The Tribune

AFTER winning the Race to the CME Globe to cap one of her best years on tour, Lexi Thompson put her golf clubs away for a month this offseason to rest a strained left hand. Not that she wanted to do that.

“It was needed time off,” Thompson said Wednesday at the Ocean Club Golf Course on the eve of the $1.4 million Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. “Trust me, it about killed me. I was like, what do I do with myself. I still worked out and I had to be careful with my hand, but, yeah, it was tough – but it was needed. I just needed to shut down because I worked extremely hard last year.”

That hard work paid off as Thompson won twice and became the third winner of the crystal trophy and the accompanying $1 million prize that goes to the Race to the CME Globe winner, joining Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 and Lydia Ko in ‘15.

The Florida native won the Kingsmill Championship and the Indy Women in Tech Championship Presented by Guggenheim (the second despite battling the onset of her hand troubles) as part of a campaign in which she posted 10 top-10 finishes and won $1.87 million.

Thompson also claimed the Vare Trophy with a 69.114 scoring average, the fourth lowest in LPGA history.

Thompson, who turns 23 next month, has won at least once in five straight seasons, the longest current streak on the LPGA.

She also had a couple of near-misses, including at this event, where she shot a tournament-record 26-under 266 that included a career-low 61 in the second round on the Ocean Club at Atlantis Resort. However, Brittany Lincicome also came in with that aggregate score, one off the all-time LPGA record in relation to par, and then Lincicome birdied the first playoff hole to win the title.

“I would say I took more of the positives away,” Thompson said. “Last year was my best year yet just overall how consistent I was and just how I struck the ball and the putts that I made under pressure. There was a lot of positives to take from it and that’s really, when I came out of the year I got, I don’t know, six seconds and then a few wins and then the Solheim Cup win. It was a very memorable year. So you can’t look at the negatives with anything, you’ve just got to take the positives from every situation and go on.”

The positives are plentiful this week at the Ocean Club, where Thompson has that memory of her 61 on the par-73 layout.

“I was talking about it with my caddie Kevin [McAlpine] today. I believe I started on the back nine. I hit it over the green and I chipped in, then I made eagle on the next hole, then I went birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. I’m like, that’s all I remember,” Thompson said with a laugh. “I got on quite the roll, then the cameras started to come out and I went all right, I’m going on 59 watch, I guess. But yeah, it was definitely a memorable week.”

And she is looking forward to another one.

“I think we all really look forward to this tournament,” she said. “It’s run very well and it’s a great spot to be. Like I said, it’s hard to focus on golf when you’re on a few of these tee shots looking out to the water. It’s just a beautiful spot to be and we’re all just very grateful we’re able to come here and play in this event – and hopefully for more years to come

“It’s always nice to come back to the Bahamas and play here.”

The sixth annual Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic is the opening event on the LPGA schedule for the fourth time. Offering a purse of $1.4 million, the tournament features a field of 108 players from 24 countries that includes 15 major champions and 12 winners from the 2017 season (compared to 13 and seven, respectively, last year). Five of the top 10 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings – and four of the top five – are entered, led by No. 1 Shanshan Feng. Also in the field is No. 3 So Yeon Ryu, No. 4 Thompson and No. 5 I.K. Kim.

Golf Channel will provide 10 hours of live coverage beginning Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. EST. Live second-round coverage Friday also is 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., third-round coverage on Saturday is 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday’s live final round coverage will air 3-5 p.m.

Admission is free for all spectators. Doors open at 7 a.m. EST.

For more information, contact the Tournament Office at +1 242.676.2325 or the Media Center at 242.698.6005 or visit www.puresilkbahamasclassic.com.