She remains to be ending up her season, however it’s honest to name Lexi Thompson an LPGA Tour legend.
It’s normally a customized to confer with gamers as legends after their careers have come to a detailed, however although Thompson won’t be on Tour full-time beginning subsequent yr, retirement was not the phrase she used at this yr’s U.S. Girls’s Open when citing psychological well being as a important purpose behind taking a step again from the sport she has all the time beloved.
“I feel all of us have our struggles, particularly out right here,” she mentioned again in Could. “Sadly, in golf you lose greater than you win, so it’s an ongoing battle to proceed to place your self on the market in entrance of the cameras and persevering with to work onerous and possibly not seeing the outcomes you need and getting criticized for it. So, it’s onerous.
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Lexi Thompson walks the outlet one fairway throughout the third spherical of the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship golf event. (Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports activities)
“I’ve struggled with it. I do not suppose there’s any individual out right here that hasn’t. It is only a matter of how effectively you disguise it, which may be very unhappy.”
Thompson fought again tears as she poured out her coronary heart and thoughts about her resolution, and months later, she informed Fox Information Digital how that call to inform the world how she was feeling led to large assist all through the sport.
“It’s been quite a bit for the reason that announcement, however all in good methods,” Thompson, who additionally mentioned her selection of Maxfli golf balls for her ultimate full-time season, mentioned. “I’ve gotten nothing however love and assist from, after all, my household, however different opponents as effectively. I really feel just like the issues I mentioned that week form of opened the door for fellow gamers and simply folks generally to be open and trustworthy about how they’re feeling inside and know they’re not alone or that they’ve to cover sure feelings.
LEXI THOMPSON REFLECTS ON ‘EMOTIONAL WEEK’ PLAYING FOR USA FOR LIKELY LAST TIME AT SOLHEIM CUP
“I really feel like that actually hit lots of people greater than my precise announcement itself. That’s an enormous a part of it, however I’ve gotten nothing however assist from fellow gamers and all people round me.”
Whereas soaking in all of the reward, Thompson has had time to replicate on her stellar profession in golf. Once more, the phrase “retirement” was not used, however Thompson did reveal what she want to be remembered for on and off the golf course.
“I might need folks to consider my profession as, after all, a proficient golfer,” she started. “That’s a part of it. However I simply need folks to see me as any individual who gave again to the sport, who realized the significance of what went into the tournaments and simply the Tour and simply being grateful for being on the market.
“[I] gave again and made it a greater sport and helped the ladies’s sports activities simply develop and getting youngsters concerned at a youthful age. I feel that’s what I wish to be seen as. – a job mannequin. A task mannequin for youths to look as much as and try to be.”
Lexi Thompson appears on throughout the first spherical of the U.S. Girls’s Open golf event. (John Jones-USA TODAY Sports activities)
Leaving the sport higher than when she entered it as knowledgeable in 2010 on the age of 15 was all the time what Thompson had in thoughts. After all, successful was all the time prime of her thoughts as effectively, and Thompson did that 11 occasions on the LPGA Tour, whereas competing for Workforce USA in a number of Solheim Cups and two Olympics (2016, 2020).
As the sport of golf has grown tremendously since she went professional over a decade in the past, ladies’s golf has benefited from it to the enjoyment of Thompson.
“After all, I don’t suppose it’s simply me,” she mentioned, laughing. “There’s so many proficient ladies out right here who’ve impacted the sport, have given again and that’s what makes the Tour so particular.
“On my facet of issues, giving again to the followers, the sponsors and seeing that development over time in 2010 after I turned professional. We gained tournaments, we gained sponsorships, we gained TV protection and purses have risen rather a lot. It’s simply nice to see the expansion, and we’re getting the reward ladies’s golf wants and deserves. I feel we’re shifting in the suitable route.
“I feel there’s much more room for development, however it’s child steps and there’s nowhere to go however up.”
GOING OUT WITH MAXFLI
Thompson’s ultimate full-time season noticed a change in golf balls, as she labored for months with Maxfli, a golf ball model that has been round a course since 1922, to decide on a ball she would use all year long.
Thompson mentioned the “honor” it was to get the decision from Maxfli to hitch their group.
Lexi Thompson of Workforce USA reacts to her drive on the third tee towards Workforce Europe throughout the Solheim Cup 2024 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership. (Aaron Doster-Imagn Photos)
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“I switched to Maxfli in the beginning of the season,” she mentioned. “They got here to me on the finish of the final season, so I used to be tremendous excited. A really historic golf model that lots of prime names within the {golfing} trade have used Maxfli golf balls. So, I used to be honored to have them attain out to me. With the ability to signify them and their targets within the golf trade actually align with mine.”
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