Lexi Thompson’s form took off right from the Solheim Cup event. She has acquired the golden touch ever since, and her fans couldn’t be happier. She had top 10 finishes in the two events she competed in, after the Solheim Cup. The Solheim Cup was in itself a good measure of her talent, as she secured three wins from four matches.

Now, she has also received the honor of playing in the Shriners Open, with her PGA Tour counterparts. Speaking in a press conference about this, she confessed that it means the world to her. An interesting question came up during the conversation that sort of brought in a comparison with a Rory McIlroy achievement.

Lexi Thompson discusses an age-old comparison

Lexi Thompson received a question about a comparison between male and female golfers. There is a general theory that women are more accurate with their shots, while men gain more distance with their drives. Asking Thompson about this makes more sense since she is popular for her ball-striking skills. Recently, Brittany Lincicome had appreciated how far Thompson hits the ball, and praised her accuracy as well, after the Shriner’s announcement came in. 

She agreed that her accuracy adds to her advantage. The 28-year-old added that this is particularly so, with firmer greens where the ball tends to go away a bit. While she admitted to having some edge because of her accuracy, she also acknowledged how hard it is to hit the fairways. She also spoke about how the short clubs on the green help, but added that for her maybe slightly longer clubs work better. 

A recent tweet about Rory McIlroy’s stats sort of weighs in on this debate. The stats update states that the Irishman has shot 808 drives in the last season. Out of those he had crossed a distance of 320 yards in 336 shots. A deeper comparison of the two players’ stats might offer more clarity on the matter.

We checked out the official player profiles of the two stars from their respective tours. The PGA Tour’s website for McIlroy and the LPGA for Thompson. We picked two key metrics for a comparison of their driving abilities.

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Let’s find out what the analysis revealed. Will the theory about distance and accuracy check out?

Rory McIlroy Vs Lexi Thompson — a quick comparison

As far as average driving distance (all drives) goes, Rory McIlroy stands ahead with his 311 yards. Lexi Thompson has an average driving distance of 270 yards.

One part of the comparison theory checks out, now let’s check the other half of it. Rory McIlroy has an average driving accuracy of 53.25 percent. Lexi Thompson clearly stands ahead with her 63.30 percent. 

Taking this a little further, we compared the overall stats of PGA and LPGA stars. The PGA pro who ranks first in driving accuracy has 71.74 percent. With that accuracy, one can’t even make it to the top 50 ranks in the LPGA Tour. The LPGA pro who ranks first in driving accuracy has 88.9 percent. 

From our little study, it seems that the theory is probably right. What do you think? Do let us in the comments section below. 

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