05 October 2023 , 16:40
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PGA Tour regular Peter Malnati labelled Lexi Thompson's invite to compete at next week's Shriners Children's Open a "gimmick", before quickly backtracking on his comments.
Thompson was offered the chance to compete in the men's field at the upcoming tournament, at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas and duly accepted. In doing so the 11-time LPGA Tour winner and Solheim Cup star will become the seventh female golfer to compete on the PGA Tour.
Following Thompson's exemption for the the Vegas-based tournament Malnati was questioned on his thoughts, and despite having some kind words for the American appeared to quickly regret his response.
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Speaking at this week's Sanderson Farms Championship, the Tour star said: "I just got a text this morning, so I don't know much about it," Malnati said of Thompson's invite. "Obviously I know that Lexi at times has been one of the top players on the LPGA Tour, and she's obviously very athletic.
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"Distance won't be a problem. She'll hit it far enough... I don't think we're going to need to resort to gimmicks to drum up interest." After labelling the invite as a 'gimmick' to increase interest in the FedEx Cup fall event, he quickly added: "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 kind of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines that they can sell because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning.
Peter Malnati quickly backtracked on his comments (Getty Images)"Like I said, change is hard for everyone at every level, so I assume if you're a host organization of a tournament, if you're the Century Club here in Jackson, if you're Wayne Sanderson Farms, you just don't know right now for sure what you have anymore because the fall is completely reimagined.
"I'm pretty sure that the fall is going to be a blockbuster hit. I think it's going to be very successful. But these tournaments, they don't know yet." Thompson meanwhile is more than looking forward to compete against male competition, and is hoping to inspire the next generation of female players.
"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," the former major winner commented. "You can chase your dream regardless of how hard it is."