Lexi's 68--and the wind--carry her up the leaderboard: Golf Digest Woman: Golf Digest

Lexi's 68--and the wind--carry her up the leaderboard

Saturday, March 31, 2012

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Lexi Thompson needed a low round followed by high winds to inject herself into the story at the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Saturday. She got both.

Thompson, 17, the youngest winner in LPGA history, shot a four-under par 68 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course that could have been better, had she not missed two short par putts on the back nine. Still, her round carried her from a tie for 33rd to a tie for ninth as strong winds wreaked havoc with those she was chasing. "I felt like I left probably about two out there," she said, "but overall I'll take a positive out of it. I putted a lot better today."

The bulk of her Saturday climb came early, before the strong winds that were expected arrived on cue. She birdied four of the first five holes. "It got me pretty excited and got me going," she said. Her only blemishes came from missed short putts, one on 14, when a bird flew overhead, "right in the middle of my stroke," she said. "I saw the shadow and it sort of messed with mind a little bit." She also missed three-foot par putt on 18. She has to post another low round on Sunday to have a chance. "I would think it's going to take something like a 66," she said.

--John Strege