‘A Gimmick’: After Berating Lexi Thompson’s Historic Feat, PGA Tour Pro Makes a Final Verdict on His Ludicrous Comment
The PGA Tour and the LPGA circuit rarely intersect with each other, but when they do, it makes a lot of waves in the news community. And now, Lexi Thompson has managed to mark her name in the annals of history as she gears up to play at the Shriners Children’s Open, the PGA Tour event in Las Vegas, through a sponsor’s exemption.
The LPGA Tour Pro will take on the men’s field on October 12th at TPC Summerlin. Although it is such a vital moment in the history of the sport, there are people who do not share the same view about the sport, like a certain PGA Tour pro who even went so far as to call it a “gimmick”!
The third event of the FedEx Fall season will witness a field of 132 compete for a purse of $8.4 million in Vegas. And the Solheim Cup star would be battling it out with the players in a bid to take a cut of the prize purse, but more importantly, to become a part of a very small list of female golfers who have managed the same. However, when asked about the same by Peter Malnati, he had a different opinion.
The American golfer admitted that the invitation might have been a bit of a stretch. Although he had high praises for the 11x LPGA Tour champ, the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship winner understood the move as nothing short of a “gimmick” by the tournament to “drum up interest.”
Realizing his slip of the tongue, the 36-year-old was quick to correct his statement as he said, “I don’t know that having Lexi play is a gimmick,” while mentioning how the event shouldn’t have a need to do so since they “are actually going to have a lot of meaning.” Adding to his point, the golfer also pointed out how change is a hard thing, alluding to the reimagined fall season.
