LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson speaks to the media ahead of making her PGA Tour debut this week and it is safe to say that Lexi Thompson did not hold back! Find out exactly what LPGA tour star Lexi Thompson said, comparisons in data from the PGA tour compared to Lexi which I have no doubt will surprise a lot of golf fans, and find out exactly what the gimmick comments were all about and what Lexi had to say about it all.
Lexi Thompson gives FIRM response to PGA Tour Pros harsh ‘GIMMICK’ comment ahead of Shriners
LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson has responded to the media after hearing PGA Tour pro Peter Malnati refer to her appearance in this week’s Shriners Children’s Open on the PGA Tour as something of a “gimmick”. Lexi Thompson says she wants her appearance at this week’s PGA Tour event in Las Vegas to “inspire people” but she did not hold back when asked about the gimmick remark.
Thompson, 28, will become only the seventh woman to play on the PGA Tour, and she will be competing for a prize pot of $8.4m when she tees up at TPC Summerlin on Thursday.
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46 Comments
This is a turning point in golf…what do you think?
LGBTQ+ agenda
How would the ladies feel, if Rory , Scottie, or Jon turned up on the first tee of their tournaments?
As for stats, you can't compare, end of. Indy car and F1, both fast cars, but very different.
This tells me the PGA TV stats are down and they are looking for anything to get people’s attention. I love the LPGA and I loved the mixed events the Euro tour has done but just be honest about what this week is.
Man I’ve never had a problem when super star women get into these men events and feel there should have been many more than just 7 on the pga tour so far.
And I’m tired of no name journeymen always having a problem with ladies playing.
These men are obviously playing quite strung up considering their situation so I can see how it’s hard to see a chick like Lexincome in all relaxed this week with a great mentality and whom can beat them; further embarrassing them.
And malnatti based on some of his actions during the LIv saga is not the brightest tool in the shed. And this one confirms it. He’s kind a tool also. Imo.
I’d love to see lpga players playing pga events, with the ladies being able to tee off from forward tees so their drives are equivalent. Except the par 3’s. I think the competition would be wild. I would definitely watch every one of those tournaments.
Great here we go again. Been there done that.
I think it's great but Lexi is not in her top form, they should have sent Nelly Korda or some other long hitter on the LPGA who is in better form.
She taking a guys spot who’s trying to earn a few $$$$ 🤷🏼♂️ I don’t see men getting an invite to the LPGA
I can say with almost certainty that the athletic comment wasn't passive agressive. I'm kind of surprised that someone would interpret that as potentially being passive agressive.
The whole kit and kaboodle should be merged.. You could have women's groups and men's groups playing in the same tournament.. OR you could mix everyone up. The fact is though, men have more power physically so there could probably be slightly more forward tees for women or a course par adjustment. Stuff it ! Why should men get paid SO much more because of how they arrived in this world?
It’s a perfect selection. It’s the Shriner Childrens Open and Lexi is well known for working with children’s charities. It’s a no brainer. The fact she is a brilliant golfer too means the sponsors got this one absolutely right.
This is kind of a mixed bag for me. First off, I hope Lexi does well and would be very excited if she made the cut & would be tuned in every second to watch her rounds (sort of like Michael Block scenario). I don't care for the negative stuff targeting Lexi directly. She was asked to do this and she agreed (I doubt it was an easy decision knowing that a lot of people would come out against her). I'm ever so slightly against it (on a scale of 1 to 10 I'm a 1), but if I was in her shoes I would have agreed as well, however I would more than likely chicken out and say no because that would be a lot for me but I don't have the mindset of a professional golfer/athlete. It's a scenario where historically speaking (she's the 7th female to play in a men’s PGA tour event) odds are that she's not going to do well in the sense of her golf score being competitive with the rest of the field, which will further fuel certain naysayers, but that's not what this is about. The PGA tour is trying to bring more interest to the female pga tour.
Along these lines player exemptions is a mixed bag for me. I want to see the best possible players willing to enter a tournament be out there competing and I want every system in place (whether it be the Korn ferry Tour, the OWGR, the Fed Ex cup points etc) to be improved and points be distributed in a way that is going to create the best system possible to get the best golfers into a ranking that's the most accurate to their play/tournament results (there's at least one more scenario, but for now). However injuries for example are going to potentially happen and a golfer could be ranked 10th in the world or whatever and miss 6 months to a year or longer and drastically fall in the rankings to where they no longer qualify for a given tournament. So in that scenario I agree with a players exemption, because their current rank doesn't really measure their true rank, but where’s the line?
