Lexi Thompson’s inspiring finish, cryptic comments leave us wanting more | Monday Finish
Since her arrival on the LPGA Tour more than a decade ago, Lexi Thompson has been one of pro golf’s main characters. She’s popular, talented, dynamic and successful. She’s also run into some truly tragic results on some of golf’s biggest stages. The combination has made her one of the game’s most fascinating figures.
It was understandable, if surprising, when she announced at the U.S. Women’s Open that this would be her final full-time season on the LPGA Tour. It hasn’t been easy living and performing in the public eye, she said, particularly during the tough stretches. It’s time to figure out what the rest of the world looks like.
But in her next tournament post-announcement Thompson played her best golf in months, battling for four days to get into a playoff and finish T2. And then at this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA she played her way into contention through 54 holes; she began Sunday’s final round just four back. She’s been that the good play and the announcement are related but it’s tough not to connect the two, particularly when she referenced “swinging free” as though a weight had been lifted from her game.
On Sunday, though, reality set in fast. Thompson bogeyed No. 1, bogeyed No. 2, bogeyed No. 3, doubled No. 4. She bogeyed 7 and doubled 8. She was eight over par through eight holes and was suddenly more than a dozen shots behind.
But then something wild happened: Thompson flipped a switch. She stuffed her tee shot at the par-3 9th to four feet, delighting the large crowd that had gathered by the clubhouse. Then she got up-and-down at the par-5 11th for another birdie. She fired another approach in close at No. 12 and tapped in for a third birdie. She hit it to eight feet and made another at No. 13. And she putted one in from the rough at No. 15. By the time she reached No. 18 any chance at contending was long gone but a chance at a smaller victory remained: a birdie at the finishing par-5 would get her back to red figures for the tournament and secure a spot inside the top 10. She left her chip some 14 feet short — but then dripped the putt into the middle of the hole, sending the grandstands into a frenzy. It was an inspiring, frustrating finish. It was hard not to wonder what could have been.
A small group of reporters caught up with Thompson after the round. She described a complex mix of emotions; how do you square eight over through eight with six under on your last 10?
“That’s the magic question,” she said. “I don’t know what was going on on the front nine, that’s the better question.”
In all, she said, it had been a good week.
“I think the positives are outweighing the negatives of today, just because of how I came back and I just fought and never gave up,” she said. “So really just going to build on that.”
Is it possible she’d reverse her retirement decision? All week she’d been cryptic about her future, saying things like “one day at a time” and “see where it takes me.” Sunday she acknowledged how satisfying it was seeing her game come together knowing how hard she’d worked in her weeks off. Thompson has said she has nothing left to prove but still — she sounded like a golfer with something left to prove.
“It was fun,” she said, then caught herself. Major championship golf isn’t really fun. “It was fun with the fans, it was overall an amazing week, we were treated so well, the golf course was in great shape, it was just mentally draining because it’s a tough golf course.”