Lexi Thompson was in total control of the final round at 76th Women’s U.S. Open — until she wasn’t.
On a sunny San Francisco Sunday afternoon, America’s most popular female player, performed like a major champion for 10 holes at the Olympic Club — but the final eight holes turned into a nightmarish, soul-crushing collapse for the 26-year-old star and opened the door for eventual winner Yuka Saso and Nasa Hataoka to fight it out in a playoff.
Thompson started the final round at seven-under par after an impressive 66 on Saturday, the only bogey-free round of the tournament. She had the momentum and the crowds behind her. She then went out and birdied the opening hole but even that birdie gave a foreshadowing of what might lie ahead. She had just nine feet for eagle and she missed the center of the putter by a good half-inch on the eagle attempt, hitting if toward the toe of the putter, producing a shaky roll.
Nerves?
It sure looked like Saso, who was paired with Thompson, had a bad case of the nerves as she double-bogeyed the second and third holes and by the turn, was five shots behind Thompson as Lexi shot one-under and was eight-under for the tournament heading to the final nine. A par at the 10th left Lexi five shots in front with eight holes to play.
Then the pressure of a major championship began to expose Thompson’s documented short-game weaknesses.
At the 11th, Lexi was 15 yards short of the green in two then made a hideous chunk of a pitch that didn’t even reach the putting surface. Her first putt left her a six-footer for bogey and she put an ugly stroke on that and walked off with double-bogey six — the first stage of her collapse had set in.
Suddenly, she was now only six-under, giving life to Saso and Hataoka.
A good par save at 11 left Thompson three ahead with six to play. At the short par three 13th, she hit a nine-iron to 10-feet but couldn’t make that birdie putt. At 14 she blocked her tee shot into the right rough, her second came up short and once again, her short game failed again and she suffered another bogey. After a par at the short par three 15th (132 yards), she had back-to-back par fives and they had been her strength all week.
But with the heat on, she failed to birdie 16 then her short game imploded again on the 17th resulting in a bogey. She missed a five-footer for her par, putting stroke so ugly on it that the ball didn’t come close the hole.
Visibly shaken, she managed to get an iron in the fairway at 18 but with just 109 yards to the hole, hit a wedge shot that came up so short it didn’t clear the front greenside bunker. From there she had virtually no chance. She got it to 10 feet but missed the putt, fell to three-under and squashed any hope of getting into a playoff.
Saso got to four-under with back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 and a nice par at 18 gave her a 35 coming home.
Hataoka finished in front of Saso and Thompson. After making the turn in one-under, she scored birdies at 13, 14 and 16 and closed with a 68, best round among any of the contenders. She posted four-under then saw Thompson collapse and Saso tie her.
The playoff was an aggregate of nine and 18, where both players went par-par. Then it went to sudden death and on the second trip up nine, Saso stuck her second to 10 feet and after Hataoka’s birdie bid from 30-feet missed, Saso drained hers and the 19-year-old from the Philippines became a major champion.
Afterwards, the teenager was nearly at a loss for words but recalled what happened after her two double-bogeys early in the round. “I was upset but my caddie told me ‘just keep going, there’s many holes to go.’ That’s what I did. Just thankful I’m here — unbelievable!”
Just as unbelievable was the woeful collapse by Lexi Thompson, who joined some big names who have experienced heartbreak at an Olympic Club’s U.S. Open — Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart.
Thompson declined to say anything after the loss.
She didn’t need to.
What can you say about a collapse of major proportion at a major championship?
6 Comments
baxter cepeda
Agree, nothing to be said.
The good news for Lexi is she did some of the best putting of her life for about 63 holes. And her attitude is way closer to where she was before she went to negative town some years ago.
I remember seeing Lexi at Koolina and saying she looked unhappy. No one believed it. Little by little it became evident. It’s understandable considering her mom was sick, then ANA, then heartbreaking missed putts, criticism, and so on.
She has been working on her happiness for a while and seems to be figuring it out. This finish will test that progress, but imo she will do better this time.
Lexi unfortunately went back to her bad habits putting with the pressure on. Her improved putting should help her stay happy. But she begs the ol chicken and the egg question: does good putting make golfers happy or does happiness lead to good putting?
Lexis mistakes didn’t seem like choking; at least not anymore than the other contenders. The eventual champ looked like she was done off the bat. Olympic was clearly Tough with a capital T.
Now no mention of the story of the championship. Ganne blew her chances immediately Sunday; but talk about no attitude or putting problems. What an awesome girl.
