In the end there were tears for Lexi Thompson. But then again how could there not be. When you’ve had the impressive 13-year career that she has had on the LPGA Tour and you’re saying goodbye to playing on a full-time basis, the emotions will follow.
To her credit, the 29-year-old closed things out at the CME Group Tour Championship with a great up and down. After hitting her approach into a greenside bunker on the ninth hole at Tiburon Golf Club, Thompson hit her third shot perfectly, the ball coming to rest two feet from the hole. And as she walked on the green, that’s when she started to well up.
Thompson’s farewell has been coming June, when at the U.S. Women’s Open she announced that she would be retiring from full-time LPGA play. She has had a big role in women’s golf for more than half of her life. She commanded attention from a young age, by qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open as a 12-year-old. Not every prodigy ends up making it on tour, but Thompson created a full career for herself. She played in seven Solheim Cups and has won 11 times on the LPGA Tour, including one major, the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
It wasn’t all rosy. There was a called-in rules incident in 2017 at the ANA Inspiration that resulted in a four-shot penalty and cost her a major championship. And she also spent time away from the game to better her mental health. When she has spoken about the harder parts of her career this season, it’s apparent that the scar tissue of the hard times is still there for Thompson.
