Stacy Lewis took not long after winning Sunday on FaceTime with her nearly 22-month-old daughter.
After rolling a 24-foot Birdie putt to win on the first playoff hole at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, Lewis made the long-distance connection with her husband, Gerrod, back at her home in Houston.
Gerrod told Stacy that Chesnee hit her plastic club on the TV set in celebration after mom rolled into the winning putt. Lewis said she could not wait to come home and show her daughter the trophy.
“It’s great,” Lewis said. “The only disappointment is that she is not here to take a picture here. I tried to get a trophy from the day she was born. That has been my goal. ”
Now Lewis has another special memory of Scotland to cherish. She won the AIG Women’s Open, her second major championship title, at the Old Course in St. Louis. Andrews back in 2013.
The victory was Lewis’ 13th LPGA title, her first since winning the Cambia Portland Classic nearly three years ago. She defeated Azahara Munoz, Cheyenne Knight and Emily Pedersen in a play-off of four, and finished four days of testing challenges. The four of them finished at just 5 under par through 72 holes.
Lewis drains birdie putt to win Scottish playoff Ladies
The former world no. 1 will be heading to Royal Troon next week to try to make another title in the homeland of golf. They are looking for Nancy Lopez, Juli Inkster and Catriona Matthew on a short list of players who have won major after they were born.
Lewis said motherhood juggling and world-class golf have not been easy.
“That first year was so hard,” Lewis said. ‘I look back when she was sixty, eight months old, I do not know how I did it. I was so tired. You do not sleep. If we then had our WHOOP bands, then I’m sure my recoveries have been pretty close to zero.
‘It’s been a process. It’s been a process to learn how she can help her, and how to take care of her, and how I can take care of myself, and also spend time with my husband and all that sort of thing. “
Joe Hallett, Lewis’ longtime swing coach, can attest to that.
Chesnee usually travels with Lewis, but not overseas.
“I think this win means Stacy is easily named Mother of the Year,” Hallett said. ‘She has learned how to do multi-tasking at levels that none of us will ever understand, and she has not lost her competitive advantage. She has actually learned to refine it. ”
Being a mother, Lewis said, helped her cope with the challenges of difficult circumstances in the final round of Sunday at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
Scores for full field of the ASI Ladies Scottish Open
‘I think having a child made me a little more patient. I really do, ”Lewis said. ‘When she starts crying, when I get upset, it will get worse. So, if anything, Chesnee has taught me a lot of patience.
‘On this golf course you will get good shots, and they just will not end up where you want them to. That has linked golf. ”
Lewis’ patience was tested with slow play and then a hot-air balloon issue on the 18th hole.
One of the fastest players of the tour, Lewis was grouped all weekend with Jennifer Song and Azahara Munoz. With Song and Munoz slowly playing the most, the entire group was definitely put on the clock on the back nine Sunday, with the trio fighting for the lead.
Somewhere in the round, Lewis told her caddy, Travis Wilson, that she did not intend to complain about the pace of play.
“That, I have not,” said Lewis.
Chesnee helped her with that, too.
“I sing songs in my head, I’m just away from everything,” Lewis said.
Usually there was one particular song. . .
“My daughter, she loves Taylor Swift,” Lewis said. “‘Shake off.’ “That’s the way she’s dancing all the time. We’re just repeating it over and over again. That was the song in my head today.”
But I keep crossing, can not stop, will not stop moving.
It’s like I have this music in mind, say it’s going to be good. . .
Baby, I’ll just shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.
I shake it off, I shake it off.
Lewis refused to slowly pluck her back and won
Lewis took control early, setting the pace as the only leader through 10 holes, but her patience was tested when she made a double bogey on the 11th, after officials put the group on the clock.
When asked about the LPGA’s slow-play policy, Lewis admitted that they would like stricter rules to be adopted.
“I think it has to be aggressive,” Lewis said. “I think it needs to change because we’re going in the wrong direction.”
At the 18th tee there was yet another challenge, with a short stop, as workers tried to fix a pulling hot air balloon to the left of the fairway. The players waited for some persistent hammering to stop.
“I stayed very positive for myself all day,” Lewis said. ‘Just proud of the way I hung in there.’
The rewards for winning go beyond the $ 190,000 check and trophy in the first place, as Lewis has now been nominated for the 2021 US Women’s Open at Olympic Club.
That said, she has yet to qualify for this December U.S. Women’s Open at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, her birthplace. She now has a chance to make it through an exemption from LPGA charts (top 10) on November 11, if not by special qualification at upcoming LPGA events.
“It got me pretty behind the scenes,” Lewis said. ‘I knew good golf would take care of itself, but playing a US Open in Houston, where my family is, where my friends are, on a job I would not say I played a ton, but I played it enough , that I know my way, it’s a very big deal. ”
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