As much as I wish pro golf/sports was about the players and the competition above all else, in all actuality it’s about money/entertainment above all and it’s always been that way and perhaps that’s what makes it possible to bring the competition to levels it does and makes it the entertainment in which people care about and want to see, but in my perfect world the players and the spirit of competition would come first and the money would naturally follow with the goal of making whatever competition as genuine and unmanipulated as possible… but that’s a pipe dream. When I come across people saying it’s about unifying, it’s a bit laughable… it’s about money… they want to bring more money/interest into the LPGA tour and that’s perfectly fine and understandable, but it’s a bit random to take the 25th ranked LPGA player and enter her into a tournament she didn’t qualify for (is it because she's a big driver and is she the biggest driver in the top 25)? Even though the #1 player Lilia Vu didn’t qualify either, I could potentially wrap my head around that, especially if there was speculation around the #1 of being theorized to compete at a men’s PGA level, but as I said it's about LPGA promotion. No one wants to say it, but at least a decent portion of the reason is because Lexi’s an attractive representative, similar to Michelle Wie when she was coming up. But at the end of the day it’s not that big of a deal to have an LPGA representative play in a mens event from time to time or every time as an attempt to draw more interest to the LPGA. Maybe someone could convince me it’s a bigger deal one way or the other than what it is.
I haven’t watched much LPGA golf but this year for whatever reason I heard a buzz about the Lotte Championship that was in Hawaii, so I tuned in and to my surprise I enjoyed it and followed it to it’s conclusion. I haven’t heard any buzz about an LPGA event since, which could just be me or it could be the lack of LPGA promotions. I don’t know? And I don’t know if watching Lexi play promotes the LPGA… to me it promotes the mens event she’s playing in and I want to root for her and see if she can defy the odds. Perhaps if they do some good promotions of some upcoming LPGA events during the process of watching Lexi play it could work? When someone is neutral (don’t dislike it or like it enough to seek it out), such as my interest in the LPGA, catching some buzz, perhaps about a random players accomplishment or whatever could grab my interest enough to seek it out and watch it and perhaps that could have the potential of me tuning in again and eventually knowing the players the way I do on the PGA/LIV tour and eventually become a fan. BTW it’s the same reason why I don’t watch any Korn Ferry tour events. I don’t know the players. I would need a buzz or to stumble upon by accident perhaps?
Wonder if she's off the same tees?
You say her GIR % will be higher because of shorter holes, but Im guessing with the longer PGA holes and Shorter LPGA drives, they both roughly hit the same irons into greens (on average).
Interested to see if she'll make the cut….I think she can
Should not be playing its taking a mans chance to win
When is a top pga player playing in a LPGA tour
I would like to see a mix tournament like Solheim and the Ryder Cup where the men and women are on the same team. Same format USA vs Europe and even like the Presidents cup. I also think Europe should be able to play the rest of the world like the USA in the Presidents Cup!! I think they should have more joint events like they have on the DP World Tour with men and women playing the same course and against each other just from their perspective tees!!
Am I really reading some of these comments?? Feel like we’ve just back tracked into Victorian times?? Shall we take away the vote for women as well while we’re at it??
It’s one woman, in one tournament. Get a grip!!
I do agree a chance was missed with combining the Solheim and Ryder cup and other tournaments played at the same time.
I just hope that the views and misogynistic opinions of some of those who have commented on here aren’t that of the majority.
Absolute no to Ryder cup and solheim cup same venue alternate days…they are stand alone events and alternate days would interfere with the momentum of each event..and it would take 6 days to play it !! ..no no no
It’s not unprecedented. Didn’t Michelle Wie play in more than one men’s tournament?
It’s not the first time that she has played with the men. I don’t really understand why it’s only her that seems to get the invites.
I suspect the word gimmick should be substituted for something like “token gesture” or “novelty value”. He’s probably just saying, I doubt she has a serious chance of winning in a kind of snide manner.
