Forget brunch, LPGA moms want a late tee time on Mother’s Day weekend. There are four LPGA moms in the field this week at the Mizuho Americas Open, including the retired tournament host Michelle Wie West, who is playing on a sponsor invitation.
“For Mother’s Day, hopefully we can do things here to make them feel extra special,” said Wie West.
Advertisement
Chella Choi, playing her first full season back since giving birth to son Si-heon Cha in 2024, came into New Jersey fresh off a final-round 66 at the Riviera Maya Open in Mexico, where she tied for 27th. Choi opened with a 1-under 71 at Mountain Ridge Country Club, where only 10 players broke par in the morning wave in what players are calling major-like conditions.
Choi, 35, doesn’t travel with her son, who stays back home in South Korea with her husband and family.
“I miss my baby so much,” said Choi through an interpreter, “but since there’s a support system in Korea, I’m relying on that and trying to focus on golf. … I want to show my kid how proud he can be of me later on, and I want to show that I still had you and went on the tour and was able to do all of these things.”
The mom club at Mountain Ridge includes Gemma Dryburgh, whose partner Anne-Lise Bidou gave birth to son Léo over the winter. Scotland’s Dryburgh began her 2026 season in Asia and is making her ninth start this week.
Advertisement
Alison Lee tied for 13th in her first event back this season close to home in L.A. The 31-year-old’s son Levi recently turned 1, and his favorite birthday gift was set of plastic golf clubs, which he used to whack mom in the head several times.
Lee has her sights set on making another Solheim Cup team this fall and winning her first LPGA event.
“I’m not expecting any special treatment from Angela (Stanford),” said Lee of the 2026 U.S. captain. “She knows that. I want to be able to earn my spot.”
An LPGA mom hasn’t won a tournament since Stacy Lewis won the 2020 Scottish Open. Prior to that, it was Maria McBride in 2011. Catriona Matthew was the last LPGA mom to win a major at the 2009 Women’s British Open, just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter Sophie.
Advertisement
“It’s hard. It’s really hard,” said Wie West of winning on tour as a mom in the modern era. “I think in a sad way, you kind of see the numbers of moms being out here dwindling down. I think that is just the harsh reality that being a mom out here is tough. I know that I’ve been having a lot of internal discussions with Craig [Kessler] about what we can do as a tour to help alleviate some of that.
“I think that’s really a big topic for us. We never want to make it feel like the tour is too hard or not helping the mom out enough where they feel like they need to make a choice. It comes back to I really want to help empower women to feel like they can be out here.”
Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden plays her shot from the fourth tee during the first round of The Chevron Championship 2026 at Memorial Park Golf Course on April 23, 2026 in Houston, Texas.
Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom opened with a 74 in New Jersey. Sagstrom is due to give birth to her first child, a son, in September.
Advertisement
The top 50 and ties make it to the weekend at Mountain Ridge.
Wie West, who had a nervy start with a 10-over 82, said the tournament has some surprises in store for the moms this week, though she wasn’t able to dish on the details.
“I think they’re keeping me slightly in the dark too,” she said, “because I am technically a mom.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Small group of LPGA moms hope for special Mother’s Day weekend
Read the full article here
