Lexi Thompson embracing opportunity to tee it up in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Lexi Thompson looked like her typical self as she walked around TPC Summerlin.

The 11-time LPGA Tour winner was chatty, getting tips on the course from Michael Kim and Ben Griffin, whom Thompson played alongside during Tuesday’s practice round. When it was time to hit, the stoic nature she’s known for emerged. So did the impressive tee-to-green game.

Inside, though, it hardly felt normal. As the group started their back nine, Griffin asked Thompson if it already felt like a major championship. The answer was a resounding yes.

“It means the world to me,” said Thompson, playing this week’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas on a sponsor exemption.

She will become the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA TOUR event. Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie West, Suzy Whaley and Brittany Lincicome are the only others to compete in a TOUR event in the last 70 years, while Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the first woman to receive a sponsor exemption in 1935.

Asked where making the cut this week would rank among her biggest accomplishments, Thompson said it would be “definitely at the top.” It’s a feat that hasn’t been done since Zaharias did it twice in 1945.

It’s a historic appearance that came together rather quickly. Thompson got the call from tournament officials less than two weeks ago, just as she was prepping for the final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. It was her first time being asked to play in a TOUR event. She originally had plans for the week, but those were quickly moved. These opportunities don’t come often. Thompson received words of encouragement from Wie West and Sorenstam. She also got plenty of pointers from her brothers, Curtis and Nicholas Thompson, both of whom have played on the PGA TOUR.

Thompson enters the tournament in good form. She played on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team in September, then carded back-to-back top 10s on the LPGA. She’s among the longest hitters in the women’s game, averaging 270.3 yards off the tee this season. She will rely on that weapon this week in Las Vegas. She plans to hit driver on almost every par 4 and par 5, a rarity for her on LPGA courses, which often prioritize accuracy over distance. That has her plenty comfortable that she can be competitive.

“Just happy I can bomb driver everywhere,” she said.

Defending champion Tom Kim said with a chuckle: “She hits the ball very far. If I play with her, I would be worried.”

However, Thompson stopped short of saying she needed to play well for the week to be a success. She said she was inspired when Sorenstam competed in the 2003 Charles Schwab Challenge as the No. 1 player in the women’s game. Sorenstam was coming off an 11-win season in 2002 before she played Colonial Country Club alongside Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber. She shot 71 in the opening round to sit one shot outside the cut line. She missed the cut after a second-round 74 but said 10 years later, “It was a turning point for me. It’s one of the highlights of my career.”

It was equally motivational to see Wie West, a peer to Thompson, miss the cut by just a single stroke in her PGA TOUR debut at the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii. It was the first of eight PGA TOUR starts for Wie West, who won five times on the LPGA, including the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open. Wie West retired from competitive golf at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.

Thompson is hoping to make a similar impact this week.

“If I can leave here inspiring others, and especially the kids, the Shriners kids, that's what it's all about and what this tournament is,” she said. “If I can inspire one individual, I would feel like I'm making progress. Of course, yes, I want to play good. That's a whole 'nother story. There is more to life than performing well.”

Thompson is in featured-group coverage, teeing off with Kevin Roy and Trevor Werbylo at 1:19 p.m. local time on Thursday.