June 17 — Fresh off her undefeated stint on the 2010 Curtis Cup team, Alexis Thompson will make her professional debut at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Friday.
The 15-year-old whiz kid will tee it up with the same clubs she had in her bag at last week’s Curtis Cup, but Cobra-Puma Golf is now paying her to play them. In fact, Thompson tapped the youngest female golfer ever to turn pro as the first athlete to represent the newly united company’s golf gear, clothing, and shoes.
New sticks. Thompson replaced several Callaway clubs to Cobra-Puma before the Curtis Cup, her father, Scott Thompson, said after his daughter scored a 6-and-5 victory in singles last Sunday at Massachusetts’ Essex County Club. Her new sticks, which the company will feature in its advertising campaigns, are an 8.5-degree Cobra S3 driver, Cobra S2 3-wood, Baffler Rail hybrid (2/H), and Cobra S2 forged irons (3-PW).
Thompson will also wear Puma golf shoes and, apparently, drink Red Bull, her other recently inked sponsor. The Massachusetts-based Acushnet Co. sold its Cobra business to Puma earlier this year.
As for the timing of Thompson’s appearance on the professional stage, the young woman with the stellar amateur resume planned to leave the amateur ranks after the Curtis Cup.
She had a dream. “This is my dream; this is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Thompson told the Philadelphia Inquirer, reiterating what she told reporters at Essex. “Just to play against the best in the world and on these great golf courses, this is what I always wanted to do my whole life.”
Fifteen years can seem like a lifetime to some. Oh wait; it is a lifetime for Thompson!
Despite the questions that observers such as retired LPGA star Lorena Ochoa have raised about Thompson turning pro at such a young age, the golfer appeared last week to be mature beyond her years on the course, as well as with fans and the media.
An Open veteran. It’s not as if Lexi (as her parents and new sponsors call her) were new to the public arena. At 12, she was the youngest girl ever to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open, a feat she has accomplished each year since. Indeed, she will tee it up in another Open championship at Oakmont Country Club next month.
First, though, she will play at the ShopRite under a sponsor exemption with certified LPGA stars Cristie Kerr, fresh off a victory at last week’s LPGA State Farm Classic; Michelle Wie; and Paula Creamer, who will be making her comeback from thumb surgery.
Coincidentally, ShopRite also gave Michelle Wie an exemption in 2003, one week after the then-13-year-old won the US Amateur Public Links title.
Should be a fun for Thompson, who’ll tee it up at 1 p.m. EDT with the ever-popular and flamboyant Christina Kim.
She’s ready. As for her upcoming turn with the pros, Thompson exuded confidence.
“I’ll probably be a little nervous, but I’m just going to go out there and play my game and try to do my best,” Thompson said to the Inquirer. “I would probably say all my LPGA events have helped me with experience. I feel my game is ready, and want to take it to the next level. I’m so happy that I’m fulfilling my dreams.”
Proud papa, Scott Thompson, concurred. “Believe me, she’s good enough to compete,” the elder Thompson told the Inquirer. “She’s ready.”
You may watch Thompson, Creamer, Wie, Kerr, Kim, and the rest of the LPGA crew tee it up at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Friday from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. on Golf Channel.
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- Cobra Baffler Rail Fairways
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