Stacy Lewis switches caddies in emotional final sendoff at Chevron

It was a fitting final stroke, a lengthy par putt poured in the center of the cup. Stacy Lewis walked it in, taking the first step of the rest of her life as she waved to the crowd for what she expects will be her final round as a full-time LPGA pro. Lewis, 41, is four months pregnant with her second child. She’ll miss the cut 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 said.

It was a fitting setting for her sendoff. Lewis was born in Toledo, Ohio, but grew up in the Houston area. The area has been good to her, and she in return; her combination of loyalty and grit was on particularly vivid display in 2017, when she pledged her winnings from one week would go to Hurricane Harvey relief — and then she went on to win her first event in three years.

It was a fitting tournament to finish at; she won this event in 2011, the first of her two major championships and second of her 13 LPGA Tour wins. That win jump-started the prime of her career; two seasons later, she ascended to World No. 1.

Asked to reflect on what that tournament win meant to her, Lewis thought back further, to the spinal fusion she got as a kid to treat 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 said.

There was a fitting figure on the bag for her last hole; coming up No. 18, Lewis’ husband handed the reins to her father, who was there when it all began.

“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 said of their conversation up the last. “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 idea, she said, to tap 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 fitting that her father was there to give her a hug as she finished out, both trying to keep it together, both mostly failing.

“The tears were more because I looked at my dad. I probably shouldn’t have looked at my dad,” Lewis said.

But it was also fitting because Lewis is ready.

“I don’t know the next time I will play 18 holes,” she said 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 chance to reflect on what has been a far-from-normal life to this point, Lewis focused on gratitude.

Becoming a parent, she said, changed the way she saw 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 said. “[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 thankful for her role as a leader on tour — and her ability to shape her experience as a pro.

“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 said, asked to deliver a message to women that’ll follow. “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 certainly has been.

“I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted any of this,” she said. “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.

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