Stacy Lewis says an emotional goodbye, retiring after 18 years of LPGA career
HOUSTON — Stacy Lewis expected tears on Friday as she ended her 18-year career on the LPGA Tour, including two majors among her 13 titles and ascent to No. 1 in the world.
Mostly it was for her father, Dale, who worshiped her on the 18th hole at Memorial Park, the last father daughter to walk up the fairway and into retirement.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have looked at my dad,” Lewis said after rounds of 79-77. “I think my feelings are probably a lot different than theirs. It’s probably a little more painful, when I’m just fine. I’m ready for the next chapter and I’m ready to stop grinding over 8-footers.”
Lewis, who has a 7-year-old daughter, played her last LPGA event while pregnant with her second child. He was released from The Chevron as the previous champion. He won his first major title 15 years ago at Kraft Nabisco in Mission Hills, California.
One of his biggest came at the Old Course in St. Andrews, where Lewis hits long irons on the golf links and putsts on the double greens are clinical.
That was a signature moment when she became the first American in nearly 20 years to be LPGA player of the year in 2012, and in early 2013 she rose to No. 1 in the women’s world rankings for the first time.
Her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, is the women’s golf coach at Texas A&M and played for her this week until she handed Dale Lewis a bag.
He thought it appropriate that he close his career in his hometown.
“I just think back to when I was a kid in high school wearing a back brace and was told I had to have surgery, 25 years and more that I’m still playing golf, playing it at this level, and accomplishing what I’ve done,” he said. “I mean, it really is a myth. I don’t think anyone could have predicted any of this.”
Just making it to the LPGA was somewhat of a surprise.
Lewis was diagnosed with scoliosis when he was 11, so severe that he wore a back brace for 18 hours every day from the age of 11 until he left high school, then needed surgery when that didn’t correct the curvature of his spine.
Her Houston orthopedic surgeon, Gary Brock, planned to insert two rods into her back. But in the months leading up to the surgery, Brock attended a charity event, bought a raffle ticket and won a series of lessons with a golf pro who had worked with Lewis.
It was then that the doctor realized that Lewis was a recreational athlete. So he suggested a single rod for surgery to give him more flexibility and rotation. Thanks to that raffle ticket, Lewis went on to play at Arkansas, win an NCAA title and enjoy a distinguished LPGA career.
Her last win was in 2020 at the Ladies Scottish Open, while Lewis captained the Solheim Cup twice and played on four American teams.
And the last act of Lewis, 41, was a day with family and friends, and a walk with his father.
“We were just talking about the golf course today and how it plays, all the fairway woods I hit this week. I tried to keep it loose,” Lewis said. “I knew he was going to be affected a bit, so I had to finish the round.”
