The Tribune

HIGH winds have been wreaking havoc among the professional golfers at the Web.com Tour’s Bahamas Great Exuma Classic this week, with only the winner, Kyle Thompson, finishing better than par.

With winds whipping up to 40mph, the two-round scores set a new record for highest ever cut in a Web.com Tour event at 11 over par. That mark broke the previous record of 10 over at the 1991 South Texas Open.

England’s Greg Eason, who shot 91 and 95 and missed the cut, claimed in a tweet to have lost 32 golf balls in the difficult conditions which saw each of the first three days finish with uncompleted rounds.

Buffeted players lost their hats in the wind while flagsticks bent and waves crashed on the shoreline around the Emerald Reef course at Sandals Emerald Bay.

Nicholas Thompson, the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson who will be playing in the Pure Silk-Bahamas Classic at the Ocean Club later this month, was the only player under par after two rounds while the third round leader Kyle Thompson, who was level par 216 when the round finished yesterday morning, eased to victory in the afternoon despite a late wobble when he took six at the par four 16th and had to hole a tricky six-foot putt for par at the last.

His third successive round of 70, two under par, left him two strokes clear of fellow Americans Nicholas Thompson, who finished with a 71, and Andrew Yun (69). Dan McCarthy finished three strokes further back while former US Amateur runner-up Corey Conners, of Canada, tied for fifth at four over with Abraham Ancer and Nate Lashley. PGA Tour veterans Sam Saunders, Chesson Hadley and Erik Compton were further off the pace.

Kyle Thompson bounced back after playing the first six holes of the tournament in six over, and when the final round began yesterday he opened with four front-nine birdies. That helped him build a five-shot advantage before the double bogey on the 16th created a bit of closing drama.

“I can’t describe how well I played, especially the way I putted,” Thompson said. “It’s probably the best putting week of my life. I don’t think I had a single three-putt. Just really grinded, made a lot of six-to-eight footers. Didn’t let the bad shots bother me and felt like I was in my own little bubble out there on the golf course.”

Thompson, 37, finished 46th on the Web.com money list last year and last played a full season on the PGA Tour in 2012. It’s the fifth Web.com Tour win of his career, and he becomes the 11th player to win events on the developmental circuit in four different calendar years.

The Great Exuma Classic was the first of two Web.com events that will be played this month in the Bahamas and will feature a Sunday start and Wednesday finish. The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic will be played at Winding Bay from January 22 to 25.