NAPLES, Fla. – Friday, Lexi Thompson stood on the first tee at the par 5, first hole and piped her drive straight down the fairway at the 573 yard hole. The tee box was more than 40 yards behind the one she hit from just three weeks ago at Tiburón Golf Club when she won the LPGA’s season ending event, the CME Group Tour Championship. Tony Finau, her teammate at this week’s QBE Shootout, pointed at her drive as it sailed through the air and smiled in approval.
“Lexi has quite a group doesn’t she?” a volunteer marveled out loud while manning the ropes at the first tee. Thompson had the largest following he saw all day.
Friday, Thompson and Finau shot 61 to sit at 11-under par after day one at the team competition. They’re two behind the teams of Brian Harmon and Patton Kizzire and Emiliano Grillo and Graeme McDowell, who shot 59 on Friday.
“She hit it in play every hole, which takes a lot of pressure off me off the tee,” Finau said. “It changes my strategy a little bit, but we ham-and-egged it nicely out there and happy with the way we played.”
The format on day one was a scramble. Playing at 7,382 yards, which is 826 yards longer than the track Thompson won on in November, the team took the majority of Finau’s drives and approach shots. But Thompson, who played from the same tees as the men, more than contributed on the greens. She rolled in a 30-footer for birdie at the third hole and added another for birdie at the fourth hole to contribute to her team’s four consecutive birdies out the gate.
“It's certainly a bit different going from 6,500 yards to 7,400 yards,” Thompson said about the longer layout. “But I always like a challenge. I grew up playing with my older brothers and going all the way back to the tips with them. Kind of used to it, but it's still a big challenge.”
The pair played with the team of Harold Varner III and Bubba Watson. Saturday’s round will be a modified alternate shot format.
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