Better Late Than Never

by Roz Roberts III

It's August and the PGA Tour is about to launch the first major of the year:  the PGA Championship.  These are strange times.  Along with everything else in America, the ongoing COVID pandemic has wreaked havoc with the PGA Tour schedule.  But the delay has worked in Michael Thompson's favor.  After his victory at the 3M Open, he is now eligible for this week's PGA Championship and the US Open in September.

This week's PGA Championship will be played at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.  The course is just across Lake Merced from the Olympic Club where Michael finished second in both the US Amateur and the US Open.   The whether is expected to be damp and cool, typical for the summer in the Bay Area.

Michael will be grouped with Ryan Palmer and Kevin Kisner for the first two rounds.  They tee off at 7:44am PT from the first hole on Thursday.

ONLINE LINKS
Leaderboard (PGA Tour)

Leaderboard (PGA Championship)

Michael's Scorecard

Michael's Profile Page on the PGA Championship

Another Top 25 for Thompson Heading Into the Playoffs

by Roz Roberts III

For the second time this year, Michael Thompson posted a top 25 finish at a major championship. Earlier this year he finished tied for 25th at the Masters.  This week he finished in a tie for 22nd after a one under par 69 in the final round of the PGA Championship to finish even for the tournament.

Based on the results this week, he moves up to 36th on the Fedex Cup playoff list.  The playoffs start in two weeks at the Barclays for the top 125 players in Fedex Cup points.

The points requirements to qualify for each of the playoff tournaments are as follows:

Top 125 - The Barclays
Top 100 - Deutsche Bank Championship
Top 70 - BMW CHampionship
Top 30 - Tour Championship

2013 Live Projected FedEx Cup Points List

Each playoff event is worth five times the points of a normal PGA Tournament so even though Michael has a good start on Fedex Points he'll need to play well in the playoffs to continue to advance with the ultimate goal of making it to the Tour Championship which is reserved for the top 30 golfers.

Images of Michael Thompson from Round 3 of the PGA Championship

Michael Thompson tees off on hole #3 during the third round of the PGA Championship.

Michael's tee shot came up about 25 feet short.  This birdie putt missed going in by a few inches and Michael tapped in for par.

Michael's tee shot on hole #6.

Michael's birdie putt on hole #6 just slides by the hole.  He went to make par.

Michael watches his tee shot on 11 closely.

The tee shot just missed the hole and came to rest a mere 18 inches from the hole.

Michael tapped in for birdie.

Michael made this 50 foot putt for birdie on hole #15.

Thompson Hangs Tough at PGA Championship

by Randy Roberts

On a day that saw rising scores, Michael Thompson hung on and finished +2 for the day. That leaves him at +1 going into the final day tied for 28th.

He'll be teeing off at 12:15 ET on Sunday and will be paired with Marcus Fraser.

TV
TNT 11:00-2:00 ET
CBS 2:00-7:00 ET

Online Links
Michael's Scorecard
Leaderboard (PGA Tour)
Leaderboard (PGA site)
PGA Live Streaming

Thompson Takes Advantage of Softer Greens, Vaults Up Leaderboard

by Randy Roberts and Roz Roberts III

During today’s second round of the PGA Championship, early rain bedeviled the morning round players while it benefited the afternoon wave which Michael Thompson was a part of.  Softer greens allowed for lower scores, and Michael took advantage.

For most of round two, Michael was sitting a single shot inside the cut line.  While a lot of golfers were taking advantage of calm winds and soft greens, Michael was playing a solid, if not remarkable, round of golf.  He completed his first 11 holes at even par posting a lone bogey against a lone birdie on consecutive holes early in his round and then ran off a streak of seven consecutive pars.

That’s when Michael really started firing on all cylinders, making four birdies in a six hole stretch.  He finished -3 for the day (-1 overall) and vaulted 52 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 22nd.

He'll be paired with Paul Casey for round 3 and will be teeing off at 12:45 ET.

Online Links
Michael's Scorecard
Leaderboard (PGA Tour)
Leaderboard (PGA site)
PGA Live Streaming

First Round at PGA Championship Completed

by Randy Roberts

With the first round of the PGA Championship complete, Michael Thompson sits at +2, T74. Due to the lack of any stats, play by play or Shotlink Data on the PGA website, I can't infer any insight about how todays round went, other than to say he scored 2 birdies, 4 bogeys and 12 pars.

Currently one over the projected cut line he'll be looking to improve upon his score when he tees off at 1pm local time on friday. He'll be grouped again with Marcel Siem, however the third person in his grouping, Bo Van Pelt withdrew from the tournament due to a hip injury.

Online Links
Michael's Scorecard
Leaderboard (PGA Tour)
Leaderboard (PGA site)
PGA Live Streaming

Thompson Takes On Season's Last Major

by Roz Roberts III

Tomorrow, Michael Thompson will tee off in this season's last major:  the PGA Championship.  This year's PGA will take place at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY.  The Donald Ross designed course is a classic par 70 and will look a lot like a US Open as the rough has been described as "penal".  There has been a lot of talk that a score of par may win.  That remains to be seen but Oak Hill is expected to play tough and that's typically the kind of course and tournament Michael likes.

Michael will be playing the first two rounds with Marcel Siem and Bo Van Pelt.  They get their first round off at 7:50am ET.

There won't be Shot Link coverage this week (since that is a PGA Tour feature) but the PGA website will have live streaming coverage of the par 3 holes starting at 1pm ET.

Online Links
Michael's Scorecard
Leaderboard (PGA Tour)
Leaderboard (PGA site - includes additional features if a player's detail is expanded including play-by-play)
PGA Live Streaming

Michael Thompson Makes His PGA Championship Debut

by Randy Roberts

Michael Thompson will make his debut in the PGA Championship Thursday on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  The last of the four majors for the year, he'll be playing against all of the best players in the world.

As if the tough course and competition were not enough, weather will also play a role as rain, wind, heat and humidity are in the forecast each day of the tournament.

Michael will be grouped with Greg Chalmers and Spencer Levin and will be teeing off at 7:40 ET.

Mobile Coverage
Download the PGA Championship app for iPhone

Televison Coverage
TNT
Thu-Fri 1:00pm-7:00pm ET
Sat-Su 11:00am-2:00pm ET

Scoring Links
Leaderboard
Scorecard
There is no ShotTracker this week