Which Lexi Thompson will it be at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open?
The one who has missed the cut in two of her last four starts? Or the one who has top-4 finishes in the other two starts during that stretch?
“It's been a little bit of an up-and-down season so far. I've had some really good tournaments where my game has fallen in together, and some off weeks,” Thompson said Tuesday. “I didn't play so good last week in Virginia, but I got to go home for two days and really work hard on my game with my dad. So my game feels like it's in a good spot.”
Thompson is making her 13th start in the U.S. Women’s Open, contested this year at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.). Considering she is only 24 years old, that’s quite a stat.
Thompson made her USWO debut in 2007, missing the cut as a 12-year-old. She remembers well how distance – not an issue in her current game – was a big factor as a pre-teen competing in the national championship.
“I can reach the fairways now. When I was 12, I couldn't reach the fairways,” she said. “I was aiming for the mowed strips walking up to them.”
Though Thompson has competed in this event more so than any other in her decorated career, she hasn’t had a great deal of success. Thompson has only three top-10s. Her best result, however, came last year at Shoal Creek Golf Club (T-5).
Thompson addressed the media on Tuesday in Charleston and one of the topics centered on her return to social media, following a brief break.
“Honestly, I mean, I love social media in a way that I get to reach out to my fans, give them an inside look of what my training's like, what my practicing is like, or even my life off the golf course – that I'm a normal 24-year-old girl. I love giving an insight of my life to fans that look up to me or just are interested. So that way, I love social media,” she said.
“But the break was definitely needed. I think now I'm just posting and not really looking at the comments and everything. Just trying to look at the positive of everything.
“It wasn't really one thing [that led to the hiatus]. It was just a matter of people not looking so much at the positive that was going on or how hard I was working. I think that's what people don't really realize, how much we sacrifice, how much we put into the game as athletes in general. We're not perfect. We're human beings, and we're going to have bad weeks, bad seasons. We're not robots. They can't expect that much from us.”