Golf Digest's editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde knew what was coming. Lexi Thompson's topless cover on the magazine's latest issue was sure to come with some backlash, but Tarde was ready to stand by his decision.

In a published editor's note, Tarde wrote, "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."

"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," he continued.

Golf Digest's cover went public Thursday, just a week before the Augusta National. The twenty-year-old golfer is infamously known for when she jumped into Poppie's Pond at host Mission Hills C.C. after winning the ANA Inspiration for her first major title, Yahoo! News reports.

In the photo, Thompson poses topless, holding a towel over her breasts.

Thompson seems proud of the Golf Digest's cover and even took to Twitter to promote #GirlPower.

"I landed on the May cover of @GolfDigest ! So pumped to represent fitness & power #GirlPower," she tweeted Thursday.

I landed on the May cover of @GolfDigest ! So pumped to represent fitness & power #GirlPower : https://t.co/ucXw4JTnSm pic.twitter.com/u4ys8WLLyv

— Lexi Thompson (@Lexi) April 2, 2015