Teen phenom draws quite a crowd

They stopped and stared from the putting green. They interrupted their lunch and stepped outside to brave the 40-degree temperatures, as the wind whipped through the pines. And they formed a concise semicircle behind the first tee box, where the lanky girl in an all-black wind suit was warming up.

They all wanted to see 14-year-old Alexis Thompson.

She's here this week, at the Harder Hall Women's Invitational, the second of five straight amateur events for the budding superstar. She had never played Harder Hall CC prior to Tuesday, but that may not much matter. She finished second at the Dixie Amateur last week - and that was after firing a final-round 78.

"I just try to do my best every tournament and just try to play well," Thompson said. "And if I don't, it's just one tournament. I've got a lot more."

That she does. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of events await the country's top amateur, who could potentially turn pro before ever filling out a college application.

And here's the inconceivable part: Many consider her game already suitable for professional golf.

When she was 12, Thompson became the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open, and her victory at the 2008 U.S. Junior Girls Golf Championship brought more national acclaim.

This past summer, once she grew into her current 5-foot-10 frame, she was in contention for the U.S. Open title after two rounds before sinking on the weekend and finishing 34th. And in October, Thompson carded a first-round 65 and held a share of the 36-hole lead - with none other than world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa - at the Navistar LPGA event.

"I was in the newspaper, front page and I was just like, 'Woah, this is weird,'" Thompson said. "When they announced me (before the start of the third round) it was just like, 'Oh my god, can this ball please go straight?' Everybody was in the stands and it was just, wow..."

Thompson, of course, doesn't expect the same following here. She played her Tuesday practice round alongside two friends, and her father, Scott, who walked the course with a yellow yardage book in hand.

This is tournament week. And it's surely a welcome departure from an everyday routine that, at times, resembles a 9-to-5.

Thompson said she typically wakes up at 6:30 a.m. She spends two hours taking online classes - English, geometry, and earth and space science - from her family's home in Coral Springs before heading out to TPC Eagle Trace for the first of two practice sessions. Then lunch. Then a workout. Then 18 holes.

Now repeat.

"I chose this lifestyle for golf," Thompson said. "I get to practice seven hours a day, and it's what I want to do."

In golf, slumps can endure for years and swings can change seemingly on every hole. Not surprisingly, it's a sport replete with tales of teenage prodigies who never made it big.

Some burned out.

Some lost their swings.

Some just reached a plateau.

"I worry about these kids," said tournament chairman Carol Semple Thompson, who became one of the most celebrated female amateur players in history - but when she was in her 20s.

"They're so specialized at such a young age, and they don't enjoy childhood. They're very limited, but I'm also amazed by them."

Thompson seems to understand that inherent risk, that fine line between maximizing her potential and becoming robotic.

"If I keep on going the way I'm going, I'll make it," she said. "If I just keep on working hard, it'll all just pay off in the future."

Thompson's long-term goal remains the same, though: become an elite player on the LPGA Tour. First, she'd like to compete in June's Curtis Cup, the female equivalent of the Walker Cup. (It's also why she's playing five straight weeks, to solidify her No. 1 ranking.) And if she can pick up a few amateur wins this spring, "that'd be nice, too," she said.

For now, Thompson will continue to embrace the pressure and the attention, smiling and nodding to the adoring crowd after belting another shot down the middle of the fairway.