Tommy

Armour III

The 52-year-old enjoyed medalist honors at one of the six sites in the second stage but he couldn’t carry over that play to the 108-hole grind at PGA West. Officially, he goes in the books at 2-over-par 75-74-69-72-72=362 after 90 holes. That was nine strokes higher than the quintet sharing 24th place overnight. TA3 will return to the Champions Tour in 2012. He didn’t make a start on the PGA TOUR in 2011. A total of 13 golfers have withdrawn from Q School after it began last Wednesday.

He was among the field of 132 for not even 18 hours. Toward the tail end of his full-time days on the PGA TOUR, he was a frequent early withdrawal, so today’s decision is nothing new.

TA3 was the seventh alternate when the field was released on Friday afternoon. He gained entry when D.A. Points withdrew. Armour III hasn’t pegged it in a PGA TOUR event since Disney in 2010. The 52-year-old is winless in 56 career starts on the Champions Tour.

He went out in 3-over-par 39 in his second round after posting an even-par 36-36=72 on Thursday. The WD leaves him with four starts on his Minor Medical Extension to earn $148,247 and get elevated to the Major Medical category. TA3 is listed in the published field of next week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Although TA3 managed five birdies, he was done in by three bogeys and three doubles. It leaves him with three starts on his Minor Medical Extension to earn $148,247 and get elevated to the Major Medical category.

With the plethora of field changes today, we alerted you in real time about all of the withdrawals from the originally published field, but held off until tonight to bring you up to speed on all of the additions. Here’s why: TA3 was fourth alternate when the field was published on Friday afternoon, but he was the first alternate to accept a spot in the field of 132 at Grand National’s Lake Course. At last count, 13 alternates in all have turned away a tee time. Armour III, 55, hasn’t pegged it on the PGA TOUR since the now-defunct stop at Disney World in November of 2010. He’s currently 13th in earnings on the Champions Tour, which is not hosting an event this week.

The reason later given for the withdrawal was back pain. He was replaced in the field by Gabriel Hjertstedt, who carded an opening round of 71 which was good for a T-81 after the first round.

Tommy Armour sank an 11-foot birdie putt in the darkness of the early evening to claim a share of the first round lead. His round had 10 birdies with one bogey on the card to get around the unusual par-73 course. The early clubhouse leader was Bob Estes and he was able to get around the course with nine birdies on his card. There still is about 20 players that haven’t finished their rounds due to darkness and they will resume play at 7:45 Local Time tomorrow morning.

Armour has played for six straight weeks, so this probably is just some time off. He has been replaced in the field by Willie Wood, who has mostly played on the Nationwide Tour this season.

Armour takes the place of Justin Rose who withdrew so he can spend the next couple of weeks building the strength up in his back.