19th Hole
Lexi Thompson staying positive after recently making big putting adjustment

On the 72nd hole at last weekend’s Pelican Women’s Classic, 11-time LPGA winner Lexi Thompson stood over a par putt that would have defeated Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and Sei Young Kim.
She missed it and once again must have rued yet another opportunity to win for the first time since June 2019.
Still, there was the play-off, but the result was similar, continuing a worrying trend in losses down the stretch or even head-to-head in deciders.
Indeed, memories started flooding back to the US Women’s Open when the 26-year-old lost a five-shot lead with an abject short game display, and even further back to 2017 when despite winning the Race to the CME Globe (essentially the number one ranking), she missed a two-foot putt to win the final event of the year.
She isn’t worried, though, and on the eve of the closing event of the 2021 season commented, “I didn’t make the few that came down the stretch, but it’s an improvement. That’s really all I’m going for. I have a lot of golf to be played in my life”.
Lexi recently switched to the claw grip at the Solheim Cup in a bid to improve her performance on the greens (she currently 138th on tour in putting average).
Working for 3-5 hours every day on her putting, the one-time Major winner said “I don’t even know how my back is still attached. It takes a lot of hard work, and it’s all about confidence and getting the stroke consistent enough and holing the putts under pressure, which I’ll get to.”
A change to the claw grip may, as it does, look ugly, but it resulted in a much-improved putting display last week, eventually ranking fourth in a top-quality field, her best ranking for an age.
Working with mental coach John Denney and now alongside a new caddy, Will Davidson, Thompson has a new outlook on her game. Preferring to see golf as not being life or death, Davidson is reported by Golf Digest to say, “still be focused on things we need to be focused on but keep your mind off things that can creep in and cause doubt. Keep your mind occupied, and those doubts go away.”
Results look to be improving, too, with four top-12 finishes in her last five starts, and as I write, she is currently in the top half of the field at the CME Group Tour Championship. So far, she has parred all the par-five holes, perhaps disappointing for a player that never ranks outside the top three for distance, but there is also (so far) no bogeys in her first round.
This new outlook, new grip, new attitude and new team could finally be the thing that takes the child superstar over the line again. Only 12 when qualifying for her first US Women’s Open, this has already been a long career despite being four years away from her 30th birthday, but there is plenty still there.
“I think the caddie-player relationship is the biggest thing out here,” Thompson said. “If you have somebody out here who you’re not gelling with by your side, it can make a big impact. We get along so well; he’s great out there with me. We’re learning with each other; we’re six weeks in, we’re still learning. He’s been a great help and I’m fortunate to have him by my side.”
2022 could be a very big year for Lexi.
More from the 19th Hole
- Outrage as dramatic LPGA classic gets no live TV coverage
- Rory McIlroy explains split with Pete Cowen and ‘return’ to Michael Bannon
- Why Nelly Korda has hired a new swing coach despite season of dominance
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.