Lexi Thompson has experienced more than her share of heartaches in major championships through the years. She has only win in the LPGA Tour’s Big Five among her 11 career victories, while there are 10 top-four finishes—some of them with the 30-year-old coming excruciatingly close before making crucial mistakes down the stretch on Sunday.
MORE: Lexi Thompson’s group put on clock as she rose into contention
After two strong rounds in difficult conditions in Texas at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and tied for fourth, Thompson went into this weekend with legitimate hopes to lift that second major trophy.
After just one brutal, nearly inexplicable hole on Saturday, that became a long shot.
With the wind howling on the East Course at PGA Frisco, Thompson hit her opening drive into the fairway at the par-5 first, and she then fell into a couple of mistakes that would look familiar to the average golfer. With a fairway wood, she cold-topped her second shot, with a mic catching Thompson telling her caddie that the wind knocked her off balance.
But Thompson then compounded that when she all but shanked her third shot into the thick brush. The ball was lost, and Thompson had to try another approach (her fifth stroke), this time hitting onto the green, only to see the ball bounce hard and roll down a slope. From there, she tried a putt that came up about 20 feet short of the flag, and two putts later Thompson was writing down an 8 that dropped her from two under overall to 1 over.
Thompson’s difficulties weren’t over; she also bogeyed the second to fall seven shots behind early third-round leader Jeeno Thitikul.
The blustery day was challenging everyone. Five players who went out early shot 80 or worse, and there were only three players in red numbers overall as the leaders played the front nine.
Under the circumstances, Australian Grace Kim produced a remarkable round, shooting a four-under 68 to climb 55 spots and into a tie for 13th.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
