By Brian Wacker/Golf Digest US
Justin Thomas called it a joke.
Bryson DeChambeau said he didn’t want to hit his next shot.
Smylie Kaufman couldn’t get anywhere close.
They were talking about Lexi Thompson’s approach from 217 yards with a 5-iron on the par-5 17th at Tiburon Golf Club that settled just seven feet from the hole to set up an easy eagle. That, after her tee shot traveled 305 yards.
As Thompson walked off the green someone in the gallery shouted, “Girl power!”
From 200+ to 6 feet.
(She even finished off the eagle).@Lexi Thompson had the #ShotOfTheDay https://t.co/aeKpH1Dr27
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 9, 2016
The atmosphere at the Franklin Templeton Shootout on Thursday was decidedly un-intense compared to 2003 at Colonial when Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to tee it up with the men in a PGA Tour event since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945. This tournament is unofficial and features a relaxed mixed format (a scramble in the opening round) with a small field of just 24 players divided into two-person teams on an easy golf course.
But Thompson, who prepared for this by playing the last few weeks from the tips at 7,326-yard Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach with her two pro-golfer brothers, 24-year-old Curtis, who is on the Web.com Tour, and 33-year-old Nicholas, who has spent a decade on the PGA Tour, held her own and then some.
More than once, Thompson stuck her approach shots closer than DeChambeau and others in the group. She also rolled the ball well and helped her team to a 10-under 62, one stroke better than the team of Thomas and Kaufman.
“I was definitely a little nervous over the first tee shot,” she said. “I just tried to focus on my own game and not try to over-swing or try to hit it too far. I had a lot of long irons from ya
