Lexi Thompson Finds Familiar Space in the Mix at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Lexi Thompson has made it clear.

She was never going to fully stop playing, this year at least, but instead play a reduced schedule and keep working away on her game.

What so many didn’t expect, perhaps (How can one find the motivation to play well when a retirement-like announcement has already taken up so much oxygen on planet golf?) is how Thompson has continued to put herself in the mix at a handful of events so far in 2025.

And through 36 holes at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Thompson is very firmly part of the conversation at Fields Ranch East.

“Been working extremely hard on my game, on every aspect of it, and it's kind of coming together,” Thompson said.

Thompson shot a 2-under 70 Friday in Frisco to zip up the leaderboard and, when she putted out and as the afternoon wave began, she was tied for third. She would have been one spot higher on the ledger had she not made an ill-timed bogey on her closing hole.

Alas, the American star continued to put herself in fine position of the tee which allowed her to take on plenty of pins at PGA Frisco’s Gil Hanse design. She birdied Nos. 5 and 7 on her opening nine before adding another circle on the scorecard on No. 12. She stayed steady until her closing hole when she hit her approach into a greenside bunker and couldn’t get up-and-down for par.

Still, Thompson finished her day third in strokes gained: off the tee and fifth in strokes gained: putting – a tidy combination.

Hitting the fairways was key, she said.

“When you miss the fairways out here it basically a pitch out. The rough is pretty thick and kind of just goes straight to the bottom. But it got windy out there today, so just trusting your lines and really committing to your shots out there,” Thompson said.

Thompson has 15 top-10 finishes at majors since 2015, the most of anyone without a victory in that span. That includes three second-place results, most recently a tie for second at this championship in 2022. Thompson finished tied for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA last year – her best result at a major in two seasons.

While she missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open, Thompson finished tied for 14th at the Chevron Championship and came into this week off a tie for fourth at the Meijer LPGA Classic.

“I am just trying to find one thing that I can really focus on and really commit to (it) every time I step foot out here,” Thompson explained.

With two more days to go, that ‘one thing’ she should be focusing on is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship trophy.