Published: November 04, 2009 11:45 pm      

Something special

Fourteen-year-old ‘Lexi’ Thompson may be the next big star on LPGA Tour

In men’s golf, when someone mentions “Tiger,” we know who they mean. In women’s golf, the next big first-name-only star may be “Lexi.”

All 14-year-old Alexis “Lexi” Thompson has done this year is win the prestigious South Atlantic Ladies Amateur, finish 21st at the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship after receiving a special invitation to play in one of the women’s major championships, and make the cut for the first time and finish 34th at the U.S. Women's Open.

This week she’s leading an American team determined to win again at The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, being played through Saturday at the Whispering Pines Golf Club near Trinity.

In her first round Wednesday she accounted for four of her four-person team’s 10 points.

“I hit it pretty good — hit my driver pretty well,” the home-schooled ninth-grader from Coral Springs, Fla., said after the round. “My irons were not as good and my putting was off, but that was just alignment. I can get better.”

And did she ever drive it well.

Playing with teammate Jennifer Johnson, who’s taking time off from her studies as a freshman at Arizona State, and two Italian ladies aged 19 and 25, she was way out front on most drives, usually by 10 to 20 yards.

Hole 14 at Whispering Pines may be the most scenic of several stunning finishing holes, with a huge pine that you can either aim to the right of, and play safe, or go left of with a longer carry over Caney Creek.

Everyone else in her group went right of the pine and had shots of about 120 yards to the hole. Thompson took the shortcut, over the creek to within 60 yards on the tight 348-yard hole.

Lexi looks a lot older than 14, to be sure. She has a gym in her home, works with a personal trainer two days a week, and does other strength and conditioning drills on her own. She admits to being 5-9, but says she doesn’t like to tell her weight.

Whispering Pines head pro Chris Rowe described her pretty well to a friend as they watched her play the seventh hole.

“If she played Little League baseball they’d ask her for a birth certificate,” Rowe said, “because she looks 18.”

Paula Creamer, the USA team captain, has already competed against Lexi, and thinks tournaments like the LPGA majors and The Spirit International will only help her psychological maturity, even though she already seems physically mature.

“She understands the game, and has been playing for a long time,” Creamer said.

Lexi started at the age of 5. Creamer said she didn’t get serious about the game until she was 14.

“Being able to play on the big stages will help,” Creamer said. “This is certainly one of them. Any time you get to represent your country, it means you’re one of the best.”

In addition to her length, one of Lexi’s other traits that showed several times during the round was aggressiveness. With the Whispering Pines greens rolling at a fast 13 Stimpmeter rating, on several shots her pin-seeking irons were just off the backs of greens.

On the par-5 17th, she was the only one in her group who went for the green on her second shot, but pulled it left and faced a long bunker shot with only 15-20 feet of green between it and the flag. It was her toughest shot of the day, but she got it to within 25 feet and made a downhill putt for birdie.

For awhile it looked like the U.S. women’s team was not going to get much help from the men, who eventually rallied to add four birdies of their own for a combined team total of 10 and a tie for second.

Chinese Taipei leads at 14 under.

As the U.S. girls began their back nine, a veteran Houston caddie named Peanut, who knew Jimmy Demaret and Jackie Burke, was in their small gallery. He had caddied in previous Spirit tournaments and has a feel for how momentum sometimes swings.

“They’re doing their part,” Peanut summarized, “but the boys ain’t doing nothing. The boys is scufflin’.”

That was about the time the boys had just bogeyed a couple of holes and before two late-round chip-ins assured that they would not be banned from the Camp Olympia supper table.

As she watched the boys finish their round, Thompson talked about how much she enjoyed the game and how parents and grandparents could make sure their young golfers have the best chance to be successful.

“Make it fun for them,” she said. “Help them out. Teach them to not give up. You’ve got to be patient with golf.”

And after nine years of intensive training, does she still look forward to playing the game?

“Golf has meant a lot,” she said. “I know it was what I was meant to do. I just love the game.”

And what about her future.

“I want to be on the tour when I grow up,” she said, chuckling perhaps to think that she is still growing, “but I don’t know when.”

Her becoming eligible to accept paychecks is an event that Spirit captain Creamer may hope doesn’t happen for some time to come.