Lexi Thompson Makes Cut at Women’s PGA Thanks to An Epic String of Birdies

Ireland’s Leona Maguire stole the show on Friday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship when she captured the solo lead at 5 under par, but there was some fascinating action further down the leaderboard as well. 

In just five holes, Lexi Thompson launched herself back inside the cutline, moving up more than 50 spots on the leaderboard, from outside of 100th place to inside the top 50.

It’s safe to say Thompson didn’t have the smoothest start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The major champion carded a 5-over-par 76 on Thursday at Baltusrol, struggling to hit fairways and greens at the challenging Tillinghast design. The round put Thompson in a tie for 105th place and gave her plenty of work to do on Friday to make the 36-hole cut of the top 70 players and ties. 

Then, on Friday afternoon, things weren’t looking much better. Thompson made back-to-back bogeys in her opening two holes. She went on to string together seven consecutive pars, until another bogey came along on Baltusrol’s 1st hole, her 10th of the day. 

That’s when the 11-time LPGA Tour winner flipped the switch. Three pars on her 12th, 13th and 14th holes gave Thompson the momentum for a stunning Friday finish: She carded four birdies in row to finish her final five holes in 4 under par and make the cut by two shots. 

Thompson holed a lengthy putt for birdie on No. 5, stuck her approach to inside six feet at No. 6, nearly eagled the par-5 7th, and sunk another incredible lag putt with significant left to right movement on No. 8. 

The run showed some serious grit from the 28-year-old who has struggled with a wrist injury throughout the 2023 season. 

Thompson might have made the weekend at the second LPGA major of the season, but she has some catching up to do if she wants a realistic look at the title come Sunday afternoon. 

Maguire leads at 5 under par, while Celine Borge, Mel Reid and Xiyu Lin trail by one shot at 4 under for the tournament.