Once a golf prodigy, retiring Lexi Thompson embraces ‘sense of relief’

“The experience of a lifetime,” Thompson said Monday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, where the six-time member of the American team attended media day roughly eight weeks before the Solheim Cup comes back to American soil in Gainesville, Va., in the shadow of the nation’s capital, Sept. 13-15.

In the decade-plus since her inaugural Solheim Cup, Thompson, 29, has navigated the pinnacles and pitfalls of stardom during her ascent to becoming among the most popular players on the LPGA Tour. She has regularly drawn the largest galleries and has volunteered more time than most interacting with fans and young autograph seekers.

Her journey has included winning a major championship in 2014 at the Kraft Nabisco. Then 19, Thompson was the second-youngest major champion, finishing three strokes ahead of runner-up Michelle Wie, who also commanded the spotlight as a teenager

Before that, at the 2011 LPGA Classic, Thompson set a record as the youngest player to win a tournament on the LPGA Tour at 16 years 7 months 8 days. In 2007, at 12, Thompson was the youngest player at the time to qualify for a U.S. Women’s Open.

These days, Thompson is on track to be the elder stateswoman for the United States in its quest to wrest back the Solheim Cup following consecutive losses and a 14-14 tie last year in Spain that allowed Europe to retain the title. The United States has not won the Solheim Cup since 2017, the longest American drought since the tournament’s inception in 1990.

“Definitely one where I feel like I can tell her anything, and it’s not going to affect how she plays,” U.S. captain Stacy Lewis said of Thompson. “She’s not going to be worried about things, and you can definitely tell that she tends to — she kind of bonds more with the captains than she does even with some of the players just because she’s used to being around us so much. She’s just one I can ask her opinion, and she’s going to give me an honest opinion, and she knows it stays between us, but it helps me make decisions.”

With a handful of events left until the qualifying period concludes, Thompson is not among the current automatic qualifiers. But Lewis has made it clear that Thompson’s lengthy track record at the Solheim Cup, plus her recent upswing, make her an invaluable addition.

Two players already have qualified mathematically for the United States: world No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Lilia Vu. The top seven in the U.S. Solheim Cup standings and the two highest-ranked players in the world rankings who haven’t otherwise qualified earn automatic bids.

The final three players are captain’s selections revealed after the Women’s British Open in August.

“I’m selfishly glad she’s sticking around for one more,” said Lewis, who played a round with Thompson on Sunday at Robert Trent Jones. “I keep harping on it, but what she did last year in Spain, from the way she was playing and how she worked on her game and got it ready and went out there and played some unbelievable golf in Spain, there’s nobody else on the team that could have done that, so her leadership — she’s not the one that’s going to give the rah-rah speech, but she leads by the way she does things, the way she prepares and the way she handles the fans and the moments.”

Thompson went 3-1 at last year’s Solheim, highlighted by a 2-and-1 victory over Denmark’s Emily Pedersen in the final pairing during Sunday singles. She has participated in 23 career matches, the seventh most for an American, with a 2-1-3 record in singles.

Thompson also was at the center of a tense exchange with media members in Spain after being asked about a mis-hit at the 18th in Friday fourball that led to a point for Europe. A little more than eight months later, in May, Thompson again was facing cameras a day before the U.S. Women’s Open with a stunning announcement that she would be retiring from a full-time schedule at the end of the year.

In remarks during which she wiped away tears, Thompson revealed her decision had to do partly with the demands of playing professionally since she was 16. She cited mental health as a contributing factor, particularly in the age of social media.

Thompson missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open and in her next three events but finished tied for third and tied for 16th in two of her three most recent starts. She said she has played with a less cluttered head since her declaration regarding her future on the LPGA Tour.

“It’s been a lot, but all for the good,” said Thompson, who is ranked No. 33 in the world with a career high of No. 2. “I’ve had 100 percent support from players, friends and family, and that’s all I could ask for. Didn’t really know what to expect, but at the same time it’s something that had been on my mind for a little bit of time now, so a sense of relief of just not having to go out there and do it week in and week out, just retiring from a full-time schedule, give myself the time to have a life outside of the golf course.”