Lexi Shows Why We Need More Women on The PGA Tour

AND so what did we learn from Lexi Thompson’s performance at the Shriners Children's Open?

Well, we discovered something many of us already knew - she hits the ball a long way. And I don’t mean that she hits the ball a long way for a woman. Thompson can mix it with the best of them.

We also found out that spectators genuinely want to see women competing on level terms with the PGA Tour’s finest. The DP World Tour stages a couple of mixed tournaments but in those the women play from forward tees. Not Thomspon. She was hitting from the same spot that everybody else in the field was.

She missed the cut not because she was out of her depth but because she has been struggling with her game for some time. Her most recent win on the LPGA was more than four years ago.

But Thompson is a class act. She looked to be dead and buried after an opening round of 73, two over par, that had to be completed on Friday after she ran out of daylight.

Starting at the 10th, things got worse when she started her second round with a bogey.

But, followed by a large crowd who were willing her on, Thompson then birdied five of the next 10 holes to get to two under par and inside the cut line. She also threw in a 314-yard drive for good measure.

Sadly, it was not to be and two dropped shots took her back to level par. But she finished with a 69 and enjoyed the experience.

As she came off the final green a young girl asked her to sign a golf ball. Then, a hat, a shirt and a flag. Then, she asked for a selfie. Thompson happily obliged. 

Soon after, about six older women called out, “Do you sign for senior women, too?” She spent the next 20 minutes doing the rounds, smiling through what was surely a tinge of disappointment. 

Thompson came to the Children’s Shriners with the spotlight on her regardless of how she played. She was just the seventh woman to compete in a PGA Tour event. 

And the scene that greeted her after the various media interviews was evidence of the impact she made. So were the galleries that followed her play, which several Tour pros remarked were the largest of any they saw all week.

“Seeing the people out there and hearing the cheers and seeing all the little kids, that's what I play for,” Thompson said. “I think I said that on the last hole. A little kid screamed out, ‘Go Lexi, you're great,’ and that just makes my day. No matter what I'm shooting, I could shoot 80, and they'd be like, you did great. That's what it's all about.”

Perhaps including Thompson in the field was a publicity stunt but she proved that the world’s best women can compete and I hope we get to see more.