Lexi Thompson heads to the PGA Tour fresh off a top-5 finish in Texas. While it looked like Thompson might make a run for her first LPGA title in four years at the Old American Golf Club, rounds of 71-70 over the weekend kept her too far away to add any real pressure to eventual winner Hyo Joo Kim.
Thompson finished solo fifth, six strokes back, at the 2023 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America but carries confidence into the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, where she’ll be the seventh woman to ever compete in a PGA Tour event.
“Overall, very happy,” said Thompson. “I’ve been working extremely hard on my game and to see to pay off in these last few weeks, starting at Solheim Cup there, just to see the improvements, that’s all I’ve needed.”
It wasn’t all that long ago that many were questioning Thompson’s place on the U.S. Solheim Cup team. Her play this season has been so underwhelming, in fact, that she still has work to do to play her way in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Thompson missed the cut in six of seven starts on the LPGA over the summer and ranked 114th on the CME points list heading into Texas. The top 60 and ties qualify.
“I really believe that I got on the right track before Solheim,” said Thompson, “and I knew Solheim usually brings out the best golf in me because it’s kind of what I live for, what I play for, to be able to represent my country.
“So to be able to play amazing golf there with my team and for my captain was a huge honor for me. Just trying to build off that and continue to work hard and see those improvements, that’s all I want to do, and continue to build on that.”
Thompson said she focused on something in particular with her ball-striking during the weeks leading up to the Solheim Cup and it paid off “tremendously.” While she wouldn’t go into the specifics of what she’s working on in press conferences, Golf Channel analyst and World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Rankin broke down a change in her setup during the final round in Texas.
“She has actually lowered her right shoulder from her left shoulder,” said Rankin. “She had gotten very high on her right side and low on her left side, that encouraged both some deep divots that she doesn’t like and a lot of the shots that you’ve seen her hit this season that start left and go left because it makes her get too steep.”
Since the Solheim Cup, Thompson has posted a pair of top-10 finishes on the LPGA, her first of the season.
While Thompson is playing next week in Las Vegas, the LPGA will hold the Buick LPGA Shanghai in China.