Social Stoppage

Few things are more powerful than an uncluttered mind. The clarity. The liberation. The freedom. Once the chains of mental encumbrance have been stripped away, peace is followed by focus, and focus by joy. Just ask Lexi Thompson. Five days after announcing that she was taking a sabbatical from the likes of Twitter and Instagram, the 24-year-old fired a 3-under 69 at Lake Merced Golf Club just outside San Francisco to move into a tie for fourth going into the final round of the Mediheal Championship. Afterward, she couldn’t wait to talk about golf. “This is one of the more challenging courses that we have played this year,” Thompson said of Lake Merced, a course that has received near-universal praise since the LPGA returned to the Bay Area last year. “If you’re going to hit a squirrelly drive or a bad second shot, you’re going to get in some really tough locations. Sometimes bogeys, you’ve got to take them and just go to the next hole and be OK with it. “I mean, I’m not going to say I’m OK with bogeys. But sometimes you just have to b...