Lexi Thompson survives disaster top, shank start to stay alive at Women’s PGA

FRISCO, Texas — Lexi Thompson was free and loose walking to the first tee Saturday at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco. The 30-year-old LPGA star had played herself into the penultimate group at the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and entered the third round with a legitimate chance to win major No. 2.

Thompson’s range session was smooth. With earbuds in, she hammered balls into the howling Texas wind with a smile on her face. As she walked to the first tee, she stopped to take pictures with young fans. She was embracing the moment, just as she had embraced her decision to step away from playing full-time.

She stepped to the first tee and striped her drive down the center of the first fairway, and her march began. But things can change in an instant at major championships as the pressure ratchets up and the stakes become real.

Thompson took a swipe at her second shot and topped it, sending the ball rolling 117 yards down the fairway. Things went from bad to worse on her third shot as Thompson shanked the ball dead right, sending it sailing deep into the penalty area.

Television mics appeared to pick up Thompson saying the 30-mph winds knocked her off balance on her second shot, causing the top. After the round, she laughed that excuse off.

“I mean, it was blowing, but, no, I just cold topped it,” Thompson said. “Then the other one, I don’t even know what happened. It was just compounded.”

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After taking a drop, Thompson hit her fifth shot over the back of the green and eventually walked off with a triple-bogey eight. She made another bogey at the second and was four over through two holes and suddenly eight shots back of 36-hole leader Jeeno Thitikul.

“Tough to say the least,” Thompson said of her start. “Yeah, I was on the struggle bus for the first two holes. I was like, all right, how about we just par and simmer down here.”

Thompson is no stranger to major championship car crashes. Her storied career is littered with major championship opportunities squandered by moments like what transpired on the first hole at PGA Frisco.

Thompson could have faded. With the wind whipping and the Texas heat baking contenders, she could have completely imploded after the top-shank start and cratered down the leaderboard.

But instead, Lexi Thompson buckled down, got gritty and found a way to hang in.

After another bogey at the eighth, she birdied nine and then played the final nine holes in one under to post a respectable three-over 75 and finish the day in a tie for third.

“It’s a matter of being able to stay positive and in the moment as best you could with the start,” Thompson said after the round. “Internally, I was definitely a little boiled. … So I just tried to stay in the moment, commit to my shots, make my good par saves, and just kind of keep it going.

“With the start, I’ll definitely take it,” Thompson said of her 75. “It was just a tough day with that wind; tough and long, very windy, and the pace of play was very slow. But overall, a lot of positives to take from the day with my start being 4-over through 2. Happy I stayed strong and put a good round together.”

Saturday at PGA Frisco was all about resilience. There were only three under-par rounds, and only 54-hole leader Minjee Lee and Grace Kim shot rounds in the 60s.

Arguably, no one showed more resilience on Saturday than Thompson, who could have made an early exit after two disastrous swings. But she steadied herself and stayed alive on a day when a number of the world’s best bombed out at PGA Frisco.

She’ll start Sunday seven shots back of Lee. But on a golf course that has played like a U.S. Open test for the first three days, anything is possible.

Lexi Thompson will have an outside chance at ending her major drought on Sunday. That was a hard sentence to envision writing when she shanked her third shot of the day deep into the Texas desert.