Solheim Cup 2023: Team USA star Lexi Thompson explains why this is her most significant Solheim Cup to date
In a wide-ranging interview, Rolex Testimonee Lexi Thompson tells TG’s Michael Catling about her surprising viewing habits on YouTube, the disappointments that have defined her, and why this year’s Solheim Cup carries greater significance than ever before.
Lexi Thompson has a hard time believing that it’s been 10 years since she made her debut as a teenager in the Solheim Cup. She’s even more surprised to learn that her fourball included both the European Team and American Team captains for this year and next. She laughs hysterically at the reminder, before composing herself long enough to wonder where the time has gone.
This September will be her sixth appearance for the United States. There’s also a chance it could be her last. The 28-year-old is taking nothing for granted nowadays and sees little reason to as she speaks glowingly about the next generation of stars coming through.
It wasn’t so long ago that she was being talked about in the same way Rose Zhang is now. Thompson was only 15 when she turned pro and her association with Rolex began. She won her first LPGA and LET titles a year later, and then celebrated her first Major Championship victory before she had even turned 20.
The expectation was that she would just keep on winning, but other people’s expectations are hard to meet. There were other successes, but they were often tempered by bad luck and close calls in the events that carry the most weight.
This year has been one of her toughest yet, though she refuses to let it dampen her enthusiasm for representing her country again in the Solheim Cup. Victory in Spain, she says, could change everything…