HOUSTON — Stacy Lewis is coming out of retirement for one last glorious start at the Chevron Championship in her home state of Texas. Whether or not she makes the cut in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season, she’s got another sporting milestone lined up on Saturday.
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Lewis and 11-time baseball all-star Roger Clemens were in Houston for a recent golf media day, and the Astros Foundation learned she’d never thrown out the first pitch before one of their games.
“We were throwing golf balls, and he was giving me tips on that,” Lewis.
Golf balls are certainly different from baseballs, but it was all fun.
MORE: A past champion’s outlook changed his view of Poppie’s Pond tradition
Lewis will be center stage on the mound at Daikin Park to throw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Astros take on the New York Yankees this weekend. She once threw out the first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game and it impressed her husband, Texas A&M’s women’s head golf coach Gerrod Chadwell, who will be on her bag this week.
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The 41-year-old Lewis has done countless outings and community events like this over the years to bring publicity to the tour, and she’ll leave quite a legacy for players, well beyond her 13 wins
“I hope a lot of them have seen what I’ve done behind the scenes to help the tour, and the little things that I do,” Lewis said this week at the Memorial Park Golf Course. “I’ve tried to instill that in the players, especially those Solheim [Cup] players, just tried to get them to see how they can help outside of just playing golf. I try to lead by example and do the right thing and try to get other people to follow. I care a lot. I care too much probably, at times. I just want to see this tour be successful, and so I’ll stick around as much as they’ll let me.”
She’ll be kicking off the next chapter of her life following the major. She and Caldwell are expecting their second child, a girl, so there’s plenty to celebrate these days. Their 7-year-old daughter Chesnee will be cheering on her mom one last time, too.
“I’ve got aunts and uncles flying in for this week and just a lot of friends in the area that I know are going to come,” Lewis said. “Chesnee is excited to go to [LPGA’s] daycare for one more week and get to see everybody there.
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Stacy Lewis and caddie Travis Wilson leap into Poppie’s Pond after she won the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
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MARK RALSTON
“I guess this week has become more of a celebration than it was originally supposed to be, especially with being pregnant and life changing again. I didn’t know what I was going to do in retirement, but I guess I know what I’m going to do now. I’m looking forward to the next few years of raising a kid at home and not cleaning bottles in hotel rooms and trying to travel every week.”
In addition to counting two majors among her 13 wins, Lewis captained two Solheim Cup teams, in 2024 (a win) and 2023 (tie). Her second LPGA victory came in a major when she captured the 2011 Kraft Nabisco (now Chevron) in Rancho Mirage, and she backed that up with a victory in the 2013 AIG Women’s British Open. Lewis retired at the LOTTE Championship last fall, but made an exception for this event one more time.
This week will bring back memories of her Kraft victory celebration at Mission Hills that included jumping in Poppie’s Pond. This year, a small pool was installed near the 18th green at Memorial Park before a more permanent bed of water is put in for next year.
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“I’ve told a lot of people that I don’t remember getting the trophy. A lot of things I don’t remember about that ceremony. But I remember the jump and what that felt like and how cold that water was in California,” Lewis said. “It was the coolest thing in the world. I had been on the green when Morgan [Pressel] did her jump as low am, and seeing all those other players over the years make the jump and to get to do that yourself was just so cool. Like you get to be a kid again and just have fun with it.”
That’s how she grew up in Houston—having fun while playing golf. Long before kids traveled all over the country playing on national tours, Lewis competed in events all over the city, and she recalled that the competition was fierce.
“Playing in Texas, it’s windy, it’s hot. You’ve got a lot of the conditions,” she said. “I feel like it shaped me into the player that I am that when the weather gets bad, I play better. I think that’s why I won in Scotland a couple of times in my career and played well all over the world. My game was able to travel, just kind of growing up in this area.”
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Stacy Lewis holds her daughter Chesnee at the Lotte Championship in October 2025.
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Orlando Ramirez
Lewis is admired by so many for the person she is, her game and what she’s done for the tour.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Stacy through Solheim Cup and how amazing of a leader she is,” said World No. 2 Nelly Korda. “What I’ve been honestly really impressed by is how much she cares about the tour and how much she is invested into it. For a career, seeing her as a mother, Solheim Cup captain, advocate for the LPGA Tour, she’s had such an amazing career. I know that she’s not stopping there, so it’s been an honor to play under her, and I can’t wait to see what else she does. I know that her ambitions are high.”
Lewis is not quite sure how she’ll feel teeing it up as a professional one more time. She hasn’t thought about it yet and has been concentrating on her game, having just brought the clubs out again three weeks ago. It will be about the experience, not the scores
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“That’s really cool, retiring in her home state of Texas,” tour veteran Lindy Duncan said. “She’s been such an ambassador for the LPGA and helping push getting us sponsors and making our tournaments better. She’s done so much for the tour, so it’s sad to see her go. Hopefully, some of the people that are coming up can use her as a role model and try to be like Stacy.”
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