Mental health under spotlight on LPGA, PGA Tours | Live From the U.S. Women’s Open | Golf Channel

Lexi Thompson’s retirement and the tragic passing of Grayson Murray have put mental health in focus in professional golf, emphasizing how lonely the LPGA and PGA Tour routine can be. #GolfChannel #GolfCentral #LexiThompson #USWomensOpen
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Mental health under spotlight on LPGA, PGA Tours | Live From the U.S. Women’s Open | Golf Channel
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in a surprising announcement earlier this week Lexi Thompson took to social media to announce in a video message that she will be stepping away from competitive golf at the end of this season the announcement coming at the very Championship the US Women’s Open where she burst on to the scene at just the young age of 12 and now is preparing to compete in her 18th and final US Women’s Open now Thompson’s kept a limited schedule playing a a limited number of events uh on the LPGA Tour over the last two seasons and a meeting with the media earlier this week she said that she has considered retiring for the past few years I’m just going to take a day by day and see how I feel um especially going into next year but I’m very content with this being my last full-time schedule year being out here can be a lot um it can be lonely um sorry if I get emotional I said I wasn’t going to um I just think you know especially with what’s happened in golf as of recent too A lot of people don’t they don’t realize a lot of what we go through as a professional athlete I mean and I’ll be the last one to say like throw me a pity party this the last thing I want but you know we’re doing we’re doing what we love we’re trying the best every single day and um you know we’re not perfect we’re humans words hurt um and it’s hard to overcome sometimes but having the people around you that love you and support you and I feel like that’s that’s been the biggest thing for me I might not have a huge friend group but um but to have the people that matter the most around me have gotten me through some really hard times and I think it’s a lot for everybody around here or in any professional sport a lot of people don’t know what we go through and the amount of training and hard work that we put ourselves through it’s it’s a lot and I don’t think we deserve I I think we deserve a lot more credit than what we get and as I mentioned Thompson has played a limited schedule over the past two seasons and she did so in an effort to strike more of a balance of life away from the golf course it’s a trend we’ve seen among the top players who have gotten into other activities like going to the gym regularly meditating and just other outside uh Outlets to be able to have more of a life uh besides golf uh Anna nordquist has been quite open uh about her challenges that she’s faced on the LPGA Tour in her more than decade out here competing opening up about disappointing losses about that debilitating case of mono and even the sudden and recent passing of her ex-husband just last season nordquist talked with us yesterday about how she has prioritized her mental health along with other players it’s something I’ve spoken about the last couple years and um it’s hard I mean tour life is hard you heard Lexi talk about it yesterday I mean it’s lonely and It’s a Grind I’m on the road now for seven weeks um you kind of miss that you know being home and you know seeing your family but it’s kind of sacrifices you have to do as part of this job um but also this job brings you you know so many amazing opportunities and experiences and I love the majors and just coming out here and you know seeing the fans I’ve kind of been blown away the the amount of fans that we had like the last two days and it’s the tournament hasn’t even started so yeah it’s definitely something that it’s not talked about enough um but uh I work on it constantly and uh you know I’ve been trying to manage the storm here the last couple years but I’m just trying to put one foot in front of the other showing up every day uh trying to smile be happy and you know just do my best cuz that’s all I can do well I I’m fortunate of to traveling with both uh a good friend which is my caddy Shane and also Jack uh my future husband so it’s uh it’s it’s a very uh you try to find ways that make you feel good about yourself and enjoying this lifestyle because it is hard I mean I mean we’re very fortunate to do what we do but um I mean I I heard Lexi’s press press conference yesterday and like it gets lonely like if you don’t have that support system it gets lonely out here it’s a hard work it’s it’s uh I mean you’re playing as the best players in the world and you want to perform we’re all competitors and it’s just when the lows are low it’s just extra low so I think it’s um I think it’s good that it’s been talked about more and it it has been for a while but um obviously horrible uh what happened this past weekend and I think it’s um just it’s just important that it gets talked about more um and keep find people so people find those networks of having that um that support system around them this is definitely you know a tough topic and it was so sad to see the news of him and um I think we all maybe not to his that magnitude but we all have kind of had um you know mental issues and um you know it’s tough out here being a professional athlete I feel like people don’t really talk about that too much it kind of seems like it’s you know a glamorous lifestyle but it’s tough you know um if you miss a cut you kind you take it on yourself and um if you’re not playing well you take it on yourself and um it’s a very individual sport in that way and um you know it’s just kind of relying on your team and your support system and um making sure that your kind of life is balanced on and off the golf course in that video message that Thompson posted announcing her retirement she said that she has really struggled uh dealing with the scrutiny that she has faced especially on social media that it was hard for her to put on a smile when on the inside she was suffering you know Thompson also said that golf is the life that really the only one that she’s ever known and she’s looking forward to getting away from the grind week to week of competing and training all right thank you Amy well it’s very clear from all the comments that we heard and the sound there that you know when the highs are high they’re they’re great but when the lows are low they are very very lows that’s what mine sagstrom referred to and um mental health has been such a huge topic rightfully so in our sport especially as of late with the um tragic passing of graceon Murray um and Lexi seemed to really reference that in her comments in her press conference in which she was very emotional when she discussed her retirement but um Mel for you you you’ve been out there week in week out you know what it’s like to be away from your wife your son and the grind that this takes um how much does the discussion around mental health resonate with you yeah hugely I think we all have our own struggles um I’m really happy that more people are feeling that they can speak up about it as they should do it’s tough out here it’s you know I said it yesterday I think full swing is glamorized professional golf that is not the reality especially out here we travel so much a lot of the international players have left their family their friends you know come to live in a whole new country and we’re traveling you know 30 35 weeks a year pretty much and it it does take a toll on your mental health because like you said when the highs are high it’s amazing it’s the best job in the world but when the lows are lows you’ve never felt more lonely ever because it’s kind of all on you and you’ve also you have a team around you that you’re responsible for as well and so I’ve always felt that kind of internal pressure that I do put on myself but it’s just it is a grind out here and you know I’ve been doing it for seven 1 years and it’s certainly taken a toll on me what can be done well I think the tour has already taken some important steps in in h hiring Dr Julia M who comes out to about a dozen events a year and she’s here this week she typically will see eight to 10 players a week you know obviously she can’t see everybody every week but it’s a tremendous resource for players who maybe want to want to talk to someone without their team even knowing about it or mom and dad even knowing about it and so I think that’s really important um you know I think social media is a really tough thing for a lot of players to um to ingest all of the vital that can be on there and you want to be on social media you want to share part of your life it’s important thing but trying to figure out how to create that balance to protect yourself as well while still getting you know your brand out there is is really tough you know I also think that as as the money has gotten um so much higher out here which of course everyone wants it also takes a little bit away from the family nature of the tour I think it’s a lot more competitive a lot more businesslike than it was I’ve talked to several veteran players about this over the years just how the culture of the tour has changed and a lot of people come out with their little Entourage and they don’t they don’t get away from it you know and and I think one thing that’s probably not talked about too we talk about the highs are high but I’ve I can’t tell you the number of Champions who have said to me you know I worked all my life to win this tournament to have this moment and then I look around and I say this is it this is this is it everybody’s moved on to the next town you’re in your hotel room late because you missed your flight because you had to do media obligations and sign flags and all these things and and often times they’re by themselves and and and what that does to you and and you feel like you can’t talk to anybody about that because you just once how can you complain and have a pity party so I think it’s just tough for everybody no matter where you fall on the money list or where you are in your career yeah you know all these players uh in the women’s tour the men’s tour they’re they’re taught how to swing how to work the way around a golf course how to be in the best place mentally to get around a golf course but how to handle the hype and how to handle the criticism uh those are soft skills that are just as important as how to swing a golf club how to work your way around a golf course uh and in particular if you’re of the talent uh or such a compelling figure like Lexi Thompson you know since I’ve been watching uh the women’s game there’s two players that have come along from the United States Michelle we and Lexi Thompson who I think unfairly had the weight of the LPGA on their shoulders it was like their talents were so huge and they were such compelling figures that there was a sense that they could be transformative the way Tiger Woods was transformative but Tiger Woods I don’t think ever felt like the weight of the PGA Tour was on his shoulders I don’t think he ever felt that uh but there was that sense uh with Michelle we uh and with Lexi Thompson and it’s hard enough just to be in the Fishbowl all the time and have people criticizing everything you do but let alone to have that kind of pressure on your shoulders yes the game of golf is hard your way you sacrifice a lot it hurts to be gone and you’re right people don’t see that I can remember once my oldest son now’s 27 but when he was seven six somewhere in there I picked him up from school I was like you know you want to go hit golf B he like no he’s like I don’t like Golf and I was like you don’t like golf it was crushing and I said why and he goes you because it takes you away from us you know so you know you start to deal with that and you’re on the road you miss a cut and you’re alone and you think why am I doing this uh you know and it certainly got to me uh but I didn’t have the weight of the tour on my shoulders and I was in no way there was no social media around then to be criticized the way Lexi Thompson the way Michelle we and pretty much everybody who puts themselves out there uh so yeah I I think it’s important that the LPGA have somebody out here helping the players deal with it and on the PGA tour too because it’s uh it’s real it’s easy to say these guys and these women are great athletes and they’re pampered they’re making a lot of money but that doesn’t mean they’re not human yeah they’re human beings out here and a lot of respect to Lexi Thompson for being willing to show that vulnerability show those emotions and um that it’s okay to not be okay and um you know it’s hard out here for for players having to constantly hear also the the social media the vitriol as you mentioned bethanne um you know words do hurt uh so just a you know reminder to be a Kinder gentler world I think that we could very much all benefit from that