Lexi Thompson became the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event on Thursday in Las Vegas, Nev., at the Shriners Children’s Open, and currently sits at 1-over through 16 holes, a round that had seen her make one double bogey, two bogeys and three birdies before play was suspended at TPC Summerlin due to darkness.
The 28-year-old began her day with a 302-yard drive on the first hole, making par to kick off her PGA Tour debut and grabbing her first birdie on the par-5 2nd hole, burying a nearly 23-foot birdie putt to move to 1-under. She bogeyed the next to drop back to even, rattling off three consecutive pars on holes 4, 5 and 6 before making double bogey on the par-4 7th hole. Thompson made another bogey on the 8th, finding her footing once again with a birdie on the par-5 9th hole that saw her hit the green in two and two-putt to turn in 37.
The major champion played steady on the back nine, parring holes 10, 11 and 12 before picking up her third birdie of the day on the par-5 13th hole, nearly finding the green in two, chipping up to seven feet and draining her birdie putt to get back to 1-over. She made three routine pars on 14, 15 and 16, splashing it out of the greenside bunker on the par-3 17th hole to 20 feet before play was suspended at 6:15 p.m. local time due to darkness.
It was an impressive effort that saw Thompson hit four drives of 300 yards or further, one of which went 316 yards on the par-4 4th hole, and despite not getting to finish her first round, the 11-time LPGA Tour winner was pleased with her Thursday performance in Vegas and is relishing the opportunity to get to play in front of incredibly supportive crowds.
“It's been great so far this whole week. Everybody has been so welcoming, and just a huge honor to be able to tee it up here,” said Thompson, who is the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since Brittany Lincicome teed it up in the 2018 Barbasol Championship. “There's more to it than just golf. Shriners does amazing things for these kids, so I'm happy to be out here and supporting them in any way I can. I played decent. I had one bad hole and a few iffy shots. But it's golf. It was kind of expected.
“The fans were amazing. So many people around that first tee and then following us those next few holes. It was great, especially to see those little kids out there. The fans make the game, and that's why we continue to play and hopefully grow it.”
Play will resume at 7:45 a.m. local time on Friday morning with 12 players needing to complete the first round. The second round will begin as scheduled at 6:50 a.m. Thompson will tee off at 8:29 a.m. on No. 10.
Inspiring others ❤️@ShrinersOpen patient ambassador, Gianna, was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, which led to getting her leg amputated at just 16 months old.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 13, 2023
This week, she got some tips and tricks on the range from @Lexi Thompson 👏 pic.twitter.com/n4ZR20BdVJ
)
)
)
)