Not sure Ganne wasn’t the most popular player in that final group and for good reason. Some of the high school juniors shots from the rough weren’t just Lexi like, they reminded of Tiger at Pebbles 6th hole back in the day. And like Tiger she can putt… man can she putt for such a strong striker. And what a head on those shoulders. She is a true star in the making.
It was a marvelous event. And the best part is this weeks event is on another US Open type course. Great run for the lpga Tour.
Tom Edrington
I believe the USGA is going to find some of the classic venues that have grown too short for the men’s game; Lexi’s choke was on that pitch/chunk/whatever you want to call it on 11…..looked like a 16 handicapper on that shot and Bradel Chamblee confirmed what I thought I saw on the first green when she missed the center of the putter face and hit it well on the toe, the announcers didn’t want to admit it but Chamblee said what I believe, no way a high level professional misses the center of the putter-face and Lexi did right out of the blocks; Baxter, there’s an old saying that “Golf Knows What Scares You” and those little finesses short-game shots scare the living daylights out of Lexi and what did she end up having to hit? When she missed that five-footer at 17, that was a CHOKE, plain and simple, only because I’ve choked on a putt like that and I know what it looks like…..LOVE Ganne and everyone did, she threw away a lot of shots but when the heat was on and she had to produce to win low amateur by a shot, she produced and made some SWEET putts…..young nerves (no nerves).
baxter cepeda
No doubt, golf seems to test players weakness unproportionally. Lexis attitude and putting and nerves certainly proved that theory.
Nerves got Ganne also. Nerves got Saso. Nerves got everyone at some point. It’s a very nervy golf course.
Lexi was definitely leaking oil down the stretch. And I’m not arguing that some choking occurred…I’m just saying it wasn’t much more than everyone else including the eventual champ.
So many of the women in contention choked so early they actually gave themselves time to settle down.
Shen Shen as usual didn’t even know the score but even she seemed to feel the heat. ‘Jenny money’ makes plenty money but fearing the leaderboard constantly hurts her chances to win. She doesn’t even want to be in a position to be ‘money’; as in know what she has to do and go out an do it.
It definitely looks like —like spieth and Phil and so many other stars — Lexis game is back. As Lexi Putts herself in contention more often; she will be more prepared to finish the job.
Tom Edrington
Baxter: I’m contemplating writing a bit about this…..two HUGE child prodigies — Lexi and Wie, Wie was so hyped but in the end, only five total wins including the one US Open, I think if you offered that bet out there when she was 16 and bet that she’d accomplish that little, victory-wise, you’d made a PILE of money; Same for Lexi, I believe one thing that hampers her wedge game is she’s a “gouger” and when the heats on, a “gouger” can have their wedge shots come up short, a bit on the fat side — the opposite of the old adage — thin to win. I think you know enough to tell your aspiring young ladies that it’s better to miss a shot a bit thin than fat…..No excuse for the third shot into 17 and the second into 18….horrendous! Simple as that.
baxter cepeda
I do know that.
I also know—as you know— golf guarantees you NOtHINg!
What folks predicted for Wie (and other prodigies) is the vein of their existence. No matter what they do people will not be pleases because they didn’t become “the next Tiger Woods”. Prognosticators seems to hold this against top going players.
I have met Wie, talked about many of these things.
As Gump said, shit happens. Wie truly has had wrist issues —her dad warns families against hitting off mats.
Lexi has deal with mental anxiety.
Lexi and Wie were never great putters.
While there were many signs some players would be great; people often miss the weaknesses.
It happens in many sports but for great young golfers Are always expected to be the next Tiger —no fault of his own of course— and this putts too much pressure on them, or let’s their head get too big, or causes them to work to hard living up to expectations.
It is often the prognosticators who criticize players for not reaching their predictions, but they don’t keep in mind that if can often be their predictions and criticism that derail players, as happened to Lexi and Wie. Both these women have been strong as they can be dealing with all of this.
At the end of the day wie and Lexi have had amazing careers. If no one ever predicted anything maybe they would have been greater yet.
Again what I’ve learned Golf guarantees no one anything. And most golf prognosticators are just not as good as they think they are.
We all need to learn to stop adding stress to an already stressful sport. Then maybe these kids can have a chance reach their potential…or out predictions.
Tom Edrington
IS think folks have finally gotten past anyone being “The Next Tiger”…..not happening anytime soon, say in the next 20 years or so