GILBERT, Ariz. — Lindsey Weaver-Wright is making her first LPGA Tour start since becoming a mother this week at the Ford Championship presented by KCC, having stepped away from competitive golf to go on maternity leave following a T16 finish at the 2023 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America, a performance that saw her hole out for eagle on her final hole at Old American Golf Club in October.
The 30-year-old played well into her pregnancy, officially putting down the clubs when she reached 28 weeks, and her son, Crew Callan Wright was born just a couple of months later, entering the world on December 17, much to the delight of Lindsey and her husband Zach.
According to a post on her Instagram, Crew was delivered via Caesarean section after Lindsey was in labor for 52 hours, and while it’s more than impressive that she’s returning to professional golf already, considering she only gave birth in December, what’s even more so is that she finished a half-marathon at exactly three months postpartum a couple of weeks ago, running the Time to Paddy 5k/10k & Lucky 13.1 in Fort Worth, Texas on March 17 in two hours and four minutes.
“It was something I always wanted to do, but I didn’t want to do it unless I knew I could do it to the extent that I wanted to,” Lindsey said of her half-marathon aspirations. “I wanted to be able to run without stopping the whole time. As soon as I was cleared by my doctor, I started training. I think I trained for seven weeks. But obviously, training is a loose term because it’s not like I have a lot of time like I used to, to be able to work out.
“It was nice to feel (adrenaline) again, almost in a competition sort of way, too, outside of golf, and to prepare me to be feeling that again when I'm actually playing in tournaments and when it actually matters. I didn't expect it to go as well as it did.”
With that 13.1-mile goal now checked off her to-do list, Lindsey is locked in and ready to tackle the challenge of returning to competitive golf this week at the Ford Championship. Being a professional athlete is definitely no joke, particularly when you consider the mental and physical attributes it takes for an individual to reach the pinnacle of their respective sport. But doing so as a parent, especially with a young child, takes a whole other level of determination, one that Lindsey has already tapped into as she has prepared herself for this tournament in Arizona.
“I think it’s just a huge mental hurdle,” said Lindsey. “So many girls feel not like themselves after, and it takes a while to get that back. I’ve always been huge into working out. I felt like that was the key to feeling like myself again after giving birth, and it was just something that I was very passionate about doing. That’s what makes me happy and feel good about myself. The endorphins, I think, were especially important being postpartum and all the hormones and emotions that come with that.
“Crew has been a really easy baby, so I think that also helps a lot. The newborn stage is kind of a grind, and you’re not sleeping very much. You don’t have any energy. Even after having a C-section, that’s such a long recovery in and of itself. But I was very diligent about working out and staying active during my pregnancy so that it would be easier for me once I came back.”
And, somewhat to Lindsey’s surprise, her golf game isn’t too far off from where she left it last season, at least when it comes to yardages anyway. “I'm within five yards, so I think I was expecting a lot worse,” she said. “I was expecting to be hitting it a lot shorter because that was something that I battled also throughout pregnancy, and I've heard mixed reviews from other girls whether they ever get back the distance or core strength they had. I think that's been difficult.”
But despite all the buildup and all the preparations she has needed to make physically and mentally to ready herself for life on Tour as a mother, Lindsey is enjoying being back inside the ropes and competing alongside her friends once again on the LPGA Tour. She played collegiate golf at the University of Arizona and lived in this area for quite some time, so the Ford Championship seemed like a fitting place for Lindsey to make her debut as an #LPGAMom, something she’s looking forward to doing this week in a place that means so much in her personal history.
And as she turns the page in her professional golf journey and starts this new chapter as a mother and a pro athlete, Lindsey will be harboring a new perspective on both life and golf, an outlook that she is incredibly grateful to now possess since Crew came into the picture late last year.
“I think I chilled out a little bit more if anything,” Lindsey explained. “Things just happen, and it is what it is. You learn to take it as it comes and adapt and adjust. I never thought I would be out here with a baby. I think that's always a hurdle you have to cross when you get there. I didn't want playing golf to hold me back from having a family.
“When I dreamt of being on the LPGA and my career and how it would pan out, I never foresaw having Crew out here with me, honestly. It's kind of an unexpected treat.”
Just first-time mom things as a professional golfer 🏌️♀️✨ pic.twitter.com/FMpydGD65M
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 26, 2024
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