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USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Lexi Thompson addresses non-retirement, begins three-week stretch of LPGA events at Meijer
Lexi Thompson addresses non-retirement, begins three-week stretch of LPGA events at Meijer Lexi Thompson makes her first start of three in a row at this week's Meijer LPGA Classic. The Grand Rapids, Michigan, stop is one of her favorites on tour and it's easy to see why. In 10 appearances, the 2015 Meijer champion has six top-five finishes at Blythefield Country Club. This week marks Thompson's sixth start to the season and next week in Frisco, Texas, she'll tee it up in her third major of 2025 at the KPMG Women's PGA. Given how much she's played so far this season, the schedule certainly doesn't have the feel of a part-time player, but Thompson said she'll probably play around 10 times total this year, meaning the next half of 2025 should be substantially lighter. At last week's U.S. Women's Open, Thompson wrote a post on social media in which she reacted to the slow-play accusations of early in the week and reminded folks that she never used the word retire. 'I feel like once I made the announcement I feel it really got misconstrued that I was retiring,' said Thompson when asked about the post, 'but I never said that word. I just said I was stepping back from a full-time schedule. 'Big picture, I probably shouldn't have said that I was stepping away because people thought I was retiring. Just really wanted to dial back my schedule and have more of a life balance, but at the same time, if I went through a phase where I didn't want to play at all, I left that door open as well.' There certainly was no shortage of press conferences and farewells in 2024, beginning with a thank you letter to golf video she posted during the U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster, in which she said "While it is never easy to say goodbye, it is indeed time." At the Dana Open, Friday was deemed "Lexi Thompson Day," complete with hats, "Thank you, Lexi" buttons and an F-16 flyover from the Ohio Air National Guard. "There could be a point where I go through a few months of not teeing it up," said Thompson of her initial announcement. "I didn't want to just do that to my fans, just disappear on them. That's not right or fair. "I wanted to give the tournaments or the fans an opportunity to watch me possibly the last time at that tournament or in their home city. So I was just putting everybody's thoughts into the announcement as well." After the KPMG, Thompson plans to tee it up in the Dow Championship, a team event in Midland, Michigan, though she didn't think it was the right time to reveal the name of her partner. As for the last two majors of the season, she plans on taking a bit of a break. Thompson last played in the Amundi Evian in 2019. 'Not set in stone right now, but there are some personal things that I have to do when I'm home in the next few months,' she said. 'So we'll see.'
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kim keeps LPGA lead but Grant and Korda lurk
South Korea's Kim A-lim heads into the weekend at the LPGA's season-opening Tournament of Champions in Orlando with a three stroke lead after shooting a 3-under par second round 69 on Friday. After her bogey free opening round 7-under, Kim had to deal with three bogeys in her second round but remained comfortably clear of Sweden's Linn Grant. The 29-year-old Kim, the 2020 US Women's Open winner, said conditions had changed from Thursday's play. "It was still good but different, the wind was in a different direction, but it was still fun." she told reporters after her round left her 10-under for the tournament. Grant put herself in contention with a 5-under 67 helped by an eagle on the par-5 ninth -- her final hole. "Very solid today. I feel like yesterday I didn't have a tough time on the first nine but it's always kind of odd to come into the first tournament when you're not playing tournament golf for a while," said the 25-year-old, whose only win on the LPGA Tour came at the Dana Open in 2023. "I found something on the back nine that I really liked and just tried to keep that with me today. I know I play my best golf when I keep it simple and not be too aggressive and let the putts do the job for me." While Grant has just one win on the LPGA circuit, she has six victories on the Ladies European Tour and had top-10 finishes last year in the Women's British Open and the Women's PGA Championship. American Nelly Korda, who dominated last year's tour with seven wins, is well poised for the weekend, sharing third after a 67 put her within four shots of Kim. Ireland's Leona Maguire and Japan's Rio Takeda were also on 6-under for the tournament. sev/js
