LPGA Tour: Lexi Thompson held her emotions in until she made her way down the ninth fairway on Sunday at Tiburón Golf Club.
It was her last time competing as a full-time member of the LPGA Tour, and when she came to the last tee box of her final round at the CME Group Tour Championship, Thompson was struggling to keep the feelings in, trying as hard as she could to hold it together and get up and down for par.
But once that last putt fell in and she hugged her playing competitors, Lexi finally let it all go, and the tears really started to pour when she was presented with a bouquet of pink roses and hugged her family, friends and trusty pup Leo, those who have always meant the most to Thompson in life.
“It’s always a special week, regardless if it was my last tournament (with) a full-time schedule or not,” said Thompson after her round. “I always have so much family and friends, and the fans are unbelievable here. It’s kind of a hometown event, being from Florida, so (it’s) always held a special place in my heart.
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“I’m truly blessed to have the people around me that I do, whether it’s family, friends, loved ones. Just everybody. I am so grateful every day I have them because I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them.”
Thompson announced her plans to step away from full-time professional golf earlier this year at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. Sharing that news was another intensely emotional moment for the 29-year-old, as it is for many athletes who decide to hang it up and call it quits on a pro career, but considering she had been thinking about dialing it back for the last few years, it was a choice that Lexi was finally ready to make. LPGA Tour
“It’s my 14th year. I’m not going to sit here and say it hasn’t crossed my mind in the past few years, but I feel like I’m at a point in my life where it is time to step away from a full-time schedule,” Thompson said in a press conference announcing her full-time retirement. “There are more things to life than going to a tournament every week and doing the same training every day. There’s just more to it, and I’m looking forward to experiencing that. I feel like I’m very content with where my life is and where this decision will lead me to. I’m just looking forward to what life has in store other than golf.”
Since telling the golf world she’d be stepping away in May, Lexi has got to have an extended farewell tour, one that has seen her play some pretty solid golf and allowed her to say so long to fans all across the globe who have cherished and admired Lexi since her public golf career began as a baby-faced 12-year-old at the U.S. Women’s Open. LPGA Tour
The Dana Open recognized Thompson by having “Lexi Thompson Day” on Friday of tournament week, encouraging fans to wear pink to honor the 11-time LPGA Tour winner and having a first-tee flyover ahead of Thompson’s second-round tee time.
She earned her first major championship top 10 since 2022 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club and got to compete in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the latter of which saw Lexi stop and have a moment on the Swilcan Bridge, something that all the game’s greats have gotten to do when playing for the final time at the Old Course.
But the highlight for Thompson in the six months since her announcement was winning the United States first Solheim Cup since 2017 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., alongside her 11 teammates and Captain Stacy Lewis, with whom Lexi has forged an incredible bond throughout her years competing on the LPGA Tour.
“It meant the world to me to be here and to be part of this team,” said Thompson after the Americans’ triumph over Europe. “These girls are incredible. Words can’t really describe the personalities on this team and the talent that each and every one of them has. From the beginning of the week, there was something about this team that was different. LPGA Tour
“The atmosphere, the energy from the team rooms to the bus rides to the first-tee experience, there was nothing like it, and how we all came together and had fun and played some amazing golf on top of it. It was great to be part of it.”
Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship was a culmination of not just Lexi’s last year as a full-time Tour member but in a way of her entire career, one that has run the gamut of highs and lows, tribulations and triumphs, successes and heartbreaks. And while she obviously was going to be feeling so much at the end of the final event of the 2024 season, those emotions told a much bigger story of just what Lexi has internalized over the years, of what she has had to deal with as one of the biggest names in all of golf.
“I think ever since I was super young, I have held a lot in,” Thompson said through tears at Tiburón Golf Club. “I think as athletes, you’re always told to be strong and be intimidating on the golf course. Don’t show any sign of weakness. I did it for a while, and it’s gotten to me sometimes. It’s hard. It’s not just me, it’s everybody that goes through a lot of things. It’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to hold in and let people in on your emotions. It’s kind of like the time I’m actually letting myself feel those emotions and actually be real.”
However, if you ask any fan for whom she has signed an autograph or with whom she has interacted over the years, Lexi has always been as genuine as they come, eager to leave a legacy of kindness and gratitude as she worked to grow the game of golf. And that, at the end of the day, is what the 29-year-old is most proud of as she looks back on everything she has accomplished throughout her entire golf career.
“Of course, the wins got me to what I am, the accomplishments and everything, but I wanted to leave a bigger impact as a role model, somebody who gave back to the game, somebody who made an impact on little girls and boys out here getting started in the game at a young age,” said Thompson. “Showing the way I give back to the people and the sponsors and everything, there are more important things than just playing good golf.”
Luckily for her fans, the CME Group Tour Championship isn’t the last time Thompson will compete at a professional level.
She is set to tee it up in the Grant Thornton Invitational in December alongside Rickie Fowler and has purposefully left the door cracked for a few potential tournaments in 2025, leaving herself the option to play in a few LPGA Tour events if she finds herself needing to scratch a competitive itch in the coming months.
But after competing at Tiburón Golf Club once again in a couple of weeks, Lexi is going to take some well-deserved time away from golf and the public eye. She turns 30 in February and has a laundry list of places she hopes to travel to, this time without her clubs in tow. She has been working on a new business venture with her Lexi Fitness app and is looking forward to spending more time with friends and family at home in Florida instead of racing from tournament to tournament each week on the LPGA Tour.
She is just excited to live a slower life, to get to sleep in and not have to get up and go straight to the golf course every morning to grind away at her craft like she has since she was five years old, to not have to worry about winning tournaments or qualifying for majors or performing at the highest of levels.
Lexi will finally get to just be, and she couldn’t be happier with that.
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