After Lexi Thompson flew home from the Toyko Olympics, the next morning she was out grinding on the range. It was like that for the next five days until she flew to Scotland. Thompson said it’s probably the hardest she’s ever worked on her game.
“I probably practiced five to six hours a day out on the golf course for those four or five days,” said Thompson, “and training twice a day.”
The 11-time winner opened with a 3-under 69 and sits two back of leaders Nelly Korda, Madelene Sagstrom and Sei Young Kim at the AIG Women’s British Open in her Carnoustie debut. Thompson, who has one major title to her credit, last won on the LGPA in June 2019 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
She made headlines in Tokyo when her caddie, Jack Fulghum, had to put down the bag on the 15th hole due the extreme heat. She has a local caddie, Paul Drummond, on the bag this week. Thompson said Fulghum is doing better now and wished him well. She also confirmed that they have parted ways.
Drummond caddies regularly at Carnoustie and Thompson credited him for being a big help this week.
Here comes Lexi
The American already has one major title. And she’s now one off the lead at Carnoustie.#AIGWO #WorldClass pic.twitter.com/JutJntZhYz
— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 19, 2021
“Just the local knowledge, especially for me, I don’t play over here a ton, only really once a year,” she said. “So knowing the local knowledge of the golf course, the bounces, where to miss if you need to, it helps out tremendously and makes you a lot more free over certain shots.”
Last June at The Olympic Club, Thompson, with Fulghum on the bag, held a five-shot cushion walking off the 18thgreen at the U.S. Women’s Open on Sunday but stumbled mightily down the stretch, playing the last seven holes in 5 over.
Needing a par on the last hole to get into a playoff, her second shot with a gap wedge from the fairway came up painfully short and into a front greenside bunker. She then left a 10-foot putt for par shockingly short and watched as Nasa Hataoka and eventual champion Yuka Saso squared off in extra holes without her.
Later that month at the KPMG Women’s PGA, Scott Thompson said his daughter had 120 yards to the pin on the 18th hole at Olympic and 114 to clear the bunker (yardage adjusted to account for the uphill slope).
“They were trying to win the golf tournament,” he said, “so they took an exact number, a 115-yard club. Obviously in San Francisco the ball goes a little short, or maybe they got the wind a little off, it was left-to-right wind, and the ball came up like a foot short. You know what? It happens. That’s the story.
“They could’ve hit it long and two-putted and got into a playoff, but they went for the win. … I commended the caddie for doing what he did.”