Lexi Thompson

source; womenplayball.com



I generally do not cover much in my blog about the LPGA Tour but wanted to include this post about Lexi Thompson.  Coming off a weekend where Michelle Wie captured her first major championship victory many other bloggers are writing about her and deservedly so.  She deserved to win and played a great US Open championship.  However, Lexi Thompson is playing great and for such a young player she continues to stand out.  I first watched her play last fall in the Solheim Cup and was immediately impressed.  She plays a fearless, aggressive style of golf.  The style of golf most great champions play.  The style of golf that wins major championships not “The Screen Door Open” as Lee Trevino would say. 

At the Kraft Nabisco Championship this spring she sprang to the top of the leaderboard in impressive style.  That is when I first noticed “the look”.  When Raymond Floyd was in his prime he had “the stare”.  That is what I liken Lexi’s look to.  They say the window to the soul is through the eyes.  If that is the case then I think the LPGA tour better pay very close attention to this young lady.  Not only is she one of the longest players on tour, she is one of the most aggressive. She hits driver where others layup, she attacks pins instead of aiming for the middle of the green and she is out there to hole putts.  Now this style of play sometimes backfires on days when the player’s timing is slightly off.  People might say that she is just young and that her game will mature.  That she will learn how to manage the course and her game better.  That may be true and there is no doubt she will continue to progress as a professional.  What stands out to me though is the internal drive and desire to win.  She possesses a competitive spirit that cannot be taught by a swing guru or sports psychologist.  These are intangibles that make a player not just good but great.  That is what I see in her stare.  The fact that she has this look while under pressure during a major championship says a lot. 

I can think of a few other great champions who had an intense stare under pressure; Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson.  I am not trying to compare her career to these great professionals.  What I am saying is that if you watch Lexi closely the next time she is on TV; keep an eye out for the stare.  I think that stare is an expression that’s says, here I come, I am playing to win and I will do whatever it takes to bring home this championship. 

It will be fun to watch Lexi mature as a champion and she if she can continue to translate this look into more wins.  I would be very surprised if it did not. Who knows she may be the next American player to hold the #1 in world ranking.



Wie wins the Canadian Open

Michelle Wie has been on the “golf scene” for a very long time. Although she is in her early twenties she has been playing golf on a national stage since she was twelve years old. She has a huge amount of natural talent, has a long flowing golf swing and untapped potential. She has been on the LPGA tour since 2005 and the win yesterday was only her second victory. So, why has she not won more?


I believe she has not won more because she is still learning how to win. As the old saying goes “winning breeds winning.” Golfers like all competitive athletes need to learn how to win when the pressure is on. Michelle Wie is not exempt from that stage in her professional development. If you look back at Tiger Woods amateur career for lessons on how to learn to win he is the role model. Who can forget the three US Amateur titles he captured and in stunning fashion. In all three US Amateur finals (36 holes) he was behind at some point in the match. In all three cases he came back to win. He learned how to win at an early age and that development provided him the confidence and belief that he carries with him on the PGA Tour today.

Michelle on the other hand did not have this same opportunity, why? Very simple, her parents did not allow her career to develop naturally. As a teenager when she should have been playing on Junior events, she was playing in the PGA Tours Sony Open. Instead of learning how to dominate as a junior player she was being asked to compete with the best male golfers in the world. One could argue that the experience she received by playing on the PGA tour made her better. To some degree that may be true, however, it did not teach her how to win.

Being competitive and playing well is one thing, winning is another. To win you need to be able to handle the pressure of the moment. A player must hit quality golf shots late in the round on the final day when it matters most. Those elements of a player’s development only come from putting themselves in that situation time and again. For Michelle, she just did not have enough of those opportunities as a young player. However, she has begun the process and is showing the world she does know how to win.

Next year she graduates from Stanford and will be able to pursue professional golf full time. All I have to say is watch out LPGA because if she focuses on playing that tour full time she is going to be a force.

(Getty Images)