Tag: 2020 3M Open

Former NBA All-Star Mychal Thompson, father of Klay, roots for Michael Thompson at 3M Open

The former NBA champion and father of Klay Thompson pulled for Michael Thompson, no relation at the 3M Open.

The only person happier that Michael Thompson won the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities on Sunday may have been Mychal Thompson, no relation, the Bahamian-born two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and father of NBA All-Star Klay Thompson.

That’s because Mychal, 65, who is a broadcaster for the Lakers and the former No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, took great pride in Michael’s victory – as if it was his own.

There’s a slight difference in the spelling of their first name, but Mychal Thompson, who tweets from the Twitter handle @champagnenuts, was fully engrossed in Thompson’s exploits this weekend as he shared the 36- and 54-hole lead and made birdie at two of the final three holes to clinch a two-stroke victory, his first since 2003, in Minnesota.

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The 6-10 former center first tweeted on Friday.

And he kept at it, especially on Sunday.

Mychal Thompson was a former All-American for the Minnesota Gophers (1974-78), so all the more fitting that Michael Thompson would win in Golden Gopher country.

This one may be the best of all…

You can just feel the love in these tweets…

No spoilers.

Next year’s 3M Open pro-am — if there is one — needs to bring these two sporting greats of the same name together otherwise what are we even doing here?

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Michael Thompson ends seven-year victory drought at 3M Open

Michael Thompson ended a 7-year victory drought on the PGA Tour by shooting 4-under 67 for a two-stroke win.

The long victory drought for Michael Thompson is over in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Thompson, 35, won the 3M Open, his first title since 2013, by shooting a final-round 4-under 67 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota on Sunday, two strokes better than Adam Long.

Thompson may have enjoyed the best coronavirus break of all players on the PGA Tour, adopting a baby girl, Laurel Marie. On March 18, one week after the Tour suspended play, Thompson and his wife, Rachel and 3-year-old son Jace were in Topeka, Kansas, to witness the induced birth of their second child.

“It was really a joy for me to be able to stay home those first three months of her life and really get to care for her and learn her little nuances and see her smile,” he said. “It definitely puts perspective in your mind when you have kids because golf is very important and it’s what I love to do, but our kids are what we live for.”

Thompson, who entered the week ranked No. 151 in the FedEx Cup standings, showed signs that his game was turning in the right direction with a T-8 finish at the RBC Heritage in June, his best result of the season. He overcame a sluggish start with a three-putt bogey at No. 3 to drop out of the lead, but righted the ship with back-to-back birdies at 5 and 6, rolling in a 21-foot putt at the latter.

Long, 32, who needed a birdie on his 17th hole on Friday to make the 36-hole cut on the number at 2-under 140, made a charge on the weekend that course designer Arnold Palmer would have appreciated. He shot 63 on Saturday and birdied six of his first 12 holes Sunday to grab a share of the lead with Thompson.

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“I kept putting the pedal down and making as many birdies as I could,” Long said.

But Long, who notched his best result among nine top-25 finishes this season, took 3 putts at the 17th hole and despite a closing birdie shot 7-under 64. He came up one stroke short in his bid to become just the fourth player since 2010 to make the cut on the number and win. Among the consolation prizes for Long: the top-two finishers in the top 10 at the 3M Open not already qualified earned an exemption into the U.S. Open in September.

Thompson, who finished tied for second at the 2012 U.S. Open, earned the other spot into the national championship at Winged Foot, where he played in his first U.S. Amateur. He clinched the 3M title with a nifty birdie from a bunker at the short, par-4 16th hole. From 37 yards, Thompson exploded to 2 feet and tapped in en route to a 72-hole total of 19-under 265. It had been 2,702 days since his lone Tour title at the 2013 Honda Classic.

Tony Finau, who fired his caddie this week and had swing instructor Boyd Summerhays on the bag, shot 68 and was part of a nine-way tie for third. Finau has just one victory to his credit at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open and has the most top-eight finishes with 25 of any player without a win on Tour in the last four seasons.

Last year’s champion Matthew Wolff made a valiant effort to defend his title with five birdies in his first 14 holes to close within one of the lead, but made bogey at the last to shoot 67 and finished T-12 at 14 under. It marked his third top 25 since the Tour’s return in June.

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Richy Werenski wears ‘Blue Lives Matter’ wristband while contending at 3M Open outside Minneapolis

Richy Werenski has worn a “Blue Lives Matter” wristband all week at the 3M Open, held just miles from the location of George Floyd’s death.

