Thompson, who led the CME Group Tour Championship by four-shots, missed her birdie putt on the final hole but it didn’t matter, she could have missed her second putt and still walked away with the win. As it happened, Thompson confidently sank her next putt to make par for a total of 18-under and a four-shot victory over Nelly Korda. It was sweet redemption for Thompson who missed a crucial two-foot putt on the same green at the same event last year. Despite looking like she would still win the tournament, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn made back-to-back birdies and snatched the title away from Thompson.
This victory forms an important redefinition in Thompson’s journey to overcome personal problems. A week before Ricoh Women’s British Open, Thompson announced that she had withdrawn from the major event to “recharge my mental batteries.” But it was more than that, Thompson was at the peak of saturation having been plagued by problems that have afflicted her. Her mental health has born the brunt of the rules debacle at the ANA, the missed putt at the CME last year, and her mother's cancer diagnosis and treatment.
After her break, Thompson returned searching for her “A” game, missing two cuts in rare occurrence for her. However, her performance at CME Group Tour Championship reinstated the 23-year-old as the competitive, powerful, driven athlete she’s become known as. "Just the up and downs and just the things I've been dealing with, they all kind of hit me this year. To be able to end the year like this and just keep on fighting throughout the whole year has meant the world to me. Just shows anything is possible. You have to fight through whatever you're going through," said Thompson, as quoted by Golf Digest
