\n<\/p>\n
The altered format, showing the climax of the season in a less enticing light, was simply down to the need for an early finish. Why? To allow the American networks to then switch attention to the men\u2019s action on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cBummed I won\u2019t be able to embrace all the incredible fans on 18 as I finish, hopefully some will be out there on 9,\u201d Thompson told her legion of social media followers when she lay 30th after the third round at Tiburon Golf Club in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty sad when you\u2019re at \u20134 in the season-ending event, which could easily be the last CME of your career, and you won\u2019t even finish on 18 because they decide to double tee on the final day due to TV coverage window.\u201d<\/p>\n
This should have been a moment to celebrate one of the more significant careers in LPGA history. Thompson\u2019s farewell deserved the widest possible coverage.<\/p>\n
She celebrated only one major win, at the event now known as the Chevron Championship, a decade ago. But she has been a fixture on the biggest leaderboards; four times she was runner-up among 13 top-5 major finishes.<\/p>\n
And Thompson had etched her name into golfing history long before that lone triumph at Mission Hills in 2014.<\/p>\n
As a 12-year-old in 2007, she became the youngest player to qualify for the US Open. She made it to the grandest of the female slams again in each of the next two years and aged 14 played all four rounds to finish in a share of 34th place.<\/p>\n
Thompson was just a year older when she turned professional and was runner-up at the Evian Championship in her inaugural summer among the paid ranks.<\/p>\n
She seemed endlessly and globally newsworthy. Two months shy of her 17th birthday, Thompson posted her first win in Dubai to become the youngest professional winner on the Ladies European Tour.<\/p>\n
It is fair to say that at every stage of her career she has been a superstar attraction. Posters to flog tournament tickets would invariably display her image. She is one of the few female players to regularly appear on the front cover of golf magazines.<\/p>\n
Yes, there have been significantly more successful careers, but Thompson was always box office.<\/p>\n
When at her very best, there were very few who could live with her as a golfer. But there were also frailties. Majors slipped from her grasp due to short game woes; her vulnerabilities making her all the more interesting.<\/p>\n
Infamously, in 2017 a television viewer spotted her incorrectly replacing her ball on the green towards the end of her third round at the ANA Inspiration. But the offence only came to light on the final day.<\/p>\n
It was worth a two-shot penalty, doubled because she had obliviously signed for the wrong score in the third round. It was so very Lexi. Her commanding position in that major was wiped away. Ultimately she lost a play-off to Ryu So-yeun.<\/p>\n
Thompson was a mainstay of seven Solheim Cups, appearing on the winning side three times including this year in Virginia. Her overall record of 10 wins and 10 losses from her 27 matches reflects the enigmatic character of her career.<\/p>\n
She could often be tetchy and guarded with the media but never with galleries. She connected with her followers – on course and online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love watching her. She\u2019s so much more than just a great golfer,\u201d I heard an AIG Women\u2019s Open fan say while Thompson commanded the most sizeable first-round galleries at a windswept St Andrews last summer.<\/p>\n
She will play more tournaments, but last weekend was the end of Thompson\u2019s full-time career and she deserved a more rousing send off.<\/p>\n
Indeed the lucrative $11m season-ending tournament, which also marked the end of the careers of US Solheim players Ally Ewing and Marina Alex, warranted better treatment from the networks.<\/p>\n
The man putting his hand in his pocket to record effect, the title sponsor\u2019s boss, Terry Duffy, raged against the decision not to show the third round on live television.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s inappropriate for a tournament of this magnitude to be on tape delay,\u201d the CME Group chief executive told the Palm Beach Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are going to continue to build women\u2019s sports, you have to give them the same billing as men and stop the nonsense of saying we have to show the men\u2019s tournament because they\u2019re the men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson spent her career proving the female side of the sport deserves a proper spotlight. As the man who is prepared to put millions upon millions into the women\u2019s game attests, it clearly still fails to shine to maximum effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n