Lexi Thompson says she “played decent” on her PGA Tour debut, with the Solheim Cup star one over par after 16 holes at the Shriners Children’s Open.
The 28-year-old Thompson was two holes from completing her first round when darkness halted play in Las Vegas.
“Just a huge honour just to be able to tee it up here,” said Thompson.
“I played decent. I had one bad hole and a few iffy shots. But it’s golf. It was kind of expected.”
Thompson, who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption, is the main attraction this week at an event aimed at players attempting to earn a place on the PGA Tour for the 2024 season.
She sits joint 76th on the leaderboard as she aims to become only the second woman to make the cut in a PGA Tour event.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the first to do so, in the 1945 Phoenix Open. Shirley Spork played all 72 holes and had a 105th-place result at the 1952 Northern California-Reno Open, but that was an event without a mid-tournament cut.
American Michelle Wie West made eight PGA starts, missing the cut in all, most recently at the 2008 Reno-Tahoe Open.
Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam and American Suzy Whaley played PGA events in 2003, with both also missing the cut.
Thompson admitted to feeling some pressure at the start of her round, comparing it to the tension of the Solheim Cup team matches, including last month’s event where she was in the US squad which drew 14-14 with Europe.
“I had a little bit of nerves, but not too much,” she said. “Similar to Solheim, similar nerves, but that’s kind of what you play for.”
She sank a birdie putt on the second hole but missed the green with her approach at the third and made bogey.
Thompson then made a three-putt double bogey at the seventh and missed the green to bogey the eighth, but reached the green in two at the par-five ninth to set up a tap-in birdie.
She sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-five 13th but missed a similar shot at the 16th.
Beau Hossler birdied five of the last seven holes to shoot a nine-under 62 on the par-71 course and take a one-stroke lead over fellow Americans Cameron Champ and J.T. Poston.