Richy Werenski’s return to the PGA Tour after injuring his wrist in 2019 has been one of the better stories in the golf world.

The native of Springfield, Massachusetts, has made all four cuts since golf returned from its lengthy pandemic break, and Werenski’s rise reached a crescendo in Blaine, Minnesota, this week as he was in the final pairing on Sunday for the 3M Open.

Werenski made an interesting statement, however, when he chose to wear a “Blue Lives Matter” wristband this week at TPC Twin Cities, just miles from where George Floyd’s death sparked a national Black Lives Matter movement.

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Floyd’s death, ruled a homicide by a county medical examiner and by an independent autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family, fueled outrage nationwide. A bystander’s video that showed now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin holding his knee to Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes has circulated widely since Floyd’s Memorial Day death.

Cropped photo of Richy Werenski on the 11th hole during the third round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. (David Berding, USA TODAY Sports)

Werenski, according to his profile on PGATour,com, comes from a family of avid golfers. His father, Michael, was formerly a PGA club professional and his brother, Mickey, played on the Texas A&M golf team.

Werenski’s big break came when he won the Golf Channel’s “Big Break The Palm Beaches,” which aired early in 2015.

The PGA Tour has worked hard to connect with the Black community through the protests, including an empty 8:46 a.m. tee time at both the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Korn Ferry Tour Challenge the week after the death.

In the wake of Floyd’s death, 8:46 has become a symbol for the racial injustice faced by the black community, and the PGA Tour says it wants to do its part to help move forward.

On the PGA Tour’s official website, it reads:

As part of ongoing efforts to amplify the voices and efforts underway to end racial and social injustice, the TOUR has set aside an 8:46 a.m. tee time that will feature no players. The time has been set aside at both Colonial Country Club (Charles Schwab Challenge) and TPC Sawgrass (Korn Ferry Tour Challenge), as 8:46 has become a universal symbol for the racial injustice faced by the black community.

The week after Floyd’s death, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said: “For me, I spent last weekend calling around to my black colleagues and black friends, people that I thought that I could really learn from and I, at that time, I felt vulnerable. I didn’t understand in a world where people say, ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’ I didn’t understand what the solution was in the short term, but I was committed to make certain I was part of identifying it as supporting it. So for me stepping back and trying to listen to those people that have been affected was the best place to start.”

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Rain forces changes in 3M Open tee times, could impact play

Bands of wet weather could impact the 3M Open as PGA Tour organizers have crammed tee times into a late morning/early afternoon window.

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Multiple bands of wet weather could impact the final round of the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, today, as PGA Tour organizers have crammed tee times into a late morning/early afternoon window.

Originally, groups were planned to go off in pairs, starting at 8:20 a.m. ET, and finishing with the leaders — Michael Thompson, Richy Werenski — at 1:55 p.m. ET.

Now, the groups will be lumped into threes and will go off both tees starting around 10 a.m., with the final group heading out at 1 p.m. Scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast for the area, but only at about a 50 percent clip.

What does that mean for you, the TV viewer? If the weather holds out, and that’s a huge concern, play should wrap up a little earlier, and the early morning dose of PGA Tour Live (from 8 to 10 a.m. ET) will be canceled. Click below for updated tee times.

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Werenski, 28, is bidding for his maiden PGA Tour title while Thompson, 35, won his lone title seven years ago at the Honda Classic. Tony Finau (69) and former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (66) are the closest pursuers, two strokes behind.

No. 16 at TPC Twin Cities was all reward, no risk on Saturday

The short-made-shorter No. 16 essentially became eye candy for PGA Tour golfers during Saturday’s third round of the 3M Open.

Some of the greatest storylines in golf have been built around risk-reward holes.

• The 10th at Riviera entices big hitters to fire away from an elevated tee to a tiny target portion of the green.

• No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale allows players to go for the gusto, but water down the left side can make for some nasty medicine for those who miss (or who putt into it).

• The Flowering Peach (No. 3) at Augusta National has been altered less than any other because Alister MacKenzie thought it was a near-perfect design, teasing players with its length, but with a thin strip of green to aim for only the most daring choose to take the bait.

But what if a risk-reward hole is only really the latter? That’s what’s happened Saturday at TPC Twin Cities on the short-made-shorter No. 16, which essentially became eye candy for PGA Tour golfers.

With the tees pushed up, the hole was barely a full driver for some in the field. The hole became simple target practice.

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Cameron Tringale was one of five to eagle the hole on Saturday, his highlight in putting together a career-tying 63 — the same number he’d posted back in 2011 at the Northern Trust.

