Lexi Thompson hit her drive on her 10th hole and promptly turned her attention to more important concerns. “Where’s Mom?” she asked her caddie, who pointed to a spot in the gallery a few hundred yards away.
Thompson, 22, grabbed a handful of snacks from a table and ran over to give them to her mother, Judy, who had told Lexi, during their predawn drive to the course, not to fret if she did not see her after the first nine holes of the United States Women’s Open.
“I’ll be O.K.,” Judy Thompson said. “I’ll just be inside resting.”
She braved the sweltering heat, walking all but a three-hole stretch of her daughter’s round, which inspired Lexi Thompson to dig deep for a one-under-par 71. Thompson stood five strokes off the early lead held by Feng Shanshan.
It was Judy Thompson’s first tournament appearance since she received a diagnosis of uterine cancer in May. She underwent a hysterectomy in June to remove the malignancy and finished her fifth of five radiation treatments last week.
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“I want to play well,” said Lexi Thompson, whose best finish in 10 previous U.S. Women’s Opens was seventh place in 2014. “But just to have my mom here and enjoy the week with her is what I’m focusing on.”
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Lexi Thompson shot a one-under-par 71 despite making only five of 14 fairways. “It’s been an emotional few months,” she said of her mother’s battle with cancer.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
Before the round, Judy Thompson gave her daughter a good-luck hug. She then walked a few hundred yards down the cart path from the tee box, to what she thought was an inconspicuous spot. She prefers not to draw attention away from her daughter, but on Thursday a low profile was impossible to maintain. One by one, parents of the other players came up to her to say hello, give her a hug and see how she was feeling.
Her radiologist advised her to drink one and a half gallons of water a day, but the humid conditions made it difficult for her to stay hydrated. On her daughter’s sixth hole of the day, Thompson showed her participant’s guest badge to a marshal in the hopes of obtaining a 16.9-ounce bottle of water from a cooler at the tee box. The marshal refused her request. After that, people in the gallery made sure she had a steady supply of water.
Thompson became emotional when she described crossing paths Wednesday with second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn, who usually greets her with a head nod and keeps going. This time Jutanugarn stopped and wrapped Thompson in a heartfelt hug.