By: Max Bechtoldt
Just two weeks removed from announcing her impending retirement, Lexi Thompson has a chance to get into the winner’s circle for the first time in five years.
Thompson currently sits at -12, five strokes back of leader Grace Kim with a tall mountain to climb. The advantage her and the rest of the chasers have though, is that Kim is by herself at the top, there’s only one player whom they have to chase down.
Kim does have a win, and is a terrific player who has thoroughly dominated the last two rounds. Blythefield isn’t a course where players make a lot of mistakes, so in theory Thompson and the rest of the field will have to go low to win. That being said, Kim did lose a large lead earlier this year at the JM Eagle LA Championship.
Thompson usually goes as her putter does, and that club should have a lot of momentum after her terrific short game performance on Saturday. Thompson had just 27 putts in route to shooting a -7 65. She had six birdies, one eagle and one bogey, which included a six-hole stretch where she was seven under. If the putter is working for Lexi, she is a threat always to shoot a low number.
This isn’t Thompson’s first time in contention this season. In Arizona it looked for a bit like we were in for a duel between Lexi and Nelly Korda, but Thompson made a crucial mistake, hitting in the water on hole 16. She still finished third, her best finish by far in a season where she has missed five out of seven cuts.
Thompson’s last victory on the LPGA Tour came in June, 2019 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. She has fallen to No. 60 in the Rolex Rankings and is already coming off the worst season of her career. A win today wouldn’t just be huge for a confidence boost, but it could be the last time we see one of the most iconic modern LPGA Tour players hoist a trophy.
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