She remains to be ending up her season, however it’s truthful to name Lexi Thompson an LPGA Tour legend.
It’s often a customized to seek advice from 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. Ladies’s Open when citing psychological well being as a major motive behind taking a step again from the sport she has all the time beloved.
“I believe all of us have our struggles, particularly out right here,” she stated again in Might. “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 arduous and perhaps not seeing the outcomes you need and getting criticized for it. So, it’s arduous.
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Lexi Thompson walks the opening one fairway through the third spherical of the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship golf match. (Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports activities)
“I’ve struggled with it. I do not suppose there’s anyone out right here that hasn’t. It is only a matter of how effectively you cover it, which could be very unhappy.”
Thompson fought again tears as she poured out her coronary heart and thoughts about her resolution, and months later, she advised 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 so much because the announcement, however all in good methods,” Thompson, who additionally mentioned her selection of Maxfli golf balls for her last full-time season, stated. “I’ve gotten nothing however love and assist from, after all, my household, however different rivals as effectively. I really feel just like the issues I stated that week form of opened the door for fellow gamers and simply individuals usually 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 basically 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 everyone round me.”
Whereas soaking in all of the reward, Thompson has had time to mirror on her stellar profession in golf. Once more, the phrase “retirement” was not used, however Thompson did reveal what she wish to be remembered for on and off the golf course.
“I’d need individuals to consider my profession as, after all, a gifted golfer,” she started. “That’s a part of it. However I simply need individuals to see me as anyone 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 believe that’s what I need to be seen as. – a job mannequin. A job mannequin for teenagers to look as much as and attempt to be.”
Lexi Thompson appears on through the first spherical of the U.S. Ladies’s Open golf match. (John Jones-USA TODAY Sports activities)
Leaving the sport higher than when she entered it as an expert 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 instances on the LPGA Tour, whereas competing for Group 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, girls’s golf has benefited from it to the enjoyment of Thompson.
“After all, I don’t suppose it’s simply me,” she stated, laughing. “There’s so many gifted girls out right here who’ve impacted the sport, have given again and that’s what makes the Tour so particular.
“On my aspect of issues, giving again to the followers, the sponsors and seeing that development through the years in 2010 once 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 girls’s golf wants and deserves. I believe we’re transferring in the precise route.
“I believe there’s much more room for development, but it surely’s child steps and there’s nowhere to go however up.”
GOING OUT WITH MAXFLI
Thompson’s last 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 crew.
Lexi Thompson of Group USA reacts to her drive on the third tee towards Group Europe through the Solheim Cup 2024 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership. (Aaron Doster-Imagn Photos)
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“I switched to Maxfli at first of the season,” she stated. “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 quite a lot 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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