Wind doesn’t blow Kyle Thompson off target

Kyle Thompson walked the ocean-side Sandals Emerald Reef Course prior to the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, the first tournament on the 2017 Web.com tour schedule, and discovered “one of the tightest layouts I’ve ever seen.”

Then, the wind blew. Hard.

The already challenging Greg Norman design turned into a monster. Scores soared. Maintaining focus became difficult. One player ran out of balls, and the 36-hole cut came at 11 over par.

In the end, one player – Kyle Thompson – finished 72 holes under par, an unheard-of result on any high-level professional tournament other than the U.S. Open.

At 37, Thompson, a three-time All-American at South Carolina who lives in Greenville, gives away years to younger competitors, but his experience paid dividends.

Case in point. He teed off on No. 10, a 460-yard par-4, in the opening round and the howling wind took his down-the-middle drive into the water. After his drop, his second shot soared toward the green only to suffer a similar fate.

“The gusts took balls like kites,” he said. “But I didn’t get flustered and I made a 12-footer for a really good double bogey.”

Thompson stood at 6 over par after six holes and could have given in to the elements. Instead, he played the remaining 66 holes at 8 under to finish at 286 to earn his fifth Web.com title by two strokes.

“My (4 over par) 76 was one of the lowest scores in the morning wave that first day and they called me in for an interview,” he said. “That’s never happened after a 76 and tells how difficult conditions were. The stroke average for the morning was (10 over par) 82.”

To keep the ball low and out of the wind that blew up to 40 miles per hour, Thompson said some players used 5 or 6 irons on a 115-yard par 3 hole. Club selection on every shot became an adventure.

“You can’t practice for conditions like that,” he said. “You just have to keep your composure and laugh at the shots the wind impacts. My experience definitely helped. I kept grinding. I knew the wind was bothering everyone. I had worked on the mental game during the off-season and that paid off.”

So did his overall game; he feels he is playing “the best golf of my life right now.”

But he is not going to rest on his achievement of winning the opening tournament of the Web.com year. He considers the victory only the first step toward his return to the PGA Tour next year.

“I got off to a good start last year and finished solo second in Panama, but I didn’t keep it up,” he said. “It’s definitely helps in terms of confidence to get a win, but I can’t let my guard down. I have to keep playing well.”

The next opportunity comes Sunday, again in the Bahamas in the Great Abaco Classic that continues through Wednesday. Emulating Justin Thomas’ last two starts on the PGA Tour by winning back to back “obviously is something I would love to do.”

Chip Shots

Ashley Czarnecki of Mauldin, a transfer from Wofford College, and Kennedy Swann, from Austin, Texas, have joined the Clemson women’s golf team and will be eligible to play in the spring semester as freshmen. . . . Online registration for the 2017-18 Drive, Chip and Putt competition will begin Wednesday at www.drivechipandputt.com. Qualifying sites and dates are available on the website. Four local qualifiers, including a May 20 event at Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia, are scheduled for South Carolina, and the sub-regional will again be contested at Fort Jackson Golf Club in August.

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Wind doesn’t blow Kyle Thompson off target."