	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 19, 2017

Lexi Thompson

Naples, Florida

THE MODERATOR: THE MODERATOR: Welcome back. Here with Lexi Thompson, winner of The Race to the CME Globe for 2017, as well as the Vare Trophy. Lexi, pretty nice; $1 million is a pretty good way to end your season. How you feeling right now?

LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, definitely is a good way to end the season. Overall a lot of positives to take from today. Just tried to go out there and stay very relaxed with my caddie, Kevin.

Really just tried to be confident coming into today, and definitely showed in a few of the shots I hit out there. Definitely going to take a positive from that. Winning The Race to the CME Globe and the Vare Trophy is a huge honor.

THE MODERATOR: Do have to ask. It was perhaps not the way you wanted to finish your season, but what do you take away from that that I know you will definitely put toward an even better 2018. No matter how this season ended, it was certainly a successful one for you.

LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it wasn't the way I wanted to end it. I don't really know what happened there. Yeah, it just happens. I guess it's golf. I guess we all go through situations we don't like sometimes.

Yeah, definitely going to take a lot of positives just from this whole year and how I stayed strong and had a lot of great finishes and a few wins.

Hoping for a better 2018.

THE MODERATOR: Going to that Vare Trophy really quickly, you were just barely above 69; maybe had 68 looking at you at one point. What does it mean to you to have such a low number? Everyone talks about how much your statistics and your technical game has improved over the past year. That's got to be a great personal achievement for you.

LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it definitely it is. It's a huge honor to have my name on the Vare Trophy. It's something very special to me.

Coming into the year that wasn't one of my goals. I just wanted to really play consistent golf. I worked extremely hard in the off-season on my short game. I knew what's that held me back last year.

So working on that in the off-season and then coming out strong with the Bahamas and a few other tournaments in the beginning of the year, I think it showed that the hard work paid off. I'm just going to continue to work even harder this off-season.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. Did you ever let the magnitude of the moment creep into your mind? Was it just a situation where you were still in the round of golf and just didn't hit a good putt?
LEXI THOMPSON: No, honestly, I wasn't thinking about it. I putted great the whole day and did my routine; I read it. I mean, wasn't obviously a very long putt. I guess maybe just a little bit of adrenaline.

I didn't look at a leaderboard actually the whole day. That's just the way I am. I just try to stay relaxed and just focus on my game because that's all I can control.

Yeah, I guess it's just golf. You know, crazy things happen like that. I'll move on.

Q. Was there any thought of going ahead and finishing? You roll the 60-footer up there to two feet. Was there any thought, Let me just go ahead and finish?
LEXI THOMPSON: I would've if it wasn't in the other two players' lines. My mark would've been in Austin Ernst's line. I didn't really want to rush it and interfere it, but it happens.

It actually didn't cross my mind.

Q. Obviously been in a lot of pressure situations over the years. This is different with so much on the line on Sunday down the stretch. I want to go back to the first tee first. What were you listening to on the tee, and how does that sort of get you into the zone for a hole that's kind of been a problem this week?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah. Yeah, I just tried something a little different I guess. I've had so much adrenaline on the first tee, I was like, Okay, I just need to calm it down. I just listened to my music, like some chill songs before I tee off. I listened to it throughout the whole time he was introducing me until I heard the people clapping.

I tried eating a little something too before I tee'd off. It definitely helped. I was a little bit more calm and relaxed over that first tee shot and hit a good one. Definitely had still a little adrenaline. I think it just shows the excitement that we all have getting ready to play.

Q. Your caddie, Kevin, said that you were relaxed out there most of the day. Is that truly how you felt with so much on the line?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah. I would say I was probably the most relaxed today than any day. I told him walking up to the first fairway I was just like, Let's just go out, talk in between shots, and just pick really small targets for my shots and just commit to it, and then just keep me relaxed in between.

Like I said, I didn't look at the leaderboard, so I didn't really know the position that I was in. Yeah, it was a great day out there. We had fun out there, so it was a good time.

Q. What did it mean to you to have your mom around all this week?
LEXI THOMPSON: It was great. It was very special. Just to have her out there supporting me, it means the world. She's been through a lot recently especially, and just to see how strong she is and see a smile on her face outside the ropes there, it meant the world to me.

Just to have everybody else there, my whole family and friends, it means so much. No matter how I played, they were there to give me a hug and say they loved me. That's all I needed to hear.

Q. What was your read on the par putt on 18? Did you think it was straight?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, it was a short putt. I don't really play break on those. I don't know. I just had a little mishap in my hands and just pushed off to the right.

Q. With all that you've persevered through this year, how much does it help you deal with the disappointment today and maybe disappointments you'll have in your future?
LEXI THOMPSON: Just going through what I have this whole year and seeing how strong I am and how I got through it all and still won two tournaments, got five, six seconds, I don't even know, I think it just shows I just moved on.

I continue to work hard in my off weeks. It didn't stop me, and this won't either. There are still so many positives. I played great golf today, and we can still look back -- like my dad said, we can still look back and say, Okay, what if I didn't hit the amazing pitch shot I did on 17 to three feet?

It's always what ifs. That's basically what golf is it seems like. But everything happens for a reason. I'm looking forward to 2018.

THE MODERATOR: Is it safe to say you'll be going car shopping soon.

LEXI THOMPSON: Oh, yes.

Q. Tomorrow maybe?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yes, very soon. (Laughter.) That's for sure. I'll be getting that new one.

Q. We saw you flexing your hand out there. What was going on with that? Is that something that cropped up?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it's actually been more in my right hand actually. My hands have had like kind of arthritis pain when I just start in my warm up and then it just like shocked my left wrist when I started gripping the club.

It comes and goes. Like it doesn't hurt right now. I don't know. It's just golf. I'm not easy on the ground as all of us know. Probably just overuse. Definitely be resting it a little bit.

Q. Seemed like a really big learning year for you. What's the most important thing you think you learned this year?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it's probably the most I've learned in any year, honestly. Probably just never give up. No matter what you're put through, you can always push through anything if you go through it with the right attitude and just keep moving forward.

Not going to lie and say some things didn't get me really down and I struggled, but I had to keep on moving on, keep on practicing, keep on training, because I knew I had the talent and I had to show that.

I love this crazy game and what it puts me through and the challenge of it. It's all learning experience every time I tee it up.

Q. In the off-season last year you said you worked really hard on your short game. Are there any plans for this off-season? Anything in particular you're going to hone in on?
LEXI THOMPSON: I actually come back here in two weeks for the Shark Shootout, so I'll be there. But I'm going to take this week off for Thanksgiving and spend it with my family and a rest a bit.

Just same thing: keep on working really hard on my short game and jut tighten up my ball striking. I feel like I got a little out of sorts from my last three tournaments. Not so much this one.

I definitely think it could ge tightened up, so it be another off-season ever working hard and trying to improve on myself.

Q. The lag putt on 18 was really good. That was an example of how you have improved your short game. Do you think your improvement in that part of the game is ultimately what will allow you to really do great things?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, I think that showed this year with how much I worked in my off-season last year and how much I improved with my putting and my chipping.

I think that definitely improved, and showed with the finishes I had this year. Definitely still think it can get better, so I'm going to continue to work on that, and like I said, with my ball striking just try to get a little bit mor consistent to where my so the misses aren't as erratic.

Yeah, just try to keep on improving.

THE MODERATOR: We'll look forward to some pictures of a shiny new car from you. Don't work too hard.

LEXI THOMPSON: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297