Full-time on the LPGA Tour is challenge

Golf's latest female phenom has no interest in teeing it up with the guys. Being able to play full-time on the LPGA Tour is challenge enough for Lexi Thompson.
Two days after becoming the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour, the 16-year-old withdrew from next week's second stage of LPGA Q-School, according to a report in Golfweek.

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Thompson's agent, Bobby Kreusler, confirmed Tuesday that Thompson had withdrawn from Q-School. Thompson said she plans to petition for an exemption to the tour's 18-year-old age requirement. That comes as no surprise to LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, who said he will consider any petition from Thompson when he returns from the Solheim Cup, which begins Friday in Ireland.
Thompson petitioned the LPGA earlier this year to try for 2012 membership through Q-School. She won the first stage by 10 shots. The second stage was scheduled to begin on Tuesday in Venice, Fla.
Thompson shot 17 under to win the Navistar LPGA Classic last weekend, making her the tour's youngest champion by more than two years.
In the 15 months since she turned professional, Thompson has played 14 events, had three top-10 finishes and earned more than $500,000. She also is the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Open, as a 12-year-old in 2007.
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The LPGA Tour's age limit is designed to protect players -- both emotionally and developmentally. Golf isn't gymnastics or figure skating, where turning 21 gets you an AARP card. With most female players playing their best golf in their 20s and 30s, there's no sense in a teenager rushing to get onto the tour -- especially if it might come at the expense of other parts of her life.
She is homeschooled to accommodate her practice and travel schedule, but has ample time to hang out with her friends. She sees a lot of movies -- "I haven't seen many good ones lately" -- and spent the night before the Navistar began gabbing about boys with fellow teen golfer Janie Jackson.
And while she said winning her first LPGA Tour event was "way more exciting" than getting her driver's license earlier this year, she needed a second or two to think it over.
Though Whan rejected Thompson's request for 12 sponsor's exemptions this year, double what's allowed, the LPGA did allow non-members to participate in Monday qualifying, essentially allowing Thompson the chance to earn her way into additional tournaments.

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Whan also allowed Thompson to go through Q-school, and said she would be accepted as a full tour member in 2012 if she succeeded in the three-stage process. Thompson won the first stage by 10 strokes in July.