Johnny Walker of Chandler, outlasted Adam Miller of Phoenix by one stroke to take first place in the Boy Championship division at the Thompson Invitational contested at Oro Valley Country Club September 28-29. Walker followed a first-round 69 with a final-round 70 to finish at 5-under-par 139 for the championship. This marks Walker’s first win in eight events entered this season including two recent third-place finishes. Miller shot 68-72—140 to finish at 4-under par, and defending champion, Trevor Lewis of Prescott, came in third place at 1-under par (71-72—143).
In the Girls Championship division, Kendall Todd (76-70) of Goodyear, came in first place at 1-over par after shooting 74-71—145 for the event. The win marks Todd’s first of the season after 10 events entered with three second-place finishes and a third-place finish. Tucson’s Maya Benita finished one stroke back at 2-over par (71-75—146). And Mattison Frick came in third place at 3-over-par 147 (73-74).
About Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson, a Tucson native, grew up playing in the Ricki Rarick Junior Golf program, Southwest Section PGA events and JGAA tournaments from 2000-2003. He was a member of the 2001 Eddie Hogan Cup team representing Arizona, where he finished third individually. Thompson played collegiate golf at the University of Tulane before transferring to the University of Alabama. In 2008, Thompson was named the SEC Player of the Year and shortly after turned professional. In 2013, he won his first PGA TOUR event at the Honda Classic and finished 39th overall in the FedExCup standings that year. In 2017, Thompson finished in the top 10 once, top-25 six times and made 9 of 21 cuts on tour.