CME Group Tour Championship: Lexi Thompson moves up, moves back, but still in contention

NAPLES, Fla. – Lexi Thompson is trying to keep her putting demons at bay.

The talented 26-year-old missed another very short birdie putt on the back nine in the third round of Saturday’s CME Group Tour Championship. Last week, she missed three short ones coming in that eventually led to a playoff loss in the Pelican Women’s Championship near Tampa.

“I think being an athlete you always want to be on the top of your game and how you feel personally as well,” Thompson said of changes she has made. “For me, what I was doing wasn’t working, so I’m all up for change and trying different things to improve on myself or my golf game.

“I’ll be the first one to rule it out as well. But I’m always looking for improvement on and off the golf course. I’ve just been putting in the work.”

Thompson, who is working with a new unnamed putting coach, is still right there, though, despite a birdie-bogey finish at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

Thompson, who won the tournament in 2018 and has contended almost every year, sits only two strokes behind the four co-leaders going into Sunday’s final round.

“It was a lot windier today than the other days,” she said. “I mean, (Friday) was windy as well, but today was definitely a little bit more.

“So it’s all about controlling your ball flight, taking a little bit more club and not swinging as hard. Getting it in the fairway out here is key, especially on a few holes out there. Just giving yourself an iron shot into these greens.”

Thompson strung together four birdies on the front, including the final two, to stay on the leaderboard. She parred six straight on the back nine, missing a short birdie putt along the way, then made a nice birdie putt on No. 17. But her tee shot on No. 18 kept on running, and went into the hazard. She nearly holed a lengthy par attempt, but made bogey.

“I actually hit a great drive on 18,” she said. “It’s just with this wind and it firming up, I hit the tee shot and I was like, ‘I’ll just ease off it,’ and it came off even hotter than I ever hit a 3-wood. It ended up rolling just in the water. Hit a great shot and an amazing putt; just didn’t break.

“Happens. But it’s firming up out there, so I just didn’t play for it.”

Her mother has been in Naples all week, and her father Scott made it to town Saturday morning after watching Lexi’s brother Curtis play in the PGA Tour event in South Carolina.

“It’s been amazing,” she said of having her parents on site. “Great to have him here, and to be able to be with my mom and my dog the whole week, it’s been so relaxing.

“She’s been cooking every night and just feels like I’m at home. That’s what’s is amazing about this event. I get the support from the fans and my family out here.”

Thompson hopes she can give them — and herself — something extra special to finish the 2021 season.

“I’m just happy to see (the work she is putting in) show, but it would mean the world me to get a win,” she said. “I’m just going to take it one shot at a time, and whatever happens, happens. I know I’m doing the best I can.”

Solheim Cup star makes a move

Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who went unbeaten in Europe’s Solheim Cup victory, shot a bogey-free 66 to get to 12 under and into a tie for seventh, but just two behind the leaders.

“I think it’s the toughest day so far,” she said. “It was windy, it was gusty. I had to stay really patient, and I feel like we did a pretty good job sort of judging the wind, picking our targets, and executed pretty well.

“There is a lot of great golfers ahead of me on the leaderboard and around me, so it’s going to take another low one. At the same time, it’s a golf course you have to stay really patient on, take your chances when you get them, and be smart about it.”

Off to the races

Sophia Popov playing with others this week: 8 over. Playing by herself: 4 under.

After a player withdrew from the CME Group Tour Championship on Friday, that left the field at 59 players, an odd number.

So the Naples resident, who took over last place, was all by herself and off first Saturday at 7:50 a.m. By 10:54, she was finished.

“Just really enjoyable,” she said. “I’m a very fast player so for me I could do this every week. Basically I just have to wait on myself; I’m fast. It’s kind of nice. It keeps everything going. I keep my rhythm.

“I think I’ve struggled a little bit this year being in certain groups and then just having to wait a lot, being stuck in the middle of the pack. It’s kind of where you want to be, but at the same time, it’s always slow. It’s very, very slow, and I just don’t vibe with that very well. I think that’s going to be an offseason goal, just try to figure out how to play like this.”

Jenny Coleman and Matilda Castren, playing as a twosome behind Popov, finished 1 hour later.

Popov did have something to keep her mind occupied — her fiancé Max Mehles. But not in that way.

“(Friday) my fiancé said, ‘All right, for every birdie that you make we’re going to do 20 push-ups.’ I’m like ‘All right, that’s pure motivation for me,’” she said. “They’re going to have to do 120 push-ups.”

Popov said she played a round on the Symetra Tour in two hours and 23 minutes or something similar, but that was on a course where there wasn’t much distance between greens and the tees on the next hole. At Tiburón, there are stretches where players are riding carts between holes.

“I think because I know the course is kind of a long walk and with the carts and everything, I knew I wasn’t going to be playing super, super fast,” she said. “I told some people that wanted to come on the back nine, ‘I’ll probably be done with the front nine at the latest 9:15, 9:20,’ and that was correct. It worked out pretty well.”

Popov had the rest of her Saturday free.

“Do fun things like go to the beach, and have a nice lunch, and spend some time with my family and really enjoy the rest of the day, which is quite nice,” she said.

So keys for Popov in 2022 — play as if she’s playing by herself. And push-ups for birdies from Max.

“That how I’m going to try to play it every day next year,” she said, laughing.

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/