The LPGA player, who has career earnings of almost $3million, will appear topless on the front of the May edition of Golf Digest – using only a towel to cover her torso.

The LPGA player, who has career earnings of almost $3million, will appear topless on the front of the May edition of Golf Digest – using only a towel to cover her torso.

Professional golfer Lexi Thompson, 20, will appear on the front of May’s edition of Golf Digest
She appeared in the Women’s U.S. Open when she was just 12. At the time she was the youngest player ever to have appeared in the major tournament

Golfer Morella Carta added: ‘I just think that this is a detriment to women, because I’d like to be recognized by being a good golfer; not about how my body looks like in the front page of a magazine.

I think that if we allow this to happen, we will never get to the place where we should be.’

It is the first time a pro-golfer has appeared on a ‘Fitness and Power’ issue cover – with past choices embroiling the publication in controversy.

Thompson (pictured in 2014) turned professional in June 2010 at age 15 and in September 2011, she set a new record as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament – 16 years, seven months, and eight days
Fox Sports golf reporter Holly Sonders, who

was with the Golf Channel at the time, appeared on the cover and in a photo spread in 2013.

The next year, the magazine featured Paulina Gretzky, who was only connected to the sport as PGA tour professional Dustin Johnson’s fiancee.

LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan said he was ‘disappointed’ in Golf Digest’s position to put Gretzky on the cover.

The publication also confirmed that the shoot took place in a closed set and Thompson’s mother was in attendance so she could discard any shots.

Thompson made the news last year after jumping into Poppie’s Pond, a tradition for tournament winners at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

She turned professional in June 2010 at age 15 and in September 2011, she set a new record as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament – 16 years, seven months, and eight days – when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic.

Thompson was the youngest player to play in the Women’s U.S. Open in 2007 when she was just 12. However her record was beaten last year when 11-year-old Lucy Li qualified.