Lexi Thompson fell short of becoming the first woman in 78 years to qualify for the PGA Tour at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
The Solheim Cup star is just the seventh woman to compete in a PGA Tour event and bounced back from a first-round 73 to post a two-under-par 69.
This left her level overall, but with the reduction down to three points, it was not enough to allow her to compete this weekend.
After bogeying her first hole, the 10th, she birdied five of the next 10 holes to find herself 2 under par and in good contention, only to bogey the fifth and third holes. 8 ruined her chances.
However, her score was only the second under 70 by a woman in PGA Tour history after Michelle Wie West at the 2006 Sony Open. “It was a special week,” Thompson told pgatour.com.
“Seeing everyone there, hearing the cheers and seeing all the kids, that’s why I play. I think I said on the last hole, a kid yelled, ‘Come on. Lexi, you’re great,” and that just made my day.
“No matter what I shoot, I can shoot 80, and they’ll say, ‘You did great.’ That’s what it’s all about.”
Cameron Champ and Lanto Griffin were leading at the halfway mark. Champ shot a 67 and Griffin shot a 66 to move to 12 under. They held a one-shot lead over Swede Henrik Norlander, who shot a 64 in the second round.
The champion followed an opening 63 with a colorful card on Friday. He started on the back nine and made five birdies and a bogey in the first seven holes before adding two birdies on the front nine.
Meanwhile, Griffin made 5 consecutive birdies from hole 18 to hole 4. Griffin’s only win on tour came in 2019, while Champ has three career wins but none since July 2021.
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