There is no possible way to make the headline any less salacious and still factually correct, no matter how it gets worded, because Lexi Thompson, winner of the 2015 Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan this past weekend, has been playing this season with an injured wrist after, yes, punching a writer doing a story on her for Golf Digest.
Golf Digest is the publication that featured Thompson topless with a towel draped over her shoulders back in February, and for the story that accompanied that photo shoot, Conde Nast Entertainment associate producer Tony Hernandez—the author of the article for Golf Digest—thought it would add more flair to the piece to conduct the interview during Thompson’s training regimen, which included sparring in a boxing ring.
Thompson and Hernandez conducted the interview while both wore boxing gloves and gear, with Thompson punching Hernandez as he asked her questions, wearing a camera that was mounted to his head.
Thompson, 20, punched Hernandez several times during the interview, hard enough to cause a deep bone bruise in her right wrist, according to Bobby Kreusler, her agent. Kreusler told GolfChannel.com that the injury has been a nagging issue ever since, with Thompson battling tendinitis.
Thompson has been playing with her right wrist wrapped to keep pain and swelling at a minimum.
“We’re not positive, but I think it’s from the boxing shoot, and now from just overuse,” Thompson said. “I need tape on it, that’s for sure. Without the tape, it still hurts pretty bad. I’m icing it a ton. So, we’ll see where it goes.”
The GolfChannel.com story states that Thompson has had an MRI done on the wrist and doctors have “thoroughly” examined the injury with no structural damage found. Kreusler explained that Thompson has a deep bone bruise that won’t fully heal until she has some time off.
There had been some speculation Thompson hurt her wrist because of her swing style, routinely taking deep divots with her irons. “I want to make it clear, it’s not a function of her taking deep divots,” Kreusler told GolfChannel.com. “I was there when she hurt the wrist.”
Her agent wants to make it clear: Thompson didn’t hurt her wrist because her swing is bad. She hurt it punching a guy doing a story on her over the winter and it still hasn’t healed. That should make sponsors feel a lot better.
That said, if she plays the way she did this past weekend at the upcoming British Open, her sponsors may want her to hit a few more journalists. I bet a lot of agents might suddenly feel the same way.
