The last mom to win on the LPGA was Stacy Lewis at the 2020 Scottish Open.
GILBERT, Ariz. — The last mom to win on the LPGA was Stacy Lewis at the 2020 Scottish Open. This week, there are 10 mothers teeing it up in the Ford Championship, the seventh tournament on the LPGA’s 2024 schedule.
That includes Lindsey Weaver-Wright, who played high school golf in Cave Creek, Arizona, and completed her college career at the University of Arizona.
Weaver-Wright is playing in her first LPGA event since she became a mom to son Crew on Dec. 17. She opened her week with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 at Seville Golf and Country Club, which is hosting the inaugural Ford Championship
“I didn’t really know what to expect, so I just went into the whole week with very little expectation,” she said. “Got a lot going on in my mind right now. Yeah, Crew was just, it’s so funny just getting his texts from daycare, updates after the round. I just love it. My husband is updating me and he gets all the notifications, too.”
Weaver-Wright trails co-leader Azahara Munoz of Spain, one of three to shoot an 8-under 64 on Thursday, along with Gabi Ruffels and Isi Gabsa.
Other moms playing this week include Sophia Popov and Caroline Masson, who played as a parent for the first time a week ago as well as Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Mel Reid and Hee Young Park.
Two new moms return to the LPGA this week at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship.
Two new moms return to the LPGA this week at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship.
Major champion Sophia Popov, who first took a medical leave in 2022 to heal her right shoulder and then extended the time off after learning she was pregnant, gave birth to daugther Maya Mehles last June.
Fellow German Caroline Masson, 34, and husband Jason McDede, who caddies for Nelly Korda, welcomed son Benton last April. Masson’s last LPGA event was the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship.
“For us to be able to do this,” said Masson, “the three of us go on the road and make new memories, start this new adventure together, was really cool.”
Masson, who won her first LPGA title in 2016 at the Manulife, said she always had respect for the moms on tour but that it doubled or tripled in the last few months as she started to get back into golf shape.
Popov said that respect extends to female athletes across all sports.
“As an example, I was home over the summer,” said Popov. “I had just given birth in June. I was watching Wimbledon. I was watching Elina Svitolina come back and she was eight months postpartum and made it to the semifinals. I was sitting on the couch going, there is no way at eight months I’m going to be able to do this. Like I am just so out of shape.”
Popov, who stunned the golf world by winning the 2020 AIG Women’s British Open while competing on the Epson Tour, said even a basic core exercise was exhausting in those early months.
“I had a lot of ab separation, so you’re trying to get your abs back working, functioning,” she said. “You hit a golf ball and you’re like, man, I need my core a lot. I didn’t even realize that before. Like it comes naturally, and you take it for granted.”
Playing the tour as a mom takes a group effort. Masson’s son Benton joined the all-mom press conference in his stroller on Wednesday afternoon at Palos Verdes Golf Club.
While the physical challenges of coming back after giving birth are steep, the changed perspective offers a chance