Thompson has sights on HSBC Women's Champions

She is not the first golfer to adopt the method, but Lexi Thompson caused a bit of a stir last year when she started putting with her eyes closed.

However, the world No. 6 will have eyelids pulled back and her bright blue eyes glued to the ball when she hits the Sentosa greens next week.

Thompson will be one of the 19 players from the LPGA Tour's top 20 who will be playing in the HSBC Women's Champions at the Sentosa Golf Club from March 2 to 5.

The 22-year-old told The New Paper that her closed-eyes experiment is over, with her putting game now more on point than ever before.

That could well be a critical factor at the New Tanjong course, whose tricky greens had club president Low Teo Ping predicting that the US$1.5 million (S$2.1m) tournament will be decided by precision putting.

"No more eyes shut for me. I did that for half a year last year - it was a little bit of a struggle, a phase I was going through," she said in a phone interview from Chonburi, where she is competing in this weekend's Honda LPGA Thailand.

Former men's world No. 1 Vijay Singh and former women's world No. 2 Suzann Pettersen both putted with their eyes shut at some point in their careers.

"I've made some pretty big changes to my putting. I'm using a Bettinardi putter and I've moved closer to the ball now, with my eye over my line, and taking it straighter back and through.

"It feels great. I have more confidence in putting, more than I've ever had," said Thompson, one of the biggest hitters on the Tour.

"I'm so competitive, and I love the challenge of individual sport, and golf is a sport you can never perfect - it changes every day," added Thompson, who admitted to knowing little about the refurbished New Tanjong course.

She was ranked second on the LPGA Tour in average driving distance last year, behind Joanna Klatten.

Her putting average made for less pleasant reading - she ranked 139th in that department - but she is already making huge strides this year.

She is now ranked joint-ninth with Beatriz Recari, after finishing second at the season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic behind Brittany Lincicome last month.

US President Donald Trump has already had a close-up look at Thompson's new putting groove.

"I play with him quite a bit - I actually just played with him on Saturday, before I came out here," said Thompson, who joins her two brothers in regular games with Trump, who she calls a "big supporter of women's golf".

"He's a lot of fun to play golf with, he's always complimenting me on my shots, and my brothers on how they're doing.

"It's an honour to play with the President. He is competitive, and he usually chooses me to be on his team against the two others that we play with, but who doesn't like to win?

"None of us likes to lose, he's in the same boat as all of us."

But Thompson admitted to doing better than the main man in the White House.

"I do this for a living, so I hope I would beat him," she said, giggling. I think he's got a few more important things on his mind now."

Tickets for the HSBC Women's Champions cost between $20 (single-day ticket) and $60 (seasonal ticket), with free entry for children aged 16 and below. For more details, visit www.hsbcgolf.com/womens