As things stand, there is a very real chance that golf fans have seen Lexi Thompson make her final appearance in a major championship following her tied 55th finish at St Andrews in The Women’s Open last week.
It was back in May that Lexi Thompson announced that she planned to retire from full-time golf at the end of the season after a remarkable career, with one major title – which came at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship – and 10 further wins on the LPGA Tour.
Thompson has been a professional since she was 15 years old, while she has represented her country in six Solheim Cups. But it seems that the 29-year-old is ready to call time on her full-time career at the end of 2024.
Lexi Thompson backed to potentially make future return to golf
However, perhaps that may not actually represent the final chapter of Thompson’s golf career.
Speaking on Golf Channel, writer Ron Sirak suggested that he does not sense that Thompson’s decision to retire comes with the same finality as Annika Sorenstam’s did when she called time on her playing career back in 2008.
“You know, when Annika stepped away I was sure I’d never see her again out there as a full-time player; when Lorena Ochoa stepped away, I was sure I’d never see her again out there as a full-time player, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lexi maybe take a year off and come back,” he said.
“She’s still so young, she’s still so talented, I do think she needs some time to recharge her batteries. And she’s done this before, took a month in the middle of the season at one point, 2018, to recharge her batteries. I would not be at all surprised if she steps away from the game for a while, gets her energy back, gets her passion for the game back, and then returns.”
American set to leave stage with unfinished business
Thompson definitely has the time to come back in the future should she want to. But you can understand her decision to walk away at this stage when she has not won on the LPGA Tour since 2019. Meanwhile, she has finished in the top 10 in just one of her last eight major appearances.
She did silence a lot of her doubters with her performances at the 2023 Solheim Cup, with Megan Khang proving to be the only American to win points than Thompson’s three from her four matches.
But given how the last few years have played out for Thompson, it would be no surprise if she felt that she had unfinished business in the game at some stage in the future.
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