Lexi Thompson announced Wednesday that she has withdrawn from the Ricoh Women’s British Open to “recharge my mental batteries.”
In an Instagram post, Thompson, 23, wrote that she has not “felt like myself for quite some time.” She alluded to “the events of the past year and a half (on and off the golf course)” that have “taken a tremendous toll on me both mentally and emotionally,” a reference, perhaps, to her on-course dramas at the ANA Inspiration and season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, as well as her mother, Judy, battling uterine cancer.
Thompson, who last played two weeks ago at the Marathon Classic, wrote that she’s planning to “focus on myself” over the next month and hopes to return to defend her title at the LPGA’s Indy Women in Tech Championship on Aug. 16.
The fifth-ranked player in the world, Thompson is winless this year but has posted five top-10 finishes in 13 starts.
The Ricoh Women’s British Open is next week at Royal Lytham.