The LPGA Tour has its fourth major of the year this week at the Amundi Evian Championship, and Lexi Thompson won’t be there.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise because Thompson, who was critical of the Evian Resort in 2019 when she missed the cut, hasn’t been back since then.
She said at the U.S. Women’s Open this will be her last year playing a full schedule, although she hasn’t made clear what that means. She has had three top-10 finishes since then.
It’s an odd decision to skip a major, though Thompson certainly isn’t the first player to do that, nor the most high-profile player.
Annika Sorenstam was 28 and already a two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion when she skipped the du Maurier Classic in 1999, citing fatigue after taking appearance money from two overseas events.
And then there was Kenny Perry, who at age 47 was No. 20 in the world in 2008 and having his best season. He was coming off wins at the Memorial and Buick Open when he chose to skip the British Open at Royal Birkdale, instead playing the Greater Milwaukee Open held the same week. By then, he already had locked up a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
“I committed to all these tournaments when I was ranked 100th in the world,” Perry said at the time. “And now, all of a sudden, I’ve won twice. I’m not going to back out on them.”
Thompson recently lost in a playoff to Lilia Vu at the Meijer LPGA Classic, and she was in the hunt at the Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee until a 43 on the front nine Sunday
Thompson missed the cut at Evian in 2019 and wrote on Instagram: “I’m actually thankful that I don’t have to put myself through that for another two days. You’re a beautiful place Evian but that’s just too many bad breaks with good shots for me, so bye.”
Golfweek reported that Thompson removed the post later in the day to clear up any confusion. She said in a new post that her words were directed at her frustration of not playing well in a major and the unlucky bounces players get in golf.
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