It would have been fun. It would have been fun to see a girl two years shy of earning a driver's license make a run at a professional golf tournament, becoming the youngest player to ever win an LPGA event. That is what Alexis Thompson was trying to do after a first round 65 was followed up with a 3-under 69 on Friday, giving her a share of the lead in the LPGA Navistar Classic. It would have been fun, but this is why 14-year-olds don't normally win professional sporting events.
Thompson, competing in just her fifth LPGA tournament as an amateur, was trying to become the first non-professional to win on the LPGA tour since 1969, when JoAnne Carner took home the Burdine's Invitational. So needless to say, seeing a girl with an asterisk on the top of a leaderboard is pretty rare. On Saturday, Thompson struggled to a 2-over 74, leaving her eight shots back of who else, Lorena Ochoa with 18 holes to play.
Thompson isn't going to win, but her story was incredible, and it's clear that she might just be the next big star that her website proclaims.
Starting her third round, Thompson birdied the first hole, looking nearly jitter-less, but they caught up to her a few holes later when Alexis made a double-bogey on the par-4 6th hole. A birdie two holes later got her one back, but she couldn't card another birdie all day on a course that the professionals are eating alive (Thompson is only one of the three players in the top-22 that failed to break par on Saturday).
With one round left, Thompson has a chance to do something she's never done before -- finish in the top-20 for the first time in her career. She's currently tied for 13th, so a good round around par Sunday should keep her in that group.
She isn't going to win, but it sure would have been fun.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I hope Ochoa wins, I was wondering what caused her slump, now she should prove she is still the best one after all. And I hope Thompson does well.
I don't know why some put down LPGA, their tournaments are just as exciting as PGA. And they look sexier.