Lexi Thompson golf digest, One week before the Masters tees off from Augusta National, the latest issue of Golf Digest has a topless 20-year-old on its cover.
That’s one way to sell magazines.
Lexi Thompson appears on the cover of the May “Fitness and Power” issue wearing little more than a blue golf glove and black yoga pants. She’s covered on top with a towel that’s wrapped around her neck.
The publication — which has taken heat for the way it has portrayed women on its cover — was ready for the backlash after the cover went public Thursday, with the mag’s editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde writing, essentially, “Sorry, not sorry.
We've come a long way from a year ago when the LPGA condemned our choice of Paulina Gretzky (and Holly Sonders in 2013) as the cover images for Golf Digest's annual fitness issue. Mea culpa, ladies. You can have stunning beauty and the highest level of golf performance at the same time, as demonstrated this year by Lexi, Stacy Lewis, Cheyenne Woods and Michelle Wie,” Tarde wrote.
“LPGA players not only outdrive the average guy by 20-plus yards, but they do it with the same clubhead speed we have. We can learn more from them not because they swing like us, but because we should swing like them. They don't just muscle the ball and make up for swing flaws with strength.”
Tarde pointed out that the magazine featured Rory McIlroy topless in a statue of David-like pose wearing nothing but a kilt, something he said wasn’t “a trend — just a sign of the fitness ot today’s top players.
It only appears to be a trend for the women to get on the cover, critics pointed out Thursday. While Thompson is topless, the women who appeared on the cover before her — Wie, Gretzky and Sonders — each also showed some skin on the cover. While the men, outside of McIlroy, rarely show more than their forearms.
That’s one way to sell magazines.
Lexi Thompson appears on the cover of the May “Fitness and Power” issue wearing little more than a blue golf glove and black yoga pants. She’s covered on top with a towel that’s wrapped around her neck.
The publication — which has taken heat for the way it has portrayed women on its cover — was ready for the backlash after the cover went public Thursday, with the mag’s editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde writing, essentially, “Sorry, not sorry.
We've come a long way from a year ago when the LPGA condemned our choice of Paulina Gretzky (and Holly Sonders in 2013) as the cover images for Golf Digest's annual fitness issue. Mea culpa, ladies. You can have stunning beauty and the highest level of golf performance at the same time, as demonstrated this year by Lexi, Stacy Lewis, Cheyenne Woods and Michelle Wie,” Tarde wrote.
“LPGA players not only outdrive the average guy by 20-plus yards, but they do it with the same clubhead speed we have. We can learn more from them not because they swing like us, but because we should swing like them. They don't just muscle the ball and make up for swing flaws with strength.”
Tarde pointed out that the magazine featured Rory McIlroy topless in a statue of David-like pose wearing nothing but a kilt, something he said wasn’t “a trend — just a sign of the fitness ot today’s top players.
It only appears to be a trend for the women to get on the cover, critics pointed out Thursday. While Thompson is topless, the women who appeared on the cover before her — Wie, Gretzky and Sonders — each also showed some skin on the cover. While the men, outside of McIlroy, rarely show more than their forearms.
