How will Lexi Thompson do against the men at the PGA Tour's Shriners Children's Open?

LAS VEGAS — The breeze was down, the sun was high in the sky and Lexi Thompson was battling the boys on the golf course. Tuesday felt just like old times, except the PGA Tour’s Michael Kim and Ben Griffin were standing in for Thompson’s older brothers, Nicholas and Curtis, and the course was TPC Summerlin, not Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, where Thompson fell in love with the game as a child while competing against her brothers and their friends.

“It was nice to be out there just having a relaxing practice round and just kind of joke around and get some feedback from the guys,” Thompson said.

At the Shriners Children’s Open on Thursday, Thompson will become the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event. If Tuesday’s practice round transported Thompson back to when golf was uncomplicated fun, her media session shortly afterward reminded her of the considerable weight she carries as the latest link in an exquisite chain stretching across the decades, from Babe Didrikson Zaharias to Shirley Spock to Annika Sorenstam to Michelle Wie West to Suzy Whaley to Brittany Lincicome.

Preceding Thompson in the interview room were Taylor Montgomery, a Las Vegas native, and Tom Kim, the defending champion. Both were asked whether they’d address “the elephant in the room,” as the reporter put it, and share their thoughts on having Thompson in the field.

More: Lexi Thompson's first round at PGA Tour's Shriners Children's Open cut short by darkness

Without hesitation, Montgomery and Tom Kim both replied that it was “cool.” In response to a later question, Kim said he has watched women’s golf before but never up close, and he suspected there was a lot he could learn from observing Thompson. “Just to be able to see the way she plays, the way she goes around the golf course,” he said.

Thompson is aware that not everybody shares Tom Kim’s enthusiasm. She had a ready answer, delivered with a smile, when she followed Kim to the dais and the same reporter asked her how she felt about her participation being dismissed as “a gimmick.”

“I knew some comments were going to happen,” Thompson said, adding, “But it’s all good. I expected it, so …”

Her voice trailed off, but her smile was resolute.

Thompson making news on golf course since she was 12

Thompson, 28, has performed under the sport’s microscope since she qualified for the United States Women’s Open at age 12. She turned professional at 15 and won her first LPGA tournament at 16. She has added 10 more titles since, including one major. She is hugely popular among the sport’s youngest fans, especially girls who see themselves reflected in her love of ladybug earrings and all things pink, but especially in her emotional vulnerability, which she doesn’t bother to hide.

A wayward swing, coupled with the constant dissection of said swing, wore Thompson down earlier this year. She missed five consecutive cuts at one point, and her ranking had declined so precipitously that she was prepared to accept sponsor exemptions to get into events to try to qualify for the tour championship, which she won in 2018. In recent weeks, she has regained her form, compiling a 3-1-0 record for Team USA in the Solheim Cup and collecting her first top-10 finishes of the season (a tie for eighth in Arkansas and a fifth in Texas).

Because of her rapport with youngsters, this week’s tournament, with its connection to the Shriners Children’s Hospital, struck Thompson as a propitious place to realize her girlhood dream of competing alongside the men in a regular-season PGA Tour event (she has partnered several times with PGA Tour players in a team event held annually in Florida).

“I want to leave a message, just to the kids, that I’m following my dreams and to go after what you want with a positive mindset and don’t let anybody’s comments or reaction get in the way of that,” Thompson said.

She added, “If I can inspire one individual, I would feel like I’m making progress.”

Charley Hoffman, a four-time tour winner who also received a sponsor exemption, has two daughters under the age of 12. After he heard that Thompson was in this week’s field, Hoffman made a connection to something that his firstborn, Claire, recently told him.

“She is an equestrian,” Hoffman said, “and she mentioned that it’s the only Olympic sport not divided by gender. So my daughters, as young as they are, are aware of that stuff.”

Charley Hoffman notes Thompson's distance with her irons

Hoffman, who has partnered with Thompson in the team event, described her as “an amazing talent.” He said, “She pretty much hits her irons the same distance I do.”

If people are surprised to hear that, it’s because the women do not receive the same exposure as the men. As it stands now, one woman competing against the men is the surest way to raise the profile of all women’s golf.

“People will watch Lexi and they’ll see that we have all the same shots the men do, the flop shots, the chip shots around the green,” Lincicome said. “Other than hitting it 400 yards, we literally can do everything the men can do.”

More: Ryder Cup golfers on United States, European teams deserve to be paid | D'Angelo

On a downhill par-5 in her Tuesday practice round, Thompson found the green on her second shot using a 3-wood that traveled 230 yards. Jason Gore, the PGA Tour’s chief player officer, had pulled up in his cart in time to marvel at the shot.

What was his reaction?

“One word,” Gore said with a smile. “Jealousy.”

Bryson DeChambeau, who got to know Thompson when they both were representing the same clothing company, believes she’ll surprise a lot of people this week.

“She is a talented golfer who gives back to the kids of the game, and I think that it’s great that she is doing something outside the box,” DeChambeau, who is preparing for an LIV event this week in Saudi Arabia, said in an email. “Make the cut or not, she has nothing to lose. Go out there and be an inspiration to young children who want to achieve their dreams.”

Shriners Children's Open

Through Sunday

TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas

TV: 5 p.m., GOLF

Defending champ: Tom Kim

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lexi Thompson will become 7th woman to play on PGA Tour at Shriners Children's Open