For Lexi Thompson, there is a part of her that feels like playing against the men is just another day at the golf course.
Her brothers, Nicholas and Curtis, are both professional golfers, having played on the Korn Ferry and PGA tours, and she has spent the better part of her lifetime playing golf with and against them.
But Thompson understands it’s different this week when she becomes just the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event when she plays the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thompson will be the first woman since Brittany Lincicome in 2018 to play in a PGA Tour event.
“It means the world to me. (I’m) very honored that Shriners invited me to come out here,” Thompson said Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“It’s been something I grew up doing with my brothers and have wanted to do, but to also send a message out to the Shriners kids that no dream is too small and they can go after what they want and follow their dreams.”
It’s not as if Thompson is taking a spot that might otherwise have gone to a tour player in need of a start. She’s playing on a sponsor exemption, which allows a tournament to invite anyone whom they choose.
In this case, it’s Thompson, who at age 28 is completing her 12th year on the LPGA Tour. She has played golf in the public eye for almost half of her life, but adding her name to the list of women to play in PGA Tour events puts her in a different class.
“It was basically an automatic ‘yes.’ … It was such an exciting feeling.” – Lexi Thompson
Babe Didrikson Zaharias did it first in 1935 and remains the only woman to have made a cut (she did it twice) in a men’s event. Shirley Spork, Annika Sörenstam, Suzy Whaley, Michelle Wie West and Lincicome also played PGA Tour events.
It all happened quickly. Thompson said tournament organizers reached out to her management team just over two weeks ago to gauge her interest.
“It was basically an automatic ‘yes.’ I did have plans this weekend, but they moved to next week now. It was such an exciting feeling,” Thompson said.
“I got the news two Sundays ago, right after I played at Walmart, so it was kind of surreal. I was letting that round soak in and have a good round under my belt and got that news. I’m like, right, this is all just exciting.”
Thompson had just finished with a final-round 66 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship to finish tied for eighth, her first top-10 finish of the year. She followed that with a solo fifth last week at the Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America.
It’s an overdue turnaround for the 11-time LPGA Tour winner, who had missed eight cuts this year, including five in a row during a challenging summer. Thompson said before the Solheim Cup last month that she had made an adjustment in her swing and the results were almost immediate.
“It was something very simple, but I feel like as golfers and athletes we kind of have our tendencies of always going back to certain things. Even when we are struggling, we always have tendencies of what our swing goes to,” Thompson said.
“Just really focusing in on this one thing, and it’s gotten me a lot better on track with my swing plane.”
One of the longest hitters on the LPGA Tour, Thompson averages 270.71 yards off the tee.
“She hits the ball very far. If I play with her, I would be worried,” Tom Kim said.
Not to worry. Thompson is grouped with Trevor Werbylo and Kevin Roy for the first two days.
Making the cut, Thompson said, would be at the top of her accomplishments, which include one major-championship victory. Beyond that, Thompson has bigger goals.
Though Thompson’s driving distance pales in comparison with the lengths that PGA Tour players drive the ball – the tour average was 299.8 yards in the 2022-23 season – she thinks that playing TPC Summerlin will help her.
“It’s nice to come here and hit a lot of drivers, of course. You know, the last few weeks I didn’t hit too many drivers, but you still have to hit the golf shots on the LPGA Tour. It’s just I don’t get to take advantage of sometimes my length on a few of those holes,” Thompson said.
“Here, it’s driver on every hole, and I definitely like that. Fire away and swing, get the most distance I can on a few of those holes.”
Given the rarity of women playing in PGA Tour events, Thompson is intent on balancing expectations against the impact she could have on others.
Making the cut, Thompson said, would be at the top of her accomplishments, which include one major-championship victory. Beyond that, Thompson has bigger goals.
“Good golf is a successful week. If I can leave here inspiring others, and especially the kids, the Shriners kids, that’s what it’s all about and what this tournament is. There is more than just playing golf,” Thompson said.
“If I can inspire one individual, I would feel like I’m making progress. Of course, yes, I want to play good. That’s a whole ’nother story. There is more to life than performing well. That’s what I want, to inspire others.”