PGA Tour pro Peter Malnati swiftly walked back awkward 'gimmick' comments he made on learning that Lexi Thompson will make her PGA tour debut at the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas on Oct. 12.
11-time LPGA winner Thompson is the seventh woman to play in a PGA tour event in almost 80 years since Babe Didrikson Zaharias first made the cut in 1945. The last woman to compete in a tour event was Brittany Lincicome in the 2018 Barbasol Championship.
Malnati's original comments caused some controversy when he seemed to imply that Thompson was only being included in the event to drum up attention:
"I just got a text this morning, so I don't know much about it. Obviously I know that Lexi at times has at times been one of the top players on the LPGA tour, and she's obviously very athletic. Distance won't be a problem. She'll hit it far enough."
"My gut reaction when I saw that was like the tournament reaching to try to get, just trying to drum up interest. I think I understand that, if that is the case."
However, he appeared to regret what he said and swiftly walked it back.
"I don't think we're going to need to resort to gimmicks to drum up interest. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know that having Lexi play is a gimmick, but I don't think the tournaments are going to have to go to those kinds of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning."
"Having Lexi play certainly will get a lot of headlines, and if that's the goal for Shriners and the host organisation in Vegas there, that's great. Obviously she's a professional athlete, she's accomplished a lot."
"I mean, who knows what will happen. She may go play really well and it'll be huge. She may play absolutely terrible and finish 132nd. Either way, she's a professional golfer. She has a spot in the field."
28-year-old Thompson has previously played alongside the men in the unofficial tour event the QBE shootout. The American has struggled this season but finished with a T-8 in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship last week, and went 3-1 at the Solheim Cup as the US tied with Europe.
"I'm hopeful that my ability to play with the men next week at the Shriners Children's Open sends a great message to the young women that you can chase your dream regardless of how hard it is," said Thompson in a statement.
"I'm grateful to Shriners Children's for this opportunity to spend the week alongside these inspirational kids."
