Women’s Golf: Alexis Thompson – When a Girl becomes a Woman
This year could perhaps rightly be called ‘the year of the Tiger’. All eyes have been glued on Tiger Woods this season be it for the notorious s*x scandals or a mere, to the point, analysis of his game… or contemplating over the million dollar question:
Will he ever be able to reach his former glory? Sadly, during all the hoopla over Tiger’s sexual misadventures, the world of Women’s golf has been severely sidelined – Food for thought: Is Tiger Woods the Anna Kournikova of the Golfing world? – For that, stay
tuned for my next article!
Coming back to the original point: Women’s Golf – The category in question has seen a number of peaks this season from Laura Davies bagging her 78th win to Kim In-kyung winning her 3rd LPGA title. However, arguably
the most exciting bit of news has been of 15 year old Alexis Thompson turning pro.
Over the last couple of years, Alexis “Lexi” Thompson has been breaking all kinds of records the sport has to offer and so to speak, gathering herself quite a fan following.
Lexi first made the crowd sit up and take notice when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2007 at the age of 12. At 12 years 4 months, Lexi officially became the youngest player to have qualified for the tournament beating the record of Morgan
Pressel by several months. Although she did not make the cut in her first year at the Open, she went on to qualify for the next two consecutive years and finally in her third year, the hard work finally paid off as she tied for 34th place
in the Open and went on to make the cut. Lexi was only 14 at the time.
The 15 year old, who was born and bred in Florida, belongs to a family of golf lovers. Her older brother Nicholas, 27, is a PGA tour member and has won on the Nationwide Tour. Her other older brother Curtis is also an accomplished junior golfer. The
youngster admits to being inspired by Nicholas as far as her golfing career is concerned “I just want to follow in his footsteps. I've seen what he's done to get there. All the hard work. All the practicing.”
Apart from her U.S. Open achievements the young lady has a series of wins under her belt. 2007 saw her winning the Aldila Junior Classic, an American Junior Golf Association competition, to become the second youngest player to have ever won the tournament.
She also became the youngest player to win the Junior PGA Championship the same year. In 2008, while she did not make the cut in her second Open she did however, won the U.S. Girls Junior Amateur tournament. This was her first USGA victory and the young American
again broke records by becoming the second youngest player to win the title.
2009 wasn’t as lucky for the young prodigy as far as placing in the Open was concerned. Thompson did win the prestigious South Atlantic Ladies Amateur tournament and also scored a special invite to play in the LPGA major Kraft Nabisco Championship,
where she placed 21st.
This year the 15 year old won the 2010 Curtis Cup as part of the American Team. Following her triumph, the teenager announced that she was turning pro.
After 3 professional tournaments, Alexis would have ranked 18th in LPGA Money list had she been a member of the LPGA tour. Rumor has it that the youngster is actually considering petitioning the LPGA for waiver to grant her
full membership status. Although Lexi meets all the other requirements she is not yet 18 and therefore legally ineligible to be granted membership. Lexi is also considerably younger than the other underage players, like Aree Song and Morgan Pressel, whose
waiver requests were accepted. Whether or not Thompson will be breaking another record and becoming the youngest ever LPGA member remains to be seen.
It is hard to believe that Alexis Thompson, having crossed such major landmarks professionally, is just like any regular teen. Her ways to unwind after a long day of school work and practicing include dancing, baking and crafts. Lexi who is home-schooled
and is currently at the sophomore level in High School does not plan on playing a full-time schedule next year as she wants time off for normal High School activities, ironically as farfetched and realistically relevant as ‘Prom’.
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