Lexi Thompson explains why she is sticking with family members as caddies

Lexi Thompson is sticking with familiar faces on the bag. The 23-year-old 10-time LPGA winner said she will continue to use her brother, Curtis, as her caddie this year. When he’s playing in his own tournaments — he made 13 starts on the Web.com tour in 2018 — she’ll use her dad, Scott. Thompson made it clear that her brother isn’t just in a fill-in role at the moment, either, saying “I’m not searching for anybody right now.”

“I think I realized that’s who cares about me the most right now,” Thompson said on Wednesday at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, explaining why she’s using family members on the bag. “My dad’s been my coach my whole life. If I have him on the bag, I know he can help me out tremendously. Same thing with Curtis. He knows my golf swing very well too. He can always keep me laughing out there. So with either of them, I know I’m going to do well and just feel comfortable out on the golf course and a lot less pressure.”

Thompson split with caddie Kevin McAlpine prior to the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., in November. Curtis picked up her bag and she won for the first time since September 2017. Her win came a few months after Thompson skipped the British Open “to take some time to work on myself.”

“It’s been a long year,” Thompson said after her victory in November. “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.”

The Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions is the LPGA’s first event of the season, and players are grouped with celebrities who compete in their own tournament. Thompson is playing with MLB Hall-of-Famers Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

On Wednesday, Thompson was asked if she knew who they were.

“I Googled them, just to make sure,” she said. “But yes, I do now.”