Rozner: The ace Lexi Thompson will never forget — sort of

It was arguably the worst hole-in-one celebration in golf history.

But in Lexi Thompson's defense, she didn't see her ball once it rolled over a ridge and toward the cup on the 166-yard sixth hole.

Making matters worse, it was 5:03 p.m. Thursday on a very hot day at the Women's PGA Championship, and the sixth green at Kemper Lakes is as far from the clubhouse as you can get.

Fans were in desperate need of water and air conditioning, so crowds were thinning out.

There was a gallery with the very popular Thompson on the tee box, but at the green complex were a grand total of four people who saw it drop in the jar.

The two marshals never moved a muscle. The lone fan didn't react at all.

And that left yours truly with no choice. After what felt like an eternity, I looked back toward the tee and raised my arms.

Thompson signaled a question, as in, you mean it went in? I raised my arms again and gave the dunk sign. Journalists are not supposed to participate in the event, is what I was taught some decades ago, but in this case I was left with no option. She deserved to know the outcome.

Finally, Thompson reacted and the crowd roared.

Weird, right?

“There weren't too many people up by the green so I couldn't go off the reaction,” Thompson told me after the round. “The ball disappeared over that hill and I didn't know.

“I expected people to be jumping up and down if it went in.”

Sorry.

“That's OK. It's still a good feeling,” Thompson said with a big smile. “I just wish a few more people could have seen it.”

It's amazing that Thompson was still smiling well past 6 p.m. because Thursday wasn't a whole bunch of fun. Still, she kept her composure, kept it light and battled through it.

The ace took Thompson from 1-over to 1-under on her 15th hole of the day, during a round in which she had to fight to stay in the tournament, hitting only 8 fairways and 9 greens.

She gave a shot back on the very next hole, the par-5 seventh, after an errant drive left her behind a tree and standing nearly in the lake, but Thompson had two tap-in pars to finish and she was happy to end the day even par.

She goes out early Friday (8 a.m.) and is still very much alive, having kept herself in the PGA by fighting when she didn't have much in the arsenal Thursday.

“It was a bit of a struggle the whole day,” Thompson said. “I didn't hit it great off the tee. Overall, I just didn't feel my best out there, but I know my game's in a good spot so maybe it's just a matter of a little fatigue.”

Given her trip to Rhode Island on Monday for a charity event after another tournament in Arkansas over the weekend, not to mention the bear that is Kemper Lakes, Thompson has earned the right to be tired.

“You have to keep your composure in a major,” she said. “If you're struggling, you just have to fight, get up and down and make pars.”

Adding to the stress, rules officials put her group on the clock twice.

“That does not help when you're hitting crooked tee shots and getting timed,” Thompson said, managing again to laugh. “But I don't think I could have gotten much more out of this round.

“Maybe I could have made a few more putts, but I saved a lot of shots where I needed to and the ace helped out a lot.

“Just get just some sleep tonight, have a good warmup tomorrow and have a good day.”

Lexi Thompson didn't quite have a day to remember, but at least she had one shot she'll always remember.

Sort of.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.