Thompson Flirts With the Cut But Comes Up short

by Roz Roberts III

Michael Thompson needed to make up some ground in order to make the cut at the HP Byron Nelson Classic after his first round left him in a tie for 117th.  Michael's second round tee time was the latest in the day.  Harsh windy conditions meant that before he had even teed off he had climbed up the leadaerboard within reach of the cut line.  Despite the windy conditions, Michael drove the ball extremely well.  In fact, he hit 12 of 14 fairways over the course of the day. 

Through the first seven holes, Michael was one under par and within the cut line by one shot.  On hole #8, Michael had a short putt for a par but he was on an extreme side slope.  He missed the putt and as he went to make his bogey putt, the ball moved after he had grounded his club.  Michael called a penalty on himself which resulted in a double bogey and moved him one shot on the wrong side of the cut line.  He shot even par over the next nine holes which included two birdies and two bogeys.  He remained one shot outside the cut line heading into the 18th hole.  Unfortunately, a birdie was not to be and Michael ended up missing the cut by two after making bogey at the last.

Next week Michael will be competing in his second Nationwide Tour event of the season when he travels to College Park, Maryland to compete in the Melwood Prince George's County Open.

It's Been a Long and Stormy Week

 by Roz Roberts III

It's been a busy golf week for Michael Thompson and a busy weather week for the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

On Monday, Michael competed in the 36 hole International Qualifier for the British Open.  A series of storms shortened the 36 hole Qualifier to just 18 holes after a long weather delay interrupted the first round for several hours.  Unfortunately for Michael, the shortening of the Qualifier and subsequent delays didn't help his qualifying chances after opening his round with a double bogey in the adverse conditions.  He ended the round at 3 over par and in a tie for 48th place.  Only 8 players advanced into the British Open field.

On Thursday, Michael played his first round of the HP Byron Classic in Irving Texas, just two days after more violent storms dropped golf ball sized hail on the area.  The greens were pock marked with hail damage but the greens crew spent the 24 hours leading up to the first round patching and re-rolling the greens in an effort to eliminate the divots.  Michael shot a 3 over 75 on Thursday which leaves him in a tie for 117th going into the second round.  He'll need a solid second round to make the cut in the 156 player field.

Photo by John Bush/PGA TOUR
An example of the size of the hail that fell on the Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday night.

Michael's second round will tee off from the 10th hole in the last group of the day at 1:54pm local time.

The following links can be used to follow Micahel's second round.

Leaderboard
Scorecard
Shot Tracker

HP Byron Nelson Classic Tees Off

The HP Byron Nelson Classic tees off today from the Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas in Irving, TX.
Michael tees off at 9:09 AM.

Leaderboard
Scorecard
Shot Tracker

International Man of Mystery No More!

by Randy Roberts

Michael's profile page on the PGA Tour website has finally been updated with a photo.  And get this... it's actually a photo of Michael himself!  It only took 20 weeks into the season, but hey who's counting.  Unfortunately his "Personal" tab is still blank, so there's still some room for improvement.  Early in the season, Roz saw it filled in with his information, but it quickly disappeared.  Hopefully that will return soon.

His clothing sponsor, Vineyard Vines will be happy to know that he's sporting their whale logo in the photo, and his long-time golf club sponsor, Ping is also featured.

For followers of this website you may remember that Michael's photo was once blank, and then several weeks ago was replaced with a photo of a random golfer.

The photo was taken on March 12, 2011 during a practice session at the Puerto Rico Open.  It is part of the Getty Images collection of photos.

Check out the updated profile page here.

Thompson Advances Through US Open Local Qualifier

by Roz Roberts III
Tuesday May 10th

Michael Thompson shot a four under par over 36 holes to advance through the US Open Local Qualifier in Durham. North Carolina.  Michael now advances to the Sectional Qualifier stage which will be held on June 6.

The Local Qualifier in Durham featured 120 golfers competing for nine spots (and two alternate spots) in the US Open Sectional Qualifying rounds.  Michael's four under par was good enough to tie for 3rd and advance.

Advancing through the Local Qualifier allows Micheal to compete in one of the 13 US Open Sectional Qualifiers.  The Sectional Qualifiers are 36 hole hole events and will be conducted at two international sites (May 23 in Japan and May 30 in England) and 11 sites spread across the United States on June 6th.  The Sectional Qualifiers feature roughly 750 golfers competing for somewhere around 75 spots.


Sectional Qualifiers advance into the 11th US Open Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland the week of June 16th.