Lexi Thompson drains hole-in-one to get in contention at HSBC Women’s Champions

Lexi Thompson may have been feeling left out of the whole “phenom” discussion lately, what with the extraordinary play and rapid ascent of 17-year-old Lydia Ko. But the former prodigy still has a few cards up her sleeve, as the now 20-year-old Thompson sank an ace in Thursday’s first round of the HSBC Women’s Champions to put her just three shots off the pace.

Thanks to the second hole-in-one of her career, Thompson moved into a tie for ninth at 3-under with four others, including former world No. 1, Stacy Lewis. The top-ranked Ko, going for her third straight worldwide win, was T4 with four others, including World Golf Hall of Famer Karrie Webb.

“I played pretty steady the whole day,” Thompson told reporters after carding a 3-under 69 that had her looking up at Ko (68) and co-leaders and former world No. 1s Inbee Park and Yani Tseng (66s). “Didn’t really get anything going until that hole but it’s definitely a big confidence boost.”

Thompson, playing the first round in the all-prodigy threesome that included Ko and Michelle Wie, credited a “low, controlled” 7-iron on the 150-yard par-3 14th for her eagle-1. Her first ace in competition came at the 2014 Marathon Classic.