Lexi Thompson Is A Million Dollars Richer Tonight, Mercifully

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We know golf is cruel but few have experienced a year like Lexi Thompson, who dealt with an ugly rules infraction at the ANA Inspiration and costing her a major. Then her mother battled cancer and, with the season ending CME Group Tour Championship in her sights, Thompson missed one of the shorter putts you'll ever see. And she wasn't close.

But there is great news! She won the season-long Race To the CME Globe in spite of the miss and world No. 5 Ariya Jutanagarn capitalized with a clutch last hole birdie for the tournament win. As Beth Ann Nichols notes in her Golfweek game story, the LPGA season ended as it essentially started: with Thompson heartbreak.

Bill Fields, filing for ESPN.com, sets up the scene:

Thompson went to No. 18 leading by one and was on the green of the 425-yard par 4 in regulation. From 60 feet after reading the putt with caddie Kevin McAlpine, she lagged beautifully, cozying her ball two feet left of the hole. So little was left that if Thompson hadn't been worried about stepping in the lines of fellow competitors Austin Ernst and Jessica Korda, she said she would have putted instead of marking.

When it was time, to finish off a tournament and end a trying season in style, there was no reason to call McAlpine over for his opinion. "I just mentioned to her, 'You've got it,' and my job's done," said McAlpine, who didn't watch what happened next.

And it's best.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek with the roundup of Tweets and other Thompson comments after the ghastly miss. Kids, cover your eyes, this is not a stroke to emulate:

Because the event was telecast on ABC, there do not appear to be any packaged highlights available for embed or reference. So Lexi has that going for her. And $1 million well earned after a long, but consistently good 2017 season.