Scottish golfer gearing up for LPGA season - but in a new role

At a time when her own playing career is on hold due to the “pain” being caused by two bulging discs in her back, Thomson has turned to caddying and is gearing up to be carrying a bag on the LPGA this year.

She’s linked up with Frenchwoman Nastasia Nadaud, who secured her card for the US circuit with a top-ten finish in the LPGA Q-Series in Alabama in December.

“I’m not going to say I am completely done as a player,” Thomson, speaking out in Dubai, told The Scotsman. “But, at the moment, I have two bulging discs in my back and, when I am trying to rotate and hit the golf ball, it is actually quite painful. I’ve not been able to get that sorted over the last couple of months as I have been caddying for Nastasie.

“I’ve done seven or seven events for her and we’ve had four top tens and a win (in the LET’s season-ending Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana (in November), so that has been brilliant. She’s now offered me the chance to do the LPGA with her at the start of this year.

“So I’m going to give that a go and put my playing career on the back-burner until I can get my back issue sorted. It’s just down to repetition, I think. I’ve had 20 years of playing tour golf and all the grind, basically, to keep it going.”

Thomson has nine top-ten finishes on LET to her name and produced one of the best rounds of her career on home soil when posting a seven-under-par 65 at Dumbarnie Links to lead after the opening day of the 2021 Scottish Women’s Open.

‘My heart is still in playing’

Three years earlier, she teamed up with fellow Scots Connor Syme and Liam Johnston, as well as England’s Meghan MacLaren to win a silver medal for Great Britain in the mixed category in the European Championship at Gleneagles, landing a bronze as well in partnership with MacLaren in the women’s event.

“My heart is still in playing,” insisted the 37-year-old, one of the bubbly characters in the game. “But, when you are in as much pain as I’ve been in when you are trying to play, it’s not any fun. The caddying isn’t affecting the injury, though it’s a tour bag this year so I might see a difference (laughing), but I’m really looking forward to being out in America and seeing how that goes.

“It is quite different to playing. You are working for someone else. It’s also not as stressful. I find it easier to see things a bit clearer in terms of the decisions I make. Nas is an unbelievable player. She’s 84th in the world and I really enjoy working for her and it’s been really good so far.”

In last year’s ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, Thomson, a former Scottish Women’s champion, was on Hannah Darling’s bag as the highly-rated Lothians player made her debut in the professional ranks.

Though that week ended in disappointment as Darling missed the cut and then failed to make it through the first stage of the LPGA Q-Series, she is now gearing up for a full campaign on the LET after producing a strong performance over two stages in the circuit’s Qualifying School in Morocco in December.

“I am delighted she’s now got her card for the LET, where I think she’ll do amazing,” declared Thomson. “She’ll have plenty of opportunities to do well this year. No, it doesn’t come easy, but she proved how good a player she was by going to the LET Q School and getting her card.

“I’ve reached out to Hannah and said that if she needs any help at any point, then she shouldn’t hesitate to get in touch with me. She is super-talented, hits the ball for miles and a lot of the courses will suit her. She’s a lovely girl as well.”

It’s been a tough few years for Scottish players on the LET. “It’s just the quality of golf these days is so good,” said Thomson. “You used to think that there were about 20 girls who could win. But, as you saw last year from the likes of Mimi Rhodes winning straight away, they are ready to win when they come out on tour and in any given week anybody could win.”

Thomson was speaking at Dubai Creek during the DP World Tour’s Dubai Invitational. “I was going to be out here and volunteered to caddie for one of the amateurs, which was good fun,” she said.

Her first assignment of the year with Nadaud is next month’s $5 million PIF Saudi Ladies International in Riyadh before the pair head to the Far East for the Blue Bay LPGA event on Hainan Island, where new mum Gemma Dryburgh is also set to be in action. ”After that, we’ll be heading across to the States,” said Thomson. “I thought I clocked up the miles before, but it will be even more now. I’m really excited.”

‘You’ve got to keep working hard’

Does she miss her spell pounding the beat in the Granite City? “Well, it was a long time ago,” she declared, laughing. “It was over ten years’ ago. It’s going to be fun for the next year or so. But, like any caddying job, you are not sure how long it is going to last, so you’ve got to keep working hard.

“But, if I can get fit again and can fit in a couple of tournaments here and there as I have a career money category, then I’ll give it a go. I’m not ever going to say I’m retired as I’m not.”