19th Hole
Leading analyst criticizes Lexi Thompson for ‘distasteful’ Aramco comments
Lexi Thompson finally won her 14th professional title when proving three shots too good for Brooke Henderson, Nelly Korda and company at Trumps Golf Links at Ferry Port last weekend.
Having finished runner-up in seven events since her last victory at the ShopRite Classic 2019, and blowing more than one opportunity to add to her major victory in 2014, her victory in the individual section of the Aramco Team Series was met with a touch of cynicism, particularly after her comments last week.
LIV Chaiman Greg Norman has continued to comment positively about the possibility of a LIV Womens series, hardly denied by LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, who was asked in July about the rumors of a link with the Saudi sponsored organization.
Samaan confirmed that:
“It’s my responsibility to evaluate every opportunity. I would engage in a conversation if it would achieve our aim of promoting women’s golf but there needs to be input from players and sponsors. There’s a lot of factors to consider before we do business with LIV Golf.”
Whilst the Aramco series is not officially part of the LPGA season, there has been a recent link between the LPGA and Ladies European Tour, considerably enhancing the status and prize-money of the latter – no wonder Lexi, Nelly et al turned up last weekend.
Before LIV held its first event, there was, naturally, much disagreement over playing a tour backed by a regime with a poor human rights record, particularly against women, and the comments of Thompson at last week’s press conference have been met with a reprimand from Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch.
In front of reporters, 11-time LPGA Tour winner Thompson spoke in favour of the backing from Aramco, a company closely linked with the Saudi regime.
“I would say that without the support of Aramco, LET would not be as strong as it is today.
And I think they are growing the game of golf in women’s golf, and I think that if you speak to any of the Ladies European Tour players, they are extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I think that’s what Aramco is trying to do. They are trying to grow the women’s game, and I support that fully.”
Of the talk of a women’s series, both Nelly Korda and Thompson spoke in very much the same way, with Korda saying:
“I mean, right now that’s kind of speculation. As a player I don’t really know and that is not in my hands. That’s for the Tour commissioner,”
Thompson agreed:
“Yeah, exactly. I mean, the talks is out there that that might happen but hasn’t been brought to us. We are just doing what we can and that’s playing the LPGA and there’s not much else. We are just growing the game. There’s not much else we can do.”
However Lynch isn’t having any of that, calling Thompson’s comments “distasteful”.
Continuing, Lynch commented, “There’s a certain element of controversy to that and you can make a nuanced argument that there’s a difference between sponsorship and ownership of a tour, but that argument only takes you so far.
“It’s still … it’s soft sportswashing by another name what the Aramco Team Series are doing. And it’s easy prey because the Ladies European Tour runs on fumes.”
Following Charley Hull’s comments after her win at the Volunteers of America Classic, there seems momentum behind some LIV investment in the womens game, and Lynch isn’t a fan.
“So, it’s an easy thing to throw money at and get attention for but they did get attention from a lot of top LPGA Tour players this week, ” he said. “The LPGA Tour was off [and] a lot of players showed up and it’s not uncommon to see appearance fees paid to top players on the Ladies European Tour.
“Whether any were paid this week has not been disclosed. What I was struck by was Lexi’s comments afterwards where she said, of the sponsors, what they are doing is ‘amazing’ and they ‘are giving girls opportunities’ they are ‘growing the game’ and we’re ‘very grateful’ which seems to me a little bit distasteful to lay it on when you are talking about a regime with a record of Saudi Arabia and its state-owned oil company sponsoring the event.”
He added: “All it does is prove, I think, if there is ever some kind of alignment between Golf Saudi or LIV Golf and the LPGA Tour, if that threat arises, anyone who expects to see more evidence of a moral compass on the LPGA Tour is probably going to be disappointed.”
Talk of a #LIVGolf ladies league continues to pick up. pic.twitter.com/hHR7SOKVTr
— LIV Golf Latest (@LIVGolfLatest) October 18, 2022
More from the 19th Hole
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.
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.
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.
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