“Yeah, 16 they had the tee way up so it was drivable. I think it was 289 to the hole straight into the wind. I cut a little driver to like 20 feet middle of the green and rolled that one in,” Tringale said. “That was a nice spark to get my round to the next level. I love making eagles, they’re so fun. That just put a boost in my step and kept rolling it from there.”

A back-left pin placement allowed players to take aim, since they had ample room to land the ball coming into the flag. The forward tees made a hole that had played difficult the first two days far too easy.

While Tringale was one of five eagles, the hole also surrendered 39 birdies to just 22 pars. Only two players in the entire field bogeyed the hole, which played to just 3.309 strokes. The hole had played to 3.994 and 4.092 the first two days.

Tony Finau, who is tied for second at 13-under, made a bit of a mess of the hole, pushing his drive right into a native area, but he did salvage par with a solid six-foot par putt. Afterward, he acted like he’d taken a big weight off by salvaging par at the short hole.

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“(It was a) nice break on 16, I thought that was just huge for me to make 4 there. On a drivable hole, you don’t really want to give up a shot, so I was happy to make 4 and just get in the clubhouse only a couple shots back,” Finau said.

Before the inaugural event last year, tournament director Hollis Cavner said he thought TPC Twin Cities would offer a formidable challenge to Tour players. The course had previously hosted a Champions Tour event.

”We want birdies and train wrecks,” Cavner said. ”We feel very comfortable that this golf course is going to play hard and fast. It’s going to play long. If we get wind, it’s a game-changer.”

Tee and pin placements like those on No. 16 did plenty to bring birdies Saturday, but not train wrecks.

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Michael Thompson and Richy Werenski share 3M Open lead, but who will ‘step up’ on Sunday?

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak discusses the third round of play from TPC Twin Cities for the 3M Open.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak discusses the third round of play from TPC Twin Cities for the 3M Open.

Stuck Together: Michael Thompson, Richy Werenski share lead at 3M Open

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak discusses the second round of play at TPC Twin Cities for the 3M Open.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak discusses the second round of play at TPC Twin Cities for the 3M Open.

Stuck Together: Michael Thompson, Richy Werenski share lead at 3M Open

Werenski is seeking his first PGA Tour title while Thompson hoisted his lone trophy in 2013. They are tied at 12 under at TPC Twin Cities.

Jay Seawell, Michael Thompson’s coach at Albama used to tell the former Crimson Tide golfer, “Go play Michael Thompson golf.” It was his way of telling Thompson that his game was good enough to compete with anyone in the world.

For the first 36 holes of the 3M Open, Thompson, 35, has done just that. He followed up Thursday’s 7-under 64 by shooting a 5-under 66 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, and shares the 36-hole lead with Richy Werenski at 12-under 130.

“I think it’s just keeping it simple,” he said when asked to describe what ‘Michael Thompson golf’ meant to him. “The big thing is just try not to overpower the golf course, stay within myself, make good, comfortable swings, aggressive swings to good targets, be aggressive to pins when I can, when I have good numbers, and then if I’m kind of in between, then I kind of play away from the hole a little bit.”

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That philosophy, along with a return this season to the fade he grew up playing, has worked quite well this week for Thompson, who entered the 3M Open ranked 151st in the FedEx Cup standings and needs to climb into the top 125 to qualify for the Playoffs, which begin next month.

After hitting all 18 greens in regulation on Thursday, Thompson rolled in seven birdies and one bogey on Friday, stringing together three in a row beginning at the fourth hole and pitching in over a bunker from 60 feet at 14 for another. Thompson, whose lone Tour win came at the 2013 Honda Classic, is known as one of the Tour’s best putters and he ranks third this week in Strokes Gained: Putting, but he didn’t have to make a putt longer than 20 feet for birdie as his irons were dialed in. His lone bogey through 36 holes came at the 12th on Friday.

“That was the one kind of hole that I wish I could take back because I was in a perfect position to attack that flag from the fairway, flared it right and then just made bad mistake after bad mistake to make bogey,” he said.

Thompson’s philosophy of trying not to overpower the course is in stark contrast with that of Bryson DeChambeau, who isn’t in the field this week but has shown that distance gains can take you to the top of the FedEx Cup standings. Richy Werenski is more in Thompson’s camp, and credited his good play through 36 holes to “staying within myself and just kind of letting things happen.”

Werenski, 28, is one of only two players in the field having a better putting week than Thompson. The Georgia Tech product drained a 32-foot birdie at No. 11 and a 21-foot putt at 18 and took advantage of his early tee time.

“I’m a morning person. I wake up early anyways, so I was up at that 4 a.m. wake-up call this morning and I like that,” he said.

Richy Werenski is seeking his first PGA Tour title at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities.(David Berding-USA TODAY Sports)

Werenski had a sick feeling a year ago when he finished T-39 at the Wyndham Championship in August, and finished No. 126 in the FedEx Cup standings to miss a spot in the Playoffs and had to play the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to improve his status for this season.

“I don’t really want to ever feel like that again, like I felt after Wyndham last year. That was not good,” said Werenski, who entered the week ranked No. 95.

Werenski, who is seeking his first Tour title, and Thompson were three strokes clear of their next closest competitor after the morning wave. That would be Matthew Wolff, who can bash it with the best of them, and is putting up a valiant effort in defending his title, posting a bogey-free 3-under 68. He is lurking at 9-under par. But so far, only Werenski’s game has matched some good old-fashioned Michael Thompson golf. That is why Thompson plans to keep it simple.

“Go play Michael Thompson golf and I’ll be right there on Sunday,” he said.

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Sangmoon Bae rinses two in the water, makes par the hard way from 250 yards

Bae hit two balls in the water before holing out for par the hard way.

File this away in “things you don’t see everyday.” South Korea’s Sangmoon Bae entered his name in the record books — an obscure record, but a record nonetheless. Bae made his slice of history at the 599-yard, par 5 18th hole at TPC Twin Cities.

Bae’s tee shot at the hole tailed into the water that guards the right side of the hole. Bae took a penalty and dropped at 249 yards and rinsed his third shot in the water that fronts the green, too. Bae dropped again and hitting five holed out for par the hard way. It was the longest hole out for par in the ShotLink era.

The previous longest hole-out for par was made by Steven Bowditch from 176 yards at the 2011 RBC Heritage, Rd.1, hole No. 4.

Bae’s walk-off at his final hole put an exclamation mark on an otherwise underwhelming opening round 4-over 75.

New upright putting stance helps Ryan Moore to a scintillating 65 at 3M Open

Ryan Moore revamped his putting stance, standing more straight up and putting his feet closer together. It worked. He opened with a 65.

Sometimes, all it takes to get things rolling is a different perspective.

In the case of Ryan Moore, who’s made just a single cut since the return to golf, that meant a new putting approach that felt, well, familiar.

After missing cuts at the Charles Schwab Challenge, RBC Heritage Classic and the Travelers Championship, Moore revamped his putting stance, standing a bit more straight up and putting his feet closer together.

With a new view, the putts started dropping. And if Thursday’s results from the 3M Open are any indication, that new outlook is the right one. Moore finished with seven birdies en route to an opening-round 65, which was good enough for a piece of the lead from the early group.

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“That’s actually an adjustment I made this week. I would say it’s a little bit more like I used to putt a long time ago, almost college, amateur days, a little bit more upright,” Moore said. “So I kind of went and built a putter that visually looked right to set up that way to it, and I’ve been working on that hard this week and just feeling honestly a lot more comfortable visually over the golf ball, seeing my line a little bit better, which is I kind of feel like where I’ve been struggling lately.”

Moore, who played with Scott Piercy and Jason Dufner, made the turn at 33, then rolled in five birdies in a six-hole stretch to open the back. He did drop a shot at No. 16 when he three-putted, but all in all, Moore was thrilled with the progress.

“It was a very solid round of golf. I hit it well off the tee, kept it in play really well, missed it in the right spots, hit some great iron shots, a couple great second shots into par 5s. I had a lot of good scoring opportunities,” he said. “I was able — it was a very stress-free round of golf, which I haven’t had a lot of those lately, so it was nice. It felt good to feel like almost a little disappointed to have shot 6 under today, I felt like I left a few out there.

“But it was perfect scoring conditions, it was perfect weather this morning, a light breeze, so just hit some good shots early and actually made a couple good putts and I felt comfortable.”

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Minnesota is a long way from home for Moore, who was born in the Pacific Northwest and has lived in Las Vegas since attending UNLV, but he has plenty of fond memories of The Star of the North. Moore won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in Minnesota back in 2004, then clinched the 2016 Ryder Cup by beating Lee Westwood at Hazeltine.

“I have quite a bit of positives here,” Moore said. “I’m not sure why, but obviously I have some great memories with both and it’s always an area I look forward to coming to.”

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