It was a becoming final stroke, a prolonged par putt poured in the middle of the cup. Stacy Lewis walked it in, taking step one of the remainder of her life as she waved to the gang for what she expects will probably be her final spherical as a full-time LPGA professional. Lewis, 41, is 4 months pregnant together with her second baby. She’ll miss the minimize at this week’s Chevron Championship at Memorial Park in Houston. It felt good to make the final putt anyway.
“I’m ready for the next chapter, and ready to stop grinding over eight-footers like that on the last hole when it doesn’t matter,” she stated.
It was a becoming setting for her sendoff. Lewis was born in Toledo, Ohio, however grew up in the Houston space. The space has been good to her, and he or she in return; her mixture of loyalty and grit was on notably vivid show in 2017, when she pledged her winnings from one week would go to Hurricane Harvey reduction — after which she went on to win her first occasion in three years.
Emotional second at the Chevron simply now. Stacy Lewis, who’s pregnant together with her second baby and enjoying her final occasion, introduced her dad out to caddie her final gap.
Walked in a protracted par putt, acquired a hug from her dad, one other from her daughter. Now off into the sundown pic.twitter.com/tlZlGniEVI
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) April 24, 2026
It was a becoming event to complete at; she gained this occasion in 2011, the primary of her two main championships and second of her 13 LPGA Tour wins. That win jump-started the prime of her profession; two seasons later, she ascended to World No. 1.
Asked to replicate on what that event win meant to her, Lewis thought again additional, to the spinal fusion she acquired as a child to deal with a severe case of scoliosis.
“I just think back to the kid in high school wearing a back brace and being told I have to have surgery, to 25-plus years later to still be playing golf, to be doing it at this level to have accomplished what I did, I mean, it’s really kind of a fairytale,” she stated.
There was a becoming determine on the bag for her final gap; arising No. 18, Lewis’ husband handed the reins to her father, who was there when all of it started.
“We were just talking about the golf course today and how it played, all the fairway woods I’ve hit into greens this week. Tried to keep it pretty casual,” Lewis stated of their dialog up the final. “I knew he was going to be a little bit more emotional, so I had to finish out the round.”
It was her husband’s thought, she stated, to faucet him in.
“He was the one that had that idea. So, pretty cool because [my father] caddied for me so much early on, my amateur days and even into the start of my professional career. So it was a pretty fitting end.”
It was becoming that her father was there to provide her a hug as she completed out, each making an attempt to maintain it collectively, each largely failing.
“The tears were more because I looked at my dad. I probably shouldn’t have looked at my dad,” Lewis stated.
But it was additionally becoming as a result of Lewis is prepared.
“I don’t know the next time I will play 18 holes,” she stated with a shrug. “Might be this time next year, maybe in the pro-am here next year. I don’t know. [Her daughter] Chesnee has school on Monday and we’ll get right back into the routine of things. My husband has a lot going on. Back to normal life.”
But on Friday, given the prospect to replicate on what has been a far-from-normal life up to now, Lewis centered on gratitude.
Becoming a mum or dad, she stated, modified the best way she noticed hers.
“The more I saw out here just how lucky I was to have the parents I did. I think we’re all frustrated with our parents at times, but looking back I was so lucky compared to a lot of the players out here,” she stated. “[My dad] loved how much I played and he loved it as much as I did. But he just wanted me to enjoy it and he never pushed me. It all came from me.”
And she was grateful for her function as a frontrunner on tour — and her means to form her expertise as a professional.
“I would just say to stay involved with the business of the Tour and know what’s going on. You can make a difference. You can make change happen,” she stated, requested to ship a message to girls that’ll comply with. “Keep giving back to the fans and to our sponsors and never stop saying thank you. I just don’t think we can ever say thank you enough. And just be grateful for every opportunity that you have.”
She actually has been.
“I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted any of this,” she stated. “So I’m just really grateful. Grateful for the opportunities I had and all the people that supported me along the way.”
The feeling is mutual.
“>
