Lexi has a dream for 'last' Women's Open
At peace since announcing full-time retirement, Thompson still 'hungry' for more
Lexi Thompson is ready for what may be her last AIG Women’s Open (Luke Walker/Getty Images)
The final major championship of the year is on tap this week at the Old Course. Whether or not it might be the final major championship for Lexi Thompson remains to be seen, but the 29-year-old American who announced in May her retirement as a full-time LPGA Tour player at the end of the year is still very much looking forward to the challenge of the AIG Women’s Open.
What would a walk-off victory at St. Andrews in her final major as a full-time professional mean to Thompson?
“It would mean the world to me, honestly. At the Home of Golf? It doesn't get much better than that,” she said. “And being a major championship, it would be a dream come true. But there’s so much golf to be played, and weeks like this you just have to stay in the moment and take one shot at a time, be patient, know there will be bad breaks or some bad shots. You just have to get through them with a positive attitude and keep on going.
“But yeah, that would be a dream of mine … I'll see what I can do.”
Thompson made her first appearance in the Women’s Open as a teenager in 2012, finishing in a tie for 17th. Her best finished was a T8 in 2016. She missed the cut the last time the AIG Women’s Open was staged at St Andrews in 2013.
She’s eager for another crack at the Old Course. Thompson isn’t approaching the AIG Women’s Open as some kind of ceremonial swan song. She’s got a season left to play out, and next month there is a Solheim Cup she would very much like to be a part of for the seventh consecutive time. She currently ranks 14th in points and – barring a victory or something close to it at the Old Course – would require a captain’s pick from Stacy Lewis.
“Very hungry,” she said of her Solheim desire. “Anytime I can represent my country, it’s my No. 1 goal to be on this team. There’s nothing like it. I feel like it brings out an energy and talent from all of us players that fans don’t see every week. … Golf is such an individual sport. We get the opportunity to bring 12 girls together, build those friendships and relationships, play under our captain that we look up to. It’s something different. It’s special.”
Thompson has big plans for herself when the season ends before Thanksgiving in November. She’s launching her own Lexi Fitness app in a few weeks and has that project to run. Her “No. 1 priority” is to “settle down, get married, have a family.”
But before settling down, she wants to travel next year – to Greece and South Africa and other places friends have recommended – without golf clubs in tow or a tournament getting in the way.
“I want to be able to travel and not play golf, so to be able to sightsee and do all the touristy things,” she said. “Definitely looking forward to that.”
In some ways, Thompson has already started. So many golf pros show up at St. Andrews to compete in a major and completely miss the incredible town and history that surrounds the Old Course. Lexi is paying attention to the glory that’s all around the Auld Grey Toon.
“It’s such a special place, St Andrews, just walking around the town,” she said. “The golf course is one thing. Amazing golf course. But just walking around the town, just the people that are out, they just love the game of golf. They respect it. They’re just such genuine people.”
Of course the golf is center stage at the Home of Golf, and Thompson isn’t taking for granted the opportunity to compete on it for a major trophy – perhaps for the final time.
“Sometimes it hits me,” she said. “It’s a big deal to be here at the Home of Golf. St Andrews is such an amazing opportunity just to be able to play golf here … Yeah, I try not to think about (retirement), I just try to stay in the moment and just really embrace the fans, embrace just being here and how lucky we are.”
Thompson is happy and at peace with her retirement decision (Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
While Thompson will soon be done playing tour golf full-time, the 15-time LPGA Tour winner isn’t closing the book on competing when the mood strikes her. She is still qualified for the Chevron Championship – the lone major title she collected when it was the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2014. And her current Rolex World Ranking of No. 43 might still be strong enough to qualify her into other majors next season.
“Going into next year, I’m going to take some time off and just see how I feel, see how I feel mentally and where I’m at,” she said. “But I know I have a few majors if I want to be able to tee it up there and get my game ready. But yeah, we’ll see. I haven’t really thought about this being my last because there’s more opportunities next year if I wanted.”
Admitting that since making her retirement announcement in May and expressing the toll the burden of competing in the public eye had on her mental health, she’s felt lighter and more supported than she’s ever felt in her long professional life. She’s never had a second thought that she made the right decision for herself after years of thinking about it.
“All of us players, we have our own battles. Everybody does,” she said. “Everybody has their things they go through and how they deal with them. But everybody deserves to do whatever makes them the happiest.
“I haven’t had any doubt. But like I said, it’s just from full-time (tour golf). I could tee it up a few more times next year. But I’m very content with my decision, and I think that’s what will make me happiest inside.”
Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club (Mark Kolbe via Golf Digest)
Half a world away … a really cool story
While the women take on the Old Course this week, nearly 10,000 miles away is a dirt golf course that shares a relationship with St. Andrews that no other golf club in the world — not Augusta National, not Pinehurst, not Royal Melbourne, not anyone else — can claim.
Reciprocity.
Aussie golf journalist Evin Priest wrote a terrific hard-to-believe story for Golf Digest about Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club in the Australian Outback that has no grass but a unique association with the Home of Golf.
Coober Pedy might not be worth adding to your golf travel bucket list (and nobody at St. Andrews has … yet), but Evin’s story is worth a read.