Stacy Lewis to play 2026 Chevron Championship while pregnant

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“I do hope, in the most humble way, that she’s celebrated,” said Chadwell, head women’s golf coach at Texas A&M. “She’s made that place for everybody that’s playing that week.”

Lewis first played in the Chevron (then the Kraft Nabisco Championship) as an amateur in 2007, before she even had any professional aspirations. Paired with Morgan Pressel in the final round, Lewis tied for fifth to receive low amateur honors and fell in love with the event’s traditions.

Four years later, she stared down world No. 1 Yani Tseng on Sunday in the California desert to make her first LPGA victory a major.

“When I look back of everything I’ve done,” said Lewis, “it was probably the most important week. To get it done on that stage and to go up against the No. 1 in the world – you had to manage everything.”

After 12 LPGA titles, including a second major at the British Open at St. Andrews, Lewis and her husband started talking around Christmastime in 2017 about the ideal time to start a family. A couple months later, at age 33, she was pregnant.

When Lewis shared the happy news with longtime sponsor KPMG, the company called a few days later and said they wanted to pay out her whole contract that year, regardless of how many tournaments she played. KPMG wanted to treat her as they would any other female in the organization. Lewis, blown away by the gesture, started an important conversation on the LPGA about paid maternity leave.

After giving birth to daughter Chesnee in October 2018, Lewis became the first mom on tour to win in nine years, collecting her 13th career title at the 2020 Scottish Open. No mom has won on tour since.

While getting pregnant came easily the first time, it wasn’t so the second time around. After several years, the couple eventually tried IVF and found out on Father’s Day last year, while at a tournament in Michigan, that it had failed.

Lewis said it took about six months for her to come to peace with the fact that Chesnee might be an only child.

Chadwell wondered if getting off the road and away from the stress of Solheim Cup captaincies and tour business might help.

“It’s funny just how God has a plan,” he said.

Lewis, still thinking big picture, would like to see the LPGA adopt a similar rule to what tennis implemented last year that gives players rankings protection while undergoing a fertility procedure such as egg or embryo freezing.

“Those egg retrievals are brutal on your body,” said Lewis, adding “if there's a policy specific to this, it makes players more aware of where they are in life and how old they are, and maybe I should look into doing something if I'm, you know, 30, 31 years old.”

For the gender reveal, 7-year-old Chesnee hit an exploding pink golf ball at A&M’s golf facility in front of Chadwell’s team. He wanted his players to be reminded that there’s so much life outside of sport.

Chadwell will be on the bag for his wife at Memorial Park, as he was in 2018 for her last event of the season before giving birth. Lewis shot 66 in the final round of the Marathon Classic while five-and-a-half months pregnant.

“One of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen,” said Chadwell.

And for Lewis, that’s a long list.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 2026 Chevron Championship: Stacy Lewis set to play while pregnant