Becoming just the seventh woman to compete in a PGA Tour event, Lexi Thompson answered any critics of her sponsor’s exemption with an impressive 16 holes before darkness called a halt to Thursday proceedings in the Shriners Children’s Open at Las Vegas’ TPC Summerlin.
Looking to become the first of the seven pioneering females to make the cut against the men, Thompson showed that she’s more than capable of holding her own in the power department, averaging 301 yards off the tee with a longest drive of 316.
After an opening par, she got into red figures with a birdie at the par-4 second, but immediately gave the stroke back at the next. A double-bogey at seven followed by another bogey at eight took her to +3 and it looked as though the critics suggesting that she had no place in the field may be proven right.
To her credit, she responded with birdies at the par-5 ninth and 13th holes to claw her way back to +1, and that’s how she lay when darkness fell in Nevada and she’ll resume her opening round on Friday morning with a 20-foot par putt on the par-3 17th and then play the par-4 18th before starting her second round.
Beau Hossler leads the event at nine-under, one clear of Cameron Champ and JT Poston.
“I played decent. I had one bad hole and a few iffy shots. But it’s golf; it was kind of expected,” Thompson said. “I had a little bit of nerves, but not too much. Kind of similar to Solheim, similar nerves, but that’s kind of what you play for.”
One of the longest players on the LPGA circuit, TPC Summerlin may be one of the shorter PGA Tour courses and, playing firm, Thompson was always going to be able to get the ball out there. On the 552-yard par-5 ninth, for example, a drive and fairway wood saw her reach the green in two and make birdie.
“I knew (on number) 9, I could get a birdie as long as I hit that fairway, I knew I could get 3-wood up close to the front of the green and make birdie there,” she said. “Hit a good drive and just really stayed committed to that 3-wood. Tried to make eagle, but definitely take a birdie.”
“It was a very special feeling,” Thompson said of the birdie on No. 2. “I hit a great shot into 1 and probably hit one of my worst putts and then hit an amazing putt on No. 2, so it was nice to kind of have a good stroke there and make birdie on a more difficult hole.”
She may currently lie just shy of the provisional cutline, but it won’t take much to move her inside and it would be a momentous occasion for female golf were she to make history and play the weekend at a regular PGA Tour stop
“The fans were amazing. So many people around that first tee and then following us those next few holes,” Thompson said. “It was just great, especially to see those little kids out there. The fans make the game, and that’s why we continue to play and just hopefully grow it.”
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