Penton: LPGA stars heading in different directions
By Bruce Penton
The recent U.S. women’s open golf championship featured two superstars heading in opposite directions — Nelly Korda in the midst of her rise to legendary Hall-of-Fame status (even though she took a bit of a detour at the Open) and 15-time winner Lexi Thompson, 29, a child star who announced before the tournament that she plans to retire from professional golf at the end of this season.
Korda, who will be 26 this summer, has been setting the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour on fire this season, until a disastrous 10 on a par-3 during the opening round of the U.S. Open momentarily stalled her march to greatness. Earlier this year, she won five consecutive tournaments and took top spot in six of the season’s first 12 events. Naturally, she was the favourite going into the U.S. Open but the 10, when she dunked three balls into a creek on a par 3, led to an 80 and a missed cut. Still, Korda is the undisputed No. 1-ranked golfer in the world and leads the LPGA money list with more than $3 million, $1.5 million ahead of the runner-up, Hannah Green.
A member of an elite athletic family, Korda is the defending Olympic gold medallist in women’s golf but, like Thompson, has only one major championship on her resume. Nelly’s sister, Jessica, is a six-time LPGA winner; their brother Sebastian is ranked 28th in the world in men’s tennis; and their parents, Petr and Regina, were both accomplished tennis pros, with Petr having one Grand Slam title to his credit. Even Nelly’s boyfriend is a professional athlete, hockey player Andreas Athanasiou of the Chicago Blackhawks.
The retirement announcement by Thompson, meanwhile, caught the golf world by surprise. She’s only 29 years old, but has been in the golf spotlight since she was 12 years old, when she qualified for the U.S. Open in 2007. She was No. 1 in the world in 2019, but her skills have been eroding of late. Thompson, in fact, has gone five years without winning a tournament and has fallen to a ranking of 54th in the world.
Early retirement on the women’s circuit is quite common. Lorena Ochoa retired at age 28 after sitting at No. 1 in the world for 158 straight weeks. Annika Sorenstam, generally regarded as the greatest female golfer ever, gave up competitive golf at age 38.
Thompson’s star wasn’t quite that bright, but she was a major influence on the tour and because she started at such a young age, golf fans know all about her.
“I think she does an amazing job for the Tour,” Korda said after hearing the news. “She spends so much time going to each pro-am party. She really dedicated her time to growing the game. It’s sad to see that she’s obviously leaving and not going to be out here with us anymore, but she’s had an amazing career.”
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