“I just need to fire at pins” - Lexi Thompson comes alive late Friday to make the cut at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2023
Day 2 of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2023 ended with several big-name golfers, including Nelly Korda and Atthaya Thitikul, missing the 36-hole cut. Lexi Thompson was one golfer who came alive late on Friday to save her weekend. The golfer carded in an impressive four birdies in her last five holes to make the cutline at Baltusrol’s Lower Course.
While last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic winner Leona Maguire leads the event, Thompson sat T49 after scraping through the cutline in round 2. The golfer shared the position with the likes of Ashleigh Buhai, Lucy Li and Danielle Kang, among others.
Following the explosive round, the golfer opened up on the back-to-back birdies. The 28-year-old said that he planned to ‘fire at pins’ during the round.
Speaking to the media after making the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2023 cut, Lexi Thompson said, as quoted by Golfweek:
“I’m like, I just need to fire at pins. Trust me, I was trying to do it the whole time. Kind of just all clicked coming in. Made some really good putts and really stuck to my game plan coming in.”
"I'm definitely going to take that last stretch of holes into the weekend and see where it takes me."
@Lexi birdies four straight in her back nine to make the cut at the @KPMGWomensPGA! 💪 https://t.co/teWKKGTkK6
Lexi Thompson's impressive round 2 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Lexi Thompson moved up more than 50 spots on the leaderboard, from outside of 100th place, within five holes on Friday.
The golfer, who didn’t have the smoothest start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, carded a 5-over-par 76 on Thursday. However, she managed back-to-back bogeys in her opening two holes on Friday before making three pars on her 12th, 13th, and 14th holes. She curled in a 25-footer for birdie on the eighth hole (her 17th) to get fans on their toes.
The 11-time LPGA Tour winner finished her final five holes in 4 under par and made the cut by two shots. Currently no. 9 in the world, Thompson is only making her fifth LPGA start of the season this weekend.
Having missed the cut in three of her last four outings, including last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic, the Women’s PGA Championship was the perfect comeback for Thompson. Opening up on the same, the golfer said:
“Like I said, it’s been a struggle this whole kind of year except for my first event of the year. But I’ve been working probably harder than ever in my whole life on the golf course and when I’m home practicing. Just to be able to come through towards the end and make those birdies, it’s nice to see hard work pay off, even though I’m still at 4 over. I’m taking it. I’m taking the little, small win right now and building it.”
Having made the tough cut, it'll be interesting to see how Thompson fares over the weekend at the Women’s PGA Championship 2023.