Lexi Thompson got emotional in discussing her decision to retire from professional golf at just 29 years old.
Thompson held a press conference on Tuesday, before the U.S. Women’s Open kicks off Thursday at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania, and said she would be retiring at the end of this LPGA season.
“Being out here can be a lot. It can be lonely. Sorry if I get emotional. I said I wasn’t going to,” Thompson said, as she teared up. “I just think, especially with what’s happened in golf, people don’t realize a lot of what we go through as a professional athlete. I’ll be the last person to say, ‘Throw me a pity party.’ That’s the last thing I want.”
Thompson appeared to be referencing PGA Tour golfer Grayson Murray, who died Saturday by suicide.
“You know, we’re doing what we love. We’re trying the best every single day, and we’re not perfect. We’re humans. Words hurt and it’s hard to overcome sometimes, but having the people around you that love and support you, I feel like that’s been the biggest thing for me,” Thompson continued.
“I might not have a huge friend group, but to have the people that matter the most around me has gotten me through some really hard times.
“I think it’s a lot for everybody out here, or in any professional sport. A lot of people don’t know what we go through — the amount of training, and hard work that we put ourselves through — it’s a lot, and I think we deserve a lot more credit than what we get.”
Thompson said she only knew golf as life and cited mental health as one of her deciding factors in retiring.
“I think we all have our struggles, especially out here,” she said. “Unfortunately in golf you lose more than you win, so it’s an ongoing battle to continue to put yourself out there in front of the cameras and continuing to work hard and maybe not seeing the results you want and getting criticized for it. So it’s hard.
“I will stay, yes, I’ve struggled with it — I don’t think there’s somebody out here that hasn’t,” she said. “It’s just a matter of how well you hide it, which is very sad.”
Thompson, who burst into the spotlight when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s open at 12 years old in 2007, has won 11 LPGA tournaments and won one major — the 2014 Chevron Championship.
She almost won a second Chevron Championship, in 2017, but was penalized by four strokes for replacing a ball that she wasn’t permitted to and subsequently signing an incorrect score card.
This error pushed her into a playoff with So Yeon Ryu, who ultimately won the major.
Thompson’s last LPGA win came at the 2019 ShopRite LPGA Classic; she also finished second at the U.S. Women’s Open in 2019 and the Women’s PGA Championship in 2022.