Lexi Thompson

Lexi Thompson, shown during the second round of last week's Navistar LPGA Classic, is still about two years away from being eligible for full-time tour membership. (AP/Dave Martin)

Lexi Thompson's historic win at last week's Navistar LPGA Classic, held on the newly reopened Senator Course at Capitol Hill in Prattville, brought much satisfaction to the people running the tournament.
"We have always believed in Lexi," Navistar LPGA Classic tournament director Jonathan Romeo said. "I gave her a spot (a sponsor's exemption) because she deserved the chance."
Thompson, 16 years, seven months and eight days old last Sunday, shattered the mark for youngest person to win on the LPGA Tour by two years.
She's been struggling with her game this year, but the saying "horses for courses" certainly applies to her win in Prattville.
Two years ago, she went through two qualifiers (amateur and then open) to make the field in Prattville and led the best women's golfers in the world after two rounds as only a 14-year-old. She slipped back into a tie for 27th, but she'd served notice of what she could do.
This came from a girl who qualified for the U.S. Open two years before that as a precocious 12-year-old, and she has played in the past five national opens.
She turned pro last year, but plays only a limited schedule as, under LPGA Tour by-laws, you have to be 18 to be a tour member.
You would think her win, which carries a two-year exemption for LPGA Tour members, would be the perfect time for LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan to make an exception to this rule and grant her full tour status.
As a pro last year, she had a top 10 in the U.S. Women's Open and tied for second in the prestigious Evian Masters.
This year, her best finish prior to Sunday also came in Alabama at the Avnet LPGA Classic at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, where she was tied for the lead after three rounds before a poor closing round dropped her into a tie for 19th.
Romeo is also the tournament director of the Avnet. He gave her sponsor's exemptions to both of his events this year. He did the same last year, too.
"Nontour members can only receive six exemptions a year," he said. "I'm glad she accepted our exemptions. We definitely wanted to open the door to her."
In a side note, Thompson announced after her five-shot win in the Navistar that she was donating $20,000 of her winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project, the charitable trust of this event that did not charge an entry fee and instead asked spectators to donate to this charity if they so wished.
Romeo indicated Navistar's goal of donating $100,000 from the tournament to the Wounded Warrior Project looks likely.
Ian Thompson's golf column appears every Thursday in The Birmingham News. Write him at golfsth@aol.com.

Alexis "Lexi" Thompson (born February 10, 1995) is an American professional golfer. At age 12, she was youngest golfer ever to qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open. She turned professional in June 2010 at age 15. Thompson's two brothers are also golfers. Nicholas Thompson, her half brother, plays professionally on the PGA Tour and Curtis Thompson is a member of the Florida Junior Tour, who has committed to attend Louisiana State University. Alexis has been home-schooled, and stated she plans to complete her graduation from high school, while at the same time playing professional golf.

In 2007, as a 12-year-old, she became the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open. She shot 86-82 and failed to make the cut. In 2007, she also won the Aldila Junior Classic to become the second-youngest winner in AJGA. She also won the Westfield Junior PGA Championship to become the youngest winner in Junior PGA Championship history.

In 2008, she won the United States Girls' Junior Golf Championship. She qualified again in 2008 for U.S. Women's Open where she shot 75-87 and failed to make the cut by two strokes. In 2009, as a 14-year-old, she qualified for a third time for the U.S. Women's Open and made the cut for the first time, finishing tied for 34th, +11 (71-73-78-73=295). Later that year she Monday-qualified for the Navistar LPGA Classic, where she shot 65 in the first round and finished at T27, 12 strokes behind winner Lorena Ochoa.

In 2010, Thompson kept her amateur status for the first half of the year. As an amateur, she played in the Women's Australian Open, where she finished T16 (+3), 12 strokes behind winner Yani Tseng. She made the cut at the 2010 Kraft Nabisco Championship, finishing T24, +2 (74-72-73-71=290), 15 shots behind winner Yani Tseng. She represented the winning United States team in the Curtis Cup competition and went undefeated (4 wins and 1 half). She turned pro the next week, stating she believed her game was ready to make the jump to the LPGA Tour.

Thompson announced that she had turned pro on June 16, 2010. She signed sponsorship deals with Cobra-PUMA Golf and with Red Bull.Lacking official status as an LPGA Tour member, Thompson largely had to rely on sponsors' exemptions to gain entry into tournaments. Her first sponsor's exemption was entry into the ShopRite LPGA Classic where she missed the cut by four strokes.She played qualifiers held in Florida in May to gain entry to the U.S. Women's Open played July 8–11. She finished T10 at the tournament, +6 (73-74-70-73=290), 9 shots behind winner Paula Creamer and collected her first professional check for $72,131.

Two weeks later at the Evian Masters, Thompson finished T2, -13 (69-72-67-67=275), one shot behind the winner, and made $242,711. After three professional events, her earnings were $314,842, which would have ranked 18th on the official LPGA money list if she had been a member of the LPGA Tour. Her result from the Evian Masters caused her to rise 75 places to number 74 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She played three more events on the LPGA Tour in 2010, missing the cut at the CN Canadian Women's Open, and finishing T16 and T57 in two additional events.

Thompson began playing in one-day tournaments on the Fuzion Minor League Golf Tour in October 2010. This is a developmental tour aimed at men trying to move up to the next level of professional golf. On the Fuzion Tour, women play with tees moved up so that they play 94% of the distance that the men play. She returned to play against women in February 2011 at the Women's Australian Open and the ANZ Ladies Masters, where she missed the cut and finished T42 respectively. Returning to the United States, she won a one-round Fuzion Tour event, on February 21, at her home course in Coral Springs, Floria. Tied after 18 holes, she beat Brett Bergeron on the second playoff hole, for her first professional win. In March, Thompson attempted the Monday qualifier for the LPGA Kia Classic, but she failed to qualify.

Thompson's first LPGA tournament in 2011 was the Avnet LPGA Classic, to which she received an entry as a sponsor's exemption. After 3 rounds, she was tied for the lead with Song-Hee Kim. On Sunday, her score soared to 78, including back-to-back double bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes. Thompson would finish tied for 19th at -1 (71-71-67-78=287), 9 strokes behind the winner, Maria Hjorth. She later attempted, but failed, to Monday qualify at two LPGA tournaments. She missed the cut at the ShopRite LPGA Clasic, the LPGA Championship and at the U.S. Women's Open before making the cut in the fifth LPGA tournament she played in 2011, the Evian Masters, where she finished tied for 36th.

Thompson successfully petitioned the LPGA to receive a waiver to the rule that LPGA Tour members must be at least 18 years old, allowing her to enter the LPGA Qualifying School for a chance to be an LPGA Tour member for 2012. The first of three stages was held July 26-29 at the LPGA International course in Daytona Beach, Florida. Since Thompson was not in the Top 100 of the Women's World Golf Rankings at the time, she was not exempt from the first stage and chose not to attempt to qualify to play in the Women’s British Open, which was held the same week.