PGA Tour: Michael Thompson avoids disaster at 3M Open
By Tim Letcher
Just when things seemed to be getting away from Michael Thompson at the 3M Open on Saturday, he recovered. Due to that, he still has a chance for a second win on the PGA Tour.
Michael Thompson finds himself with a chance to win for the second time on the PGA Tour at this week’s 3M Open. However, Thompson was able to avoid a serious disaster near the end of his Saturday round to hang on to a share of the lead with 18 holes to play.
Thompson, who has won just once during his 10-year PGA Tour career, appeared to be on cruise control on Saturday. He parred the first four holes to start his third round before getting on a roll.
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Starting on the fifth hole, Thompson really got his round going. He birdied the fifth hole, then the sixth, then the seventh to suddenly get to 3-under par. At that point, his lead grew to two shots over Richie Werenski.
Thompson would par the eighth and ninth holes to shoot a 3-under par 32 on the front side. His lead was two shots as he made the turn.
He opened his back nine with pars on the 10th and 11th holes before a birdie on the par-5 12th holes. At that point, his lead grew to four shots and Thompson appeared to be on his way to taking a commanding lead into Sunday’s final round.
Thompson parred the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes but saw his lead shrink to two as Weresnki recorded back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16. Then on 17, the tournament got even closer.
That’s because Thompson missed the green to the right on the par three and his chip left him about 15 feet for par. That putt missed and Thompson suffered his first bogey in 23 holes, and his lead was just one heading to the final hole.
Thompson promptly hit his tee shot in the water on the par five. He was forced to take a drop and had 267 yards to the hole for his third shot, all over water. It seemed like Thompson was headed for disaster.
However, his three-wood carried the water and hit the green, ultimately coming to rest in a greenside bunker. From there, Thompson played a magnificent chip that rolled to just inches of the cup, and he tapped in for par.
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Werenski did birdie the final hole and those two will share the lead at 15-under par heading to Sunday. Tony Finau and Charl Schwartzel are two shots back with 18 holes to play.
Thompson is lucky that his final two holes were not worse than they turned out to be. He still has a shot to win on Sunday thanks to a miraculous recovery on his final hole on Saturday.