She's not winning on the LPGA let alone amongst the guys. Are they going to let men play in the LPGA?
Will then men should be able to play on the LPGA if Is invited by the sponsors
WAAAY higher than the men 3ppts?
Good for her
He didn't say anything wrong. This isn't something that hasn't happened before.
Just Do away with male , female sports and make them all unisex. We'll see how that works out.
Her brother Curtis played at the Valspar a few years ago. I got to "hang out" with her parents for part of the day, very nice people. Her brother is very animated, I really enjoyed following him that day.
She is a very good women's player but she will not make the cut period
Ok you use stats thats not comparative as driving distances are lower increasing accuracy.
But the main factor is tour earning potential. We have just seen the huge issue and impact NOT getting your mems PGA tour card with Shad in the US. Now if you allow LPGA tour players to enter mems PGA events will you allow men to enter LPGA events? If not then this should never happen. If those shouting for equality want equality, then lets have it. Lets combine both tours and let all golfers play from.the dame tees, all golfers play the same courses. Lets see how many women players are left after a year or two. Would that damage the female game more?
Whats happening here is not a strengthening of the womans game but a watering down of the mens.
I think having maybe 3 or 4 combined tournaments a year would be fantastic for the game. But an opening up in the future of JUST the mems game is unfair to the male players who have struggled hard to gain their PGA card in an arena that you could argue is more competative than a woman gaining hers. So do you ask women to go through the mems PGA tour card process? This opens a can of worms, great as a one off to gain publicity, but in the longer term it could have a detrimental affect on not only the mems game but also the women.
Watching the Solheim Cup this year i really noticed how accurate the players were off the tee, fairway misses were very few, I was really impressed.
Don't think its a bad idea would have preferred maybe 2 or 3 players to represent lpga Celine boutier or Lillia vu players more on top of there game that guy moaning probably worried she'll beat him 😅
She won’t make the cut. Sorenstam in her prime couldn’t even make it. Men and women are miles apart in abilities when it comes to sports. Stay on your respective tours. All of you.
Man.. your obsessed with the Ryder Cup. It’s a exhibition dude.
Women can’t compete with the men. How did that workout for Michelle?
it's about time men and women compete in the same tournament, but not against eachother: Look at tennis: Wimbledon, Roland Garos etc flurish well hosting them together. It's a win-win situation: women get a bigger number of spectators so more income thus more prizemoney and men…. well men like to see short skirts ( this a last part is a joke offcourse).
I like your suggestion about the Ryder and Solhiem Cups being held simultaneously. Otherwise, I think you're just trolling for controversy here as far as Lexi and Malnati's comments are concerned.
I have no issue with men and women playing the same events but they have to play the same golf course. And that means playing from the exact same tee boxes.
I think she will have a tough time keeping up with the top guy players! But it is an awesome thing for golf! I think its cool af!
So can a man from pga play on lpga tour
The Shriners Tournament needs a boost for sure. I live in Las Vegas & have regularly attended the event over the last 4 decades. Dismal attendance is an understatement, even though perfect weather is almost guaranteed. Rarely, do we get to see any top-10 PGA pros here. And very few top-50 golfers tee it up here. Hopefully this move will sell more tickets & push up the low TV ratings. Maybe next year we’ll get to see our local favorite, Danielle Kang in the field. Go Lexi!!!
l hope Lexi wins.
its not cuz she is a woman playing…but a player who didn't qualify and don't deserve to play. she has no chance…why not put in a top amateur then or a physically disabled player or a war veteran? PGA is woke and politically driven to the liberal view of the world.
I agree with Peter in the fact that there are EASILY 30-100+ ladies that can compete and it's all about creating a publicity narrative to elevate boring tournaments. I play with women that hit it 290+ and wipe the floor with us Golf Industry pros on a REGULAR BASIS. They belong, but quit trying to make tournaments a circus show for more money when the LPGA doesn't get paid SQUAT
TBH I am thoroughly disappoint more LGPA Tour players do not get invites to PGA tournaments. I know the DP World Tour has a tournament that both male and female players can play in. I like that idea. However, I am not gonna say they should have the same tees and same scorecards. 2 events, same time, different leaderboards due to different tees.