11-time LPGA Tour winner and major champion Lexi Thompson will become the seventh woman to compete on the PGA Tour following a sponsor’s invitation to compete in the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas next week.
Thompson, of the power players in the women’s game, made history by becoming the youngest ever qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Open when, at the tender age of 12, she successfully navigated qualifying to make it to Southern Pines in North Carolina, and turned pro three years later, aged 15.
Thompson, who started the year ranked sixth in the world, had fallen to 26th after a subpar season by her lofty standards, but, having still qualified for the US Solheim Cup side, put in an impressive showing to go 3-1-0 – her only defeat coming at the hands of Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall in the fourball matches where Maguire chipped in for a match-winning birdie on the 18th hole.
She’s since posted a T8 finish at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, and will now get the chance to compete against 131 of the top male players and a share of the $8.2 million purse at TPC Summerlin, which last year played at 7,255 yards and a par of 71.
“I’m hopeful that my ability to play with the men next week at the Shriners Children’s Open sends a great message to the young women that you can chase your dream regardless of how hard it is,” Thompson said in a statement. “I cannot wait to come to the city of Las Vegas, and I’m grateful to Shriners Children’s for this opportunity to spend the week alongside these inspirational kids.”
So far, none of the six women – Annika Sorenstam included – who’ve teed it up on the PGA Tour have managed to make the cut, though 14-year-old Michelle Wie (now Michelle Wie West) came within one stroke of playing her way into the Sony Open in 2004.
LPGA pros haven’t always been welcomed with open arms on the men’s circuit, with Vijay Singh threatening that he would withdraw from the Bank of America Colonial were he to be paired with Sorenstam when she became the first LPGA player to be invited to compete on the PGA Tour back in 2003.
Soresntam would last year credit the experience and the pressure she was exerted to that week as providing the stepping stone for greatness. “I left with so much confidence and obviously I took my game to a different level,” Sorenstam told Golf Channel earlier this year. “I worked so much harder and pushed myself. Being under the microscope and playing against the men, it tested every little bone in my body. I told myself if I could handle this pressure, I can handle any pressure. … It was a different me.”
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