"There were some kids at the 18th asking for my autograph after I played the hole," she said with a giggle in her voice. "And they were like my age.

"It was so cool."

Cool might just rise to a new level once this week goes into her scrapbook.

Thompson, 12, of Coral Springs, Fla., is among the featured attractions at the U.S. Women's Open, where she now holds the title as youngest qualifier in the event's history.

She likely is to bump into Morgan Pressel, whose record Thompson broke, and who is now a major champion. Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Karrie Webb will share the practice range.

And autograph seekers — some Thompson's age, many much older — will line the ropes at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club hoping for something to take home from golf's newest "it" girl.

How cool is that?

"That'll be amazing," she said. "I'm just excited that I made it. I'm looking forward to going and looking forward to seeing all the LPGA pros in real life."

Thompson, in a little more than three years, has zoomed to junior golf's elite level by outplaying golfers with college offers to consider.

Now she gets a chance to measure up against the game's best — age notwithstanding.

"We're just hoping to make it a lot of fun for her," said Scott Thompson, Lexi's father.

"If we can manage to avoid getting too caught up in everything that goes on with the media and all of that — let her have some fun and play some golf."

A newly minted seventh-grader, Thompson earned her way into the Open during 36-hole qualifying June11 near Orlando. Scores of 72-71 gave her the sixth of eight available spots.

She punched her ticket at 12 years, 4 months — seven months younger than Pressel when she set the record in 2001.

"It means a lot," Thompson said. "I just hope to be as good as her one day."

The Open qualifying process in Pressel's day consisted of just one stage, allowing the chance for a hot 18 holes to determine passage. The 36-hole second stage was added a year later.

Interestingly, the sectional marked the first time Thompson had played 36 holes in a day.

"I didn't think she'd be successful at the sectional level for a couple of years," Scott Thompson said. "This is a surprise. But she's surprised me at every level I've put her at."

Thompson started out by trying to keep up with her older brothers — Nick, a Nationwide Tour pro, and Curtis, an up-and-coming junior. Thompson began entering events at age 7, and age-division trophies came quickly.

When winning started to become routine, Scott Thompson began seeking higher levels of competition. By age 9, Lexi was starting to tee it up against 11- and 12-year-olds.

"It was weird at first," Lexi said. "The kids I played with still talked to me, so that was good. But it just felt weird at first playing with people you don't know."

Not that her golf game suffered any. She continued to pile up the victories, and at age 10, won a qualifier to represent South Florida at the prestigious PGA Junior Championship in Ohio.

Given a special exemption to compete on the Florida Junior Tour, Thompson was the runner-up in her first event at the 13-15 age level. She entered the division five more times, and won all five.

Thompson also has a victory and two thirds at the FJT's highest division, and then stunned her elders by becoming the youngest overall winner at the Doral Publix Junior Classic.

"That really broke the ice," Scott Thompson said.

The victory earned Thompson a full exemption onto the American Junior Golf Association, considered junior golf's highest level. In her first AJGA event, she finished fourth among 43 entrants. She won the next.

By winning the Aldila Junior Classic, Thompson became the second-youngest winner in the AJGA's 29-year history. Vicki Goetze set the record in 1984, two days before her 12th birthday.

"There was no question in my mind that she was ready," Scott Thompson said.

The fast track hasn't come without a few bumps, though. The Thompsons have heard grumbling from parents taken aback at the thought of their child being shown up by a preteen.

And when Thompson first tried Open qualifying two years ago, one of her adult playing partners questioned the integrity of letting a 10-year-old tee it up.

"I've been criticized for doing it," Scott Thompson said. "But every time we've bumped her up, she's performed well. So I feel like we're doing the right thing."

The Open, though, throws a new spotlight on a growing junior populace. Twenty-four teens will tee it up at Pine Needles this week, compared with just five when Pressel made her debut.

When Pressel teed off, galleries lined up at least eight deep down each side of the first fairway at Pine Needles. "I remember being the most nervous I've ever been on the first tee," she said recently.

It's not a stretch to think they might do the same for Thompson. Given that scenario, Thompson responded with a low "Uuuuhhh."

"I don't think it's going to scare me," she said with a hint of reservation.

The longer she mulled the idea, though, the more she warmed up to it.

"I can see myself setting up and looking down this little aisle because people are all up against the ropes," she said. "Then I just hit the shot."

Split the middle?