The LPGA and PGA Tours have announced a third team for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, a new mixed-gender event that will see players from both organizations compete as partners at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. this December. The Invitational will feature a total of 32 players comprising 16 teams that will compete for a $4 million purse.
Grant Thornton ambassadors Jessica Korda and Rickie Fowler were slated to tee it up when the event was first announced, but Korda shared in August that she was pregnant with her first child who is due in February 2024, leaving Fowler needing a partner for the mixed-gender event.
Luckily, Fowler’s fellow Cobra Puma Golf ambassador Lexi Thompson has stepped up to the plate and will partner with the six-time PGA Tour winner for the Grant Thornton Invitational. The news comes right on the heels of the announcement that Thompson will play in next week’s Shriners Children’s Open, becoming the seventh woman ever to tee it up in a PGA Tour event.
The 28-year-old is an 11-time LPGA Tour winner and major champion – Lexi took home The Chevron Championship title in 2014 – and has earned 74 additional career top-10 finishes since becoming a Member in 2012.
She is also a six-time United States Solheim Cup team member, four-time Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown United States team member and two-time Olympian, competing in 2016 and 2020 in Rio and Tokyo, respectively. Thompson won the 2017 Race to the CME Globe and the 2017 Vare Trophy. The Florida native has made $13,775,870 in career earnings and has won twice on the Ladies European Tour.
Fowler joined the PGA Tour in 2010 and has earned six career victories, including the 2015 Players Championship. His most recent win came earlier this year at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, ending a four-year winless drought for the 34-year-old.
Fowler has three additional international victories and has made $48,911,847 in career earnings on the PGA Tour.
