't miss a fairway until the 13th hole where he also missed the green in regulation but he was able to get up and down for par. The only problems he had were on the second shots of his par 5's. He missed two of those off to the right where he ended up on adjacent holes. However he was able to make a birdie on hole #9 and he was able to get back in play and make par on hole #10. His driving was on point all day where he hit 12 out of 14 fairways (T1) and often was literally on the center cut of the fairway. He also hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation (T11).
Michael will once again be playing with Cam Davis and Sungjae Im. They tee off at 10:30am PT from the tenth hole of the South Course for tomorrow's second round. As a group they were a great watch on Wednesday. In fact, both Michael and Cam Davis were tied for first place for a big chunk of the day until Davis had a double bogey on the par 5 17th hole.
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Michael Thompson (64) has a manly beard and a very good reason for keeping it
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| Michael makes his birdie putt at hole #1 a the North Course at Torrey Pines during round #1. |
by Roz Roberts III
After a successful trip to Hawaii, Michael Thompson and the rest of the PGA Tour are headed to California this week for the American Express which is held on three courses in La Quinta near Palm Springs. Michael comes in hot after he finished tied for fifth at the Sony Open. The American Express will once again be a pro-am played in foursomes for the first three rounds. Amateurs were excluded last year due to COVID restrictions.
Michael will be playing his first three rounds with Martin Trainer. They, and their amateur partners, will tee off from the tenth hole at the Pete Dye Stadium Course at 10:00am PT. Shotlink data will only be available at the Stadium Course.
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by Roz Roberts III
After a short holiday break, Michael Thompson gets his 2021-2022 PGA Tour season back under way at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The PGA Tour's "Aloha Swing" concludes this week at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Michael will be grouped with Erik Van Rooyen and Richy Werenski. They tee off from hole #1 on Thursday at 8:20am local time (10:20am PT).
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by Roz Roberts III
The RSM Classic is the one event on the PGA Tour that Michael Thompson can call a home game. The tournament is played on the Plantation and Seaside courses at Sea Island Resort which just happens to be where he lives in Sea Island, Georgia. Michael made the cut at -5 overall and is currently tied for 39th. He'll get to play the weekend AND sleep in his own bed. That's a win-win.
Michael shot a four under par 66 on the Seaside course on Thursday and shot a one under par 71 at the Plantation course on Friday in much windier conditions. Michael has managed to keep his tee balls in play and has hit 24 out of 28 fairways which has him tied for 9th in driving accuracy for the tournament.
Both rounds on the weekend will be played on the Seaside course which will have Shotlink data. For round three, Michael will be grouped with a pair of Canadians: Taylor Pendrith and Michael Gligic. They tee off from the 10th hole at 9:58am ET.
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Helen Ross did another great article on Michael Thompson in here Outside the Ropes column on PGATour.com. The original article including photos and videos can be found here:
If you don't want to go all the way over to PGATour.com, the full text of the article is below.
Embed from Getty ImagesMichael Thompson loves to read, and for that, he surely has his mother to thank. She was an English teacher, and he was losing himself in the wonder of books long before he ever wrapped his fingers around the grip of a golf club.
Even now, as he travels around the world making his living on the PGA TOUR, he always has at least one book in his suitcase to help him get his mind off golf. A bound book with words on paper, too – no Kindles or iPads for him.
“No, I like the actual physical book,” Thompson says. “I like turning pages. I don't like staring at a screen for very long, so I try to travel with the actual book.”
Among Thompson’s go-to authors is Clive Cussler. He especially likes the Dirk Pitt series, which he started reading again earlier this year. Pitt is the larger-than-life adventurer and decorated aviator featured in Cussler’s novels from 1976 to 2019.
It probably doesn’t hurt that Pitt’s character has a collection of classic cars, either. Thompson shares that interest with the protagonist -- and Cussler the author, as well -- and even taught himself how to rebuild a 1967 Ford Mustang fastback, as well as other special rides.
One of Thompson’s favorite books of all time is Where the Red Fern Grows. He was an Eagle Scout, and the plot, which centers on a young boy in the Ozarks and his two redbone coonhounds, resonates with him, as does Jack London’s classic,The Call of the Wild.
“I just love the story of being in the woods and a little boy growing up with his dogs and kind of the struggle of life as a kid and hunting and teaching your dog how to do the things you want to do,” he says. “And I always loved being outdoors. I was in the Boy Scouts growing up, so anything kind of mountain-to-cabin just was kind of real romantic to me.”
Historical fiction is another of Thompson’s interests, along with biographies and autobiographies. The two-time PGA TOUR winner is also very process-oriented – remember the rebuilt Ford Mustang? – so he enjoys books that help with setting and accomplishing goals.
“I like reading those as well because they're encouraging and just motivating,” Thompson says.
Lately, though, Thompson has found himself imparting his love of reading to the next generation. His mom has helped, too, sending some of the books she once read to Thompson to her grandson Jace and granddaughter Laurel.
“I have two little kids now, so she's been going through the closet at home and finding all the children's books that we used to read and, and she's given me a bunch of them,” Thompson says. “They have the date of one when we got them either Christmas or birthday gifts.
“… It's just cool to go back and see actually see the physical book and remember like how old I was when I first remember reading it and being read those books. It's just cool.”
Jace likes the Berenstain Bears and Dr. Seuss. But like most little boys, he’s also into lizards and snakes so there’s an amphibian encyclopedia that’s high on his reading list right now, too. And the precocious youngster also has a book that’s teaching him about weather.
“He’s always asking, Daddy, let's read it. Can you read this to me?” Thompson says, smiling broadly. “He's got his favorite ones like there was one that was the green pit viper. He’s just all into snakes right now. … And then he likes reading about the haboobs and weather patterns, the big dust storms.
“It's fun to see him kind of latch onto some of that. And remember the facts and the statistics with regards to all of the characteristics of the different animals and that kind of thing.”
Laurel, on the other hand, is a toddler, so her attention span is limited. “She'll sit there for a little bit, but then she wants to run around and play,” Thompson says with a laugh. “But she'll get into it.”
And when Laurel does, Thompson and his wife Rachel will be ready.
“It’s the fun part of being a parent,” he says.
