NAPLES, Fla. - One of the rookies on the LPGA tour next year was asked which player she admired when she started getting serious about golf.
She mentioned Lexi Thompson.
''It kind of makes me feel old. I'm 24,'' Thompson said when told this, her smile a mixture of disbelief and pride. ''For somebody to say I was a role model, that's awesome.''
This wasn't her best year on the LPGA, with only one victory. That came one week after Thompson began the final round of the U.S. Women's Open one shot out of the lead, started with three bogeys in four holes and never caught up.