Time for America’s Golf Sweetheart to grab the spotlight.
Time for America’s Golf Sweetheart to bring her “A” game to Naples.
It’s Lexi Thompson time at the Tiburon Club.
Time for the world’s No. 4, America’s No. 1, to take what is rightfully hers.
Time for Lexi to win the Race To The CME Globe.
It won’t be easy, never is.
Lexi comes into this huge event rested and boosted by some great news her family has received.
“We got the news about a few months ago,” said Thompson, whose mother and best friend, Judy has been declared cancer-free after a being diagnosed with uterine cancer last June. “ She went through all the radiation treatments and has been cleared. It’s great to have her here, along with a lot of other family members that will be coming throughout the week,” Lexi said after she arrived in Naples.
Lexi is also well-rested, she skipped the past two weeks on the Asian swing and is ready for a huge challenge in front of her.
Here’s how the CME points race shakes out going into this Tour Championship:
Lexi Thompson: 5,000 points; Sung Hyun Park: 4,750 points; Shanshan Feng: 4,500 points; So Yeon Ryu: 4,250 points and Brooke Henderson: 4,000 points.
The math is simple, those five control their destinies this week. Lexi has the tall task of beating them all. If any of the four behind her win, they take the CME.
There’s more at stake. Winner of the CME Globe get a $1 million bonus, chump change compared to the $10 million that FedEx drops on the men’s winner over on the PGA Tour, but still, a huge deal for the women. Winner of this final tournament gets $625,000, official money, the $1 million isn’t, another wacky LPGA rule, go figure.
Rolex Player Of The Year honors are at stake, so is the Vare Trophy for low scoring average.
It’s been and up-and-down emotional roller coaster for Lexi this season. She won twice and finished second five times, losing in three playoffs. She had a major (the ANA) stolen from her by golf’s first-ever four-shot penalty. She’s leading the scoring average race with a remarkable 69.147. Credit her work on her needy short game.
Thompson devoted her 2016 offseason to her short game, saying she spent upwards of three hours a day working on her chipping and putting.
“I don’t really pay attention to stats and everything. My dad does, but I don’t,” said Thompson. “I really just go on how I feel with my game throughout rounds. I know where I missed putts, where I need to improve on, where I didn’t get up and down or anything like that. I think it’s the same things I need to work on this offseason, but maybe tighten up my ball striking even more.”
With her mom in the gallery, Lexi will be paired the first two rounds with those pushing her the most — Park and Feng. Park and Feng have swapped the No. 1 ranking in women’s golf the past two weeks with Feng No. 1 this week.
So when you consider all she’s been through this year, Lexi should be in a pretty good frame of mind when play starts on Thursday.
“It’s definitely been an up-and-down year,” Thompson said after a practice round this week. “A lot of things have gone on. A lot of positives to take from the year. I would say throughout the whole year, I’ve learned how strong I am, on and off the golf course, with what I’ve been through and how I’ve handled things.”
Now she has just one more task in front of her.
Time to get out the “A” game and let the rest see how good she can be.
