Hear from Lexi Thompson from her Round 3 Press Conference at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
Q. Lexi Thompson is with us now at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Lexi, how you feeling after your third round today?
LEXI THOMPSON: With the start, I'll definitely take it. It was just a tough day with that wind; tough and long, very windy, and the pace of play was very slow.
So, yeah, but overall a lot of positives to take from the day with my start being 4-over through 2. Happy I stayed strong and put a good round together.
Q. How do you mentally reset after obviously starting out with a triple? Has to be tough.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, tough to say the least. Yeah, I was on the struggle bus for the first two holes. I was like, all right, how about we just par and simmer down here.
But it's tough. If you just miss a fairway out there you have to pitch out kind of to save par, but most likely could be a bogey. With that start I was like, oh, great, let's just make some pars and a few birdies here and there if I get lucky.
Q. When did you feel settled and able to focus and lock in the way you did coming down the stretch?
LEXI THOMPSON: I would say on 3 I hit a good shot after I pitched out after missing the fairway there. Hit a good 2-iron into that green to have a 20, 25-footer. It was a hard day to really get settled because it was so windy and a lot of backing off shots because of gusts.
It was a matter of just committing to your shots as best as I could.
Q. How do you stay focused when you have to back off like that?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it's difficult. I mean, there is no right or wrong way. You just kind of stay in your routine. I don't really like to play slow. I don't like to back off shots. But with wind gusts like that you kind of have to because it's blowing your body over when you're hitting shots. It's a matter of just getting your shots done in between gusts.
Q. Did the wind actually throw you a little off balance on your second shot?
LEXI THOMPSON: My second shot where?
Q. On No. 1.
LEXI THOMPSON: Oh, I mean, it was blowing, but, no, I just cold popped it. (Laughter.)
Then the other one, I don't even know what happened. It was just compounded.
Q. Okay. So maybe that was just a --
LEXI THOMPSON: I mean, it was windy. Don't get me wrong. It was blowing me, but I don't know if that was the excuse for the top, but we can go with it if you want. (Laughter.)
Q. I want to get it right, so.
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah.
Q. How difficult is it to -- I know normal playing I can't get my wheels back on. You're in a major championship. How tough is it to mentally flip the switch like that?
LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, I would say it's a matter of being able to stay positive and in the moment as best you could with the start. Internally I was definitely a little boiled. You know, I leaned on James and he was very positive with me out there. That was very helpful.
So I just tried to stay in the moment, commit to my shots, make my good par saves, and just kind of keep it going.
