U.S. Open starts Thursday with Thompson representing Cartersville's Scott Hamilton Golf Academy
The 2017 U.S. Open begins play Thursday at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin and Cartersville Country Club’s Scott Hamilton Golf Academy has only one player in the field.
38-year-old Kyle Thompson of Greenville, South Carolina qualified at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland on Monday, June 5 with a 7-under-par 135 total for 36 holes. That placed him second in a field of 50 players, good for one of three spots available. Sam Ryder took medalist honors at the qualifier with Ben Kohles earning the third spot.
Thompson, who played full-time on the PGA Tour in 2008 and 2012, has been on the WEB.com Tour (formerly Nationwide Tour) since turning pro in 2001. He has 54 career starts on the PGA Tour (26 events in ’08 / 22 events in ’12) with a pair of top-25 finishes and just over $199,000 in earnings.
On the WEB.com Tour, the Panama City, Florida native has played in 280 career events with over $1.7 million in earnings. He currently ranks 7th on the WEB.com Tour money list in 2017 where a top-25 season finish earns a full-time PGA Tour card next season.
Thompson categorizes himself as a patient and steady player — characteristics that not only paid off at the WEB.com’s first tour event this season, but will be valuable under the always tough U.S. Open conditions.
In January high winds, he took a victory at the Sandals - Emerald Reef Course in the Bahamas firing three of four rounds under par despite seven double bogeys on his scorecard. Evidence of his tenacity and patience.
In addition to his early season win, Thompson has two top-10 finishes and four top-25 finishes on the WEB.com Tour in 2017.
Thompson played collegiately at the University of South Carolina where he twice won individual titles at NCAA Regionals and won the Dogwood Amateur Invitational at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.
The U.S. Open begins Thursday morning on the 7,823-yard par 72 Erin Hills Course in Wisconsin. Thompson has a 12:30 pm starting time on Hole No. 10 and is paired with Australian Wade Ormsby and South African Oliver Bekker.
Each week, Bartow Sports Zone tracks the professional golfers on tour affiliated with Cartersville Country Club's Scott Hamilton Golf Academy (ScottHamiltonGolf.com) and teaching professional Mike Granato (MikeGranatoGolf.com).
Both Hamilton and Granato are affiliated professionals with Athletic Motion Golf. (https://athleticmotiongolf.com)
Scott Hamilton is the long time Director of Golf at Cartersville Country Club and is teacher/advisor/instructor to many prominent golf professionals competing on the PGA Tour, PGA Champions Tour, WEB.com Tour, LPGA Tour, and more. Mike Granato is a local golf instructor who also works with many of Hamilton's clients.
