It was a fitting final shot, a long flick into the center of the cup. Stacy Lewis stepped into it, taking the first step of the rest of her life as she waved to the crowd for what she expects to be her final round as a full-time LPGA professional. Lewis, 41, is four months pregnant with her second child. She will miss this week’s cut Chevron Championship at Memorial Park in Houston. Anyway, it felt good to score the last goal.
“I’m ready for the next chapter and ready to stop grinding with eight-footers like this on the last hole when it doesn’t matter,” she said.
It was a suitable setting for her delivery. Lewis was born in Toledo, Ohio, but grew up in the Houston area. The area has been good to him, and she in return; her combination of loyalty and grit was especially vivid in 2017, when she pledged that her winnings from one week would go to Hurricane Harvey relief — and then she went on to win her first event in three years.
Emotional moment at Chevron just now. Stacy Lewis, who is pregnant with her second child and playing her final event, brought her father out to fix her last hole.
Walked a long putt, got a hug from her dad, another from her daughter. Now go into the sunset pic.twitter.com/tlZlGniEVI
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) April 24, 2026
It was a fitting tour to end on; she won the event in 2011, the first of her two major championships and the second of her 13 LPGA Tour victories. This victory marked the peak of her career; two seasons later, she climbed to world No. 1.
Asked to reflect on what that tournament win meant to him, Lewis reflected further, on the spinal fusion he received as a child to treat a serious case of scoliosis.
“I just think about the kid in high school who was wearing a back brace and they told me I had to have surgery, and 25 years later to still be playing golf, to make it to this level to achieve what I did, I mean, it’s really a fairy tale,” she said.
There was a fitting figure in the bag for her last hole; moving up to number 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 on the greens this week. I tried to keep it pretty casual,” Lewis said of their last conversation. “I knew he was going to be a little more exciting, so I had to finish the round.”
It was her husband’s idea, she said, to touch her.
“He was the one who came up with the idea. So, pretty cool because (my dad) was committed to me very early on, my amateur days and even early on in my professional career. So it was a pretty fitting ending.”
It was fitting that her father was there to hug her as she finished, both of them tried to hold it together, both of them mostly failing.
“The tears were more because I was looking at my dad. Maybe I shouldn’t have been looking at my dad,” Lewis said.
But it was also fitting because Lewis is ready.
“I don’t know next time I’ll play 18 holes,” she said with a shrug. “It could 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 be 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 so far, Lewis focused on gratitude.
Becoming a parent, she said, changed the way she looked at hers.
“The more I saw here how lucky I was to have the parents I had. I think we all get frustrated with our parents sometimes, but looking back I was very lucky compared to a lot of players here,” she said. “(My dad) really loved what 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 role as a leader on the tour — and her ability to shape her experience as a professional.
“I would just say stay involved in the tour business and know what’s going on. You can make a difference. You can make a difference,” she said, looking to give a message to the women who will follow. “Keep giving back to our fans and sponsors and don’t stop saying thank you. I just don’t think we can ever say thank you enough. And just be grateful for every opportunity you get.”
She certainly was.
“I don’t think anyone would have predicted any of this,” she said. “So I’m very grateful. I’m thankful for the opportunities I had and all the people who supported me along the way.”
The feeling is mutual.
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