PGA Tour veteran Bo Van Pelt’s 3-under 68 after Friday’s second round of the 3M Open was such a long time coming.
Now 45, Van Pelt didn’t play for nearly four years because of surgeries that repaired a severely torn labrum and later cleaned out bone spurs and because of something rare called “thoracic outlet syndrome” — blood vessels or nerves compressed between the collarbone and first rib — that required his rib removed 17 months ago.
“I just couldn’t play,” said Van Pelt, who won in Milwaukee in 2009 and went T-8 at the 2011 Masters and T14 at the U.S. Open that same year. “My hand started going numb and I thought I was done.”
He spent a decade with his coach Mark Wood working to develop the feel that won him $2.3 million in 2011 and then it was all gone.
“To lose all that, I couldn’t go back to the same feels,” he said. “And I was losing four years of age. You’re going from 40 to 44. Like I told my wife and my kids, this is going to be the hardest thing I ever had to do, try to compete out here at 45. I don’t think there’s anybody probably ever done it.”
He said he didn’t play 18 holes until two weeks before he started this season last fall at the Safeway Open and calls the pandemic that gave him three months to work on his game “huge because I really needed to practice.”
Van Pelt tied for 68th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic three weeks ago and withdrew from the Workday Charity Open two weeks ago. On Friday, his five-birdie, two-bogey round puts him into contention entering the weekend.
“Even though my results haven’t been great, the way I’ve been playing is a lot better,” he said. “Just sticking with it. It was just hard. I didn’t play 18 for over three years. I was trying to relearn every kind of feel I had. It’s been a process. Finally feeling I’m getting back to where I can compete again.”
Hail to Minnesota
There noticeably are no spectators allowed at this year’s 3M Open because of the coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
Some enterprising homeowners with property abuting the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine have set out lawn chairs, erected canopies and had their own golf-watching parties.
One gathering next to the 6th tee greeted a Minnesota-connection threesome Friday afternoon with the University of Minnesota’s “Go Gophers” chant as former Gophers Tom Lehman and Erik van Rooyen as well as lifelong Minnesotan Tim Herron walked to the green on the par-5 hole.
“You guys do that very well,” Lehman said as he walked onto the green.
“Thank you,” one woman replied. Another said, “We’ve been waiting for you all day.”
At the next hole, a handful of people gathered in the shade of a tree next to the seventh fairway and belted out the Minnesota Rouser.
Lehman lifted his cap in a salute to them and pumped his fist in the air as he walked up the fairway.
Early leaders
Michael Thompson and Richy Werenski teed off 10 minutes apart early Friday morning on tees located a driving iron apart from each other across Tournament Players Parkway.
Though on opposite sides of the TPC Twin Cities course they put on a similar display of golf beauty in the second round of the 3M Open. Thompson’s 5-under 66 and Werenski’s 67 put them both at 12 under for the tournament heading into the weekend.
They are the early leaders of Round 2, with the other half of the field still to play during the afternoon and early evening including Tony Finau, Ryan Moore and Nick Watney who begin their days at 6 under.
Defending 3M Open champion Matthew Wolff shot a bogey-free 68 on Friday morning and is three back at 9 under. 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Van Pelt are in at 8 under.
Thompson hit all 18 greens in regulation on Thursday. He missed four on Friday but it didn’t matter. Thompson chipped in for birdie on No. 14 and rolled three birdie putts of 12 feet or longer.
“I hit a few wayward shots early but did a really good job keeping my composure,” Thompson said. “Just go play smart golf. Don’t compound an error. It was a good day.”
Werenski, the former “Big Break” reality show winner who held the Round 1 lead, began his day on the back nine and also had the putter working. Werenski made a 31-foot birdie putt on No. 11 and a 21-footer on No. 18. He also saved par on No. 2 with a 14-foot roll.
Through two rounds, Werenski has made 262 feet, 3 inches of putts
“That’s what kept the round going,” Werenski said. “I took advantage of it when I could.”
Wolff scrambled his way around the course Friday.
He opened his day on No. 10, making a 28-foot putt for birdie and added two more circles to his card on Nos. 15 and 1. A string of pars followed, burning the edge of the cup on several birdie tries.
“Really steady,” Wolff said. “The only difference was yesterday I hit closer shots. It was easier with the wind down. [Friday] I had a lot of those 15, 20-foot putts and felt I was hitting them well all day. Just missing the edge. But you can never complain about a bogey-free round.”
Two-time Minnesota State Amateur champion Tom Hoge shot 67 on Friday, a round that included birdie putts of 44, 29 and 26 feet. He’s at 6 under for the tournament.
Spring Lake Park graduate and former Winona State golfer Troy Merritt shot 2-under 69 but sits at even par total and is likely to miss the cut.
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July 25, 2020 at 03:51AM
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Bo Van Pelt delighted to be back in PGA Tour action at 3M Open - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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