Should Alexis Thompson Be Rethinking Turning Pro at 15?

Yesterday, Alexis Thompson made it official that she would make her professional debut at the LPGA's ShopRite Classic in mid-June.  She is all of 15 years old.  Thompson is a distinguished player who has exhibited having the goods to succeed - playing in the US Women's Open from at 12 years old (youngest ever), taking coveted junior events like the US Junior Amateur, and contending in full-field amateur and a few pro events.  She is the top-ranked female amateur in the world.  Sound familiar?

Michelle Wie was in much the same boat, particularly after capturing the US Women's Amateur Public Links title at the ripe age of 13.  The calls came from all corners imploring Wie to turn pro, and fast, because she had outmoded her competition.  Wie relented a few years later, but only after having begun a misguided quest to gender bend the sport and play the PGA Tour for a living.  It took six largely lost years for Wie to finally get into a position to win on the LPGA Tour - where she should have been focused all along.

Alexis Thompson's family golfing pedigree is different from that of Wie's.  Thompson has a brother, Nicholas, who plays on the PGA Tour.  He knows the tribulations of turning pro and can impart that wisdom on his little sister.  Still, at 15, the question remains: are we breeding another Michelle Wie?

Lorena Ochoa weighed in on this when she held a press conference to reveal that she was retiring from full-time competition.  Ochoa gave specific advice to young players like Thompson.

"My advice for the young players, my advice to all of them would be make sure you finish your junior career and go to college and then become professional after that," she said.  Very explicit advice from someone who clearly had the goods to turn pro sooner than she did.  Even Ochoa struggled out of the pro gate to win at the clip that was unfairly expected of her.

In some sense, turning pro early demands lofty expectations.  By declaring to the world, "I'm good enough to be a professional!," the world expect professional results from young players.  Often times those expectations are bigger than what would be anticipated out of a meek player who quietly turns pro without much fanfare.  After all, a humble beginning inspires modest expectations. 

That will not be true for Thompson.  She will have critics who overestimate her ability at the pro level, even provided the very small result set she has on the LPGA Tour.  Others will wonder why she is skipping out on her teenage and collegiate years to play professional golf.  Already groomed to be a professional and living life like someone twice her age, it only seems natural for Thompson to integrate herself with her professional-level peers.  Driving school, junior prom, and that other teenage angst stuff - in her likely view - can be warded off as needed.

It is a gamble to turn pro at this young age.  Wie is not the only cautionary tale.  Remember Carmen Bandea?  She turned pro before she could drive without nearly the same reputation as Wie or Thompson.  She absolutely bombed as a professional.  Tons of pros - male and female - make the leap too soon and eventually are relegated to a life lived far short of their aspirations.

Now it is a bit late to second guess Thompson or scream "Don't do it!"  The only thing to do is hope for the best.