Lexi Thompson emotionally unveils retirement plan at U.S. Girls’s Open

At simply 29 years outdated, Lexi Thompson, one of many faces of the LPGA Tour, will name it quits after the 2024 golf season.

Set to make her 18th look on the U.S. Girls’s Open this week at Lancaster Nation Membership, Thompson feels assured in her resolution.

“I really feel like I’m at some extent in my life the place it’s time to step away from a full-time schedule,” Thompson stated.

“There are extra issues to life than going to a event each week and doing the identical coaching day-after-day. There’s simply extra to it, and I’m wanting ahead to experiencing that. I really feel very content material with the place my life is and the place this resolution will lead me. I’m simply wanting ahead to what life has in retailer aside from golf.”

Thompson has been within the highlight for almost her total life.

She first certified for the U.S. Girls’s Open in 2007 on the age of 12, the youngest to ever accomplish that on the time. She shortly rose to notoriety quickly after her main championship debut, turning skilled in 2010. She then made her first LPGA begin in 2011 and went on to win 11 instances, together with the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship—her solely main title to this point.

That 12 months, her win at Mission Hills made her the second youngest main champion in ladies’s golf historical past on the age of 19.

Photograph by David Cannon/Getty Pictures

However within the years since, Thompson has usually felt uncomfortable within the limelight. She has not received on the LPGA since 2019 and has battled varied accidents on and off.

She has had some psychological struggles, too. In 2018, she took a month off, citing a necessity for a break. She additionally admitted to not feeling like herself at that juncture.

“Being out right here generally is a lot. It may be lonely,” Thompson stated Tuesday, preventing again tears.

“Lots of people don’t understand what we undergo as an expert athlete. I’ll be the final one to say throw me a pity celebration. That’s the very last thing I need. We’re doing what we love. We’re making an attempt our greatest each single day. However you recognize, we’re not excellent. We’re people. Phrases damage. It’s onerous to beat typically.”

Many individuals figured Thompson would go on to win a number of main championships and shortly develop into one of many sport’s biggest gamers. However as golf followers know, this sport has its trials and tribulations, usually irritating a participant as a rule.

No surprise why the nice Bobby Jones as soon as stated that “golf is performed on a five-inch course—the gap between your ears.”

Nonetheless, within the age of social media, with the digital camera all the time on, a poor efficiency or a weeks-long stoop can result in diminished confidence and inner dilemmas onerous to outline.

“Everyone out right here has their very own struggles. That’s what I all the time say. Simply don’t choose anyone since you don’t know what they’re going by means of and what they’ve happening of their thoughts and their coronary heart, and simply be light with them,” Thompson stated.

Photograph by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures

“I believe all of us have our personal struggles, particularly out right here. Sadly, in golf, you lose greater than you win, so it’s an ongoing battle to proceed to place your self on the market in entrance of the cameras and proceed to work onerous and perhaps not see the outcomes you need and get criticized for it. So it’s onerous.”

Thompson had been mulling over this resolution for months. However her profession began on the U.S. Girls’s Open, so she felt obligated to make issues a full-circle second this week in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

But, she did go away the door open to taking part in some occasions sooner or later—simply not a full-time schedule.

“I’m taking it daily proper now. I’m not going to say sure or no on what number of occasions I’ll play or if I do,” Thompson stated.

“I’m simply going to take it daily and see how I really feel, particularly going into subsequent 12 months. However I’m very content material with this being my final full-time schedule 12 months.”

Maybe she is going to proceed to play on this event sooner or later. Maybe not.

Both method, Thompson leaves an enduring legacy stuffed with generosity and empathy. Look no additional than final fall, when she nearly made the lower on the Shriners Youngsters’s Open in Las Vegas.

Photograph by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Pictures

Regardless of lacking the weekend, Thompson was nonetheless the star of the present. Not due to her play, however due to her compassion to everybody there. She let sufferers of the Shriners Youngsters’s Hospital community design her golf bag. Thompson signed numerous autographs and spent ample time with dozens of kids, too.

However the factor about Thompson is that she does this wherever she goes. It doesn’t matter what her rating, her outcome, or the quantity of birdies she makes, Thompson will all the time be one of many favorites on the LPGA, not due to her achievements on the golf course, however due to her persona off of it.

She shined by means of the ups and downs throughout a troublesome period to return of age so early on. So, contemplating that she made 18 appearances on the greatest occasion in ladies’s golf earlier than her thirtieth birthday, maybe this announcement just isn’t so stunning. Regardless, no less than Thompson can get pleasure from herself in retirement, the place absolutely, the strain will subside, and her smile will proceed to shine.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. You should definitely try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.