LPGA star Lexi Thompson shocks golf world with retirement at 29 years old
A star of the game, the American golfer has brought the curtain down on an illustrious career at a very young age, which leaves fans wondering why.
Considering her career, it’s hard to believe that Lexi Thompson hasn’t celebrated her 30th birthday. Yet, that’s exactly the case as the young golfer has decided to call time on a career that seemed destined for true greatness.
Lexi Thompson retires at 29
While we are still figuring out the ‘why’ behind it all, the fact remains that eleven-time LPGA Tour winner Lexi Thompson has decided to retire at the tender age of 29 years old. Indeed, the Florida native who turned professional at the unbelievably young age of 15, becoming the youngest woman to win an LPGA tournament - she was 16 at the time - has indicated that her playing career will come to an end after the conclusion of the 2024 LPGA season.
Though there has been no official word as to why she has taken this decision, it’s worth noting that Thompson has missed the cut in the three tournaments preceding her announcement and on the whole, has done so in four of six tournaments this season. In the two that she did manage to qualify, her best finishes were a T3 at the Ford Championship and a T16 at the LPGA Drive On Championship. This brings us to the big picture which is to say, it’s been a struggle for Thompson in recent years, despite her early success on the tour.
Indeed, since 2019 Thompson has not won an LPGA event, though she did manage to notch two victories on the Ladies European Tour during that time. Converesly, she hasn’t won there since 2022 which one has to imagine has taken its toll. To be clear, Thompson has missed the cut at the last five of the six majors in which she has competed, after finishing in the top 10 on four occasions across the prior six she participated in. Truthfully, as much as we can put the pieces together as we consider why she may have called it quits, it does little to address the notion that many fans will likely have when looking at a player who was regarded as a prodigy. Consider for a moment that Thompson qualified for the U.S. Open at the age of 12, becoming the youngest golfer ever to do so. Further to that, she was also the second-youngest woman to win a major on tour capturing the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship (now Chevron Championship) at age 19. Most recently, she became just the seventh woman to play on the men’s PGA Tour when she participated in the Shriners Children’s Open.