The overnight leader had her second major
championship in her sights with a four-stroke lead after her
first nine holes, but her tee shot on the par-four 11th found
the Olympic Club's thick rough and she could only manage a
double bogey.
She lost her lead with a bogey on the par-five 17th and left a
par putt short on 18 that would have put her into the playoff
with Japan's Nasa Hataoka and eventual champion Yuka Saso of the
Philippines.
"Of course it's tough," the 26-year-old told reporters after her
final round 75.
"I really didn't feel like I hit any bad golf shots. That's what
this golf course can do to you, and that's what I've said all
week."
The windy Olympic Club's unforgiving layout features narrow
fairways, nasty rough and small greens and Thompson said a few
bad breaks down the stretch doomed her chances.
"On 17, I mean, I didn't hit a bad drive," she said.
"The wind just never got it and then it tried to bounce right,
and I've never seen a lie that bad," she said.
"That's what this course can do. Just got the wind wrong on a
few shots coming in."
After taking a one-stroke lead on Saturday with a bogey-free 66,
she said she had been focused on taking a more positive attitude
to the game she has been playing professionally since the age of
15.
Thompson, who won her only major in 2014 when she was 19, said
she will continue to focus on the positives.
"Of course it's hard to smile but it was an amazing week," she
said.
"I played not so well today with a few of the bogeys coming in
on the back nine, but the fans were unbelievable and hearing the
chants gives me a reason to play.
"It was just an unbelievable feeling to be out here and play
this golf course. I've never been out here, so it was a
blessing, and I'll take today and I'll learn from it."
Thompson said she was already looking ahead to next week's LPGA
Tour event at nearby Lake Merced Golf Club, where she will be
gunning for her 12th win on the LPGA Tour.
"I have a tournament next week," she said.
"So we'll take it from here."
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; editing by Richard Pullin)
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