Lexi Thompson to develop into seventh lady to compete on males’s PGA Tour

It doesn’t matter what occurs for Lexi Thompson at this week’s PGA Tour Shriners Kids’s Open in Las Vegas, her drive off the primary tee will make it a win within the eyes of a few of her fellow opponents.

Thompson would be the seventh lady to compete on the lads’s PGA Tour, when she participates within the third occasion of the FedEx Cup Fall sequence.

It’s the primary look for an LPGA participant since Brittany Lincicome within the 2018 Barbasol Championship.

“If I can encourage one particular person, I’d really feel like I am making progress,” she mentioned.

“In fact, sure, I wish to play good. That is a complete different story. There may be extra to life than performing effectively. That is what I would like, to encourage others.

“We’ll see the place the golf takes me. I do know I’ve performed effectively the previous couple of weeks, and simply take one shot at a time. No matter occurs, it is a blessing to be right here.”

PGA Tour member Luke Checklist mentioned, “it is all the pieces”, when requested what Thompson’s participation means to younger females wanting as much as her as a job mannequin.

Checklist, who has a younger daughter, mentioned it was “phenomenal” that younger women, particularly those that play golf, may see anyone open new doorways.

“I feel that there’s a lot room for development within the ladies’s recreation, and continued in our recreation, too,” mentioned Checklist, the winner of final week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

“However for them, simply having that chance to — on the most important stage — present their abilities, even her simply teeing it up is successful with out no matter she shoots.”

Thompson has not gained on the LPGA Tour since 2019 however solely missed out on final yr’s Ladies’s PGA Championship by one stroke and performed effectively as a member of the USA’ Solheim Cup group final month at Spain, the place the USA and Europe completed tied 14-14 and Europe retained the trophy.

“I do know she will deal with it effectively,” Checklist mentioned.

“Simply crossing these limitations is admittedly necessary and I feel that simply the match being progressive, and giving her the chance, is admittedly cool.”

Thompson, who gained her solely main in 2014, can be aiming to develop into the primary lady since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to make the 36-hole lower in a males’s match.

Reuters