Michael Thomson wins Boise Open to regain PGA Tour card
BOISE, Idaho — Michael Thomson won the Web.com Tour Finals’ Albertson Boise Open on Sunday at Hillcrest Country Club to regain a PGA Tour card.
Thompson finished with his second straight 7-under 64, birdieing five of the first seven holes on the back nine, for a three-stroke victory over Argentina’s Miguel Angel Carballo.
The 31-year-old Thompson finished at 23-under 261 and earned $180,000 in the second of four events that will determine 25 PGA Tour cards. He won the 2013 Honda Classic for his lone PGA Tour title.
“It’s a huge confidence boost, to know that you can do it on such a big stage on a big level,” Thompson said. “These four Web.com Tour Finals events mean a lot to all of us. We all want to get our card, especially the guys that lost it last year. I hope that this continues to breed confidence going forward. I feel good about my game.”
He holed out from a bunker for birdie on the par-3 13th.
Carballo eagled the par-5 second hole in a 66.
“Miguel and I were playing really great,” Thompson said. “We were kind of feeding off of each other. When that happens, it makes golf a lot of fun.”
Carballo earned $108,000 to also wrap up a PGA Tour card.
“I’m very happy about going back to the PGA Tour,” Carballo said. “I’m really happy about it because at the beginning of the year I was playing really bad for the first four months. Midseason, I started playing a little bit better, and I’m happy to be back.”
Grayson Murray was third at 18 under after a 64. He already earned a card as a top-25 finisher on the Web.com money list.
England’s Andrew “Beef” Johnston (68) was 17 under and also earned a PGA Tour card, making $48,000 to push is two-event total to $54,910.
“A few sodas! Yeah, I think there will be a Coke or a Fanta or something like that,” Johnson joked about his card-earning celebration. “Nah, there’s going to be a few beers, man!”
The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings — Thompson was 145th, and Carballo 187th — and non-members such as Johnson with enough PGA Tour money to have placed in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup had they been eligible.
The top 25 players on the Web.com regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings . Last year, Rob Oppenheim got the last PGA Tour card with $32,206. Bobby Gates was 25th in 2013 at $33,650, and Eric Axley took the last card in 2014 at $36,312.
Three-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings (71) tied for fifth at 16 under with Ryan Blaum (64) and Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes (68). Tied with Thompson for the third-round lead, Stallings eagled the par-5 16th and made a double bogey on the par-4 18th. He has made $68,875 in the first two events to regain his PGA Tour card after finishing 128th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Hughes already earned a card from the Web.com money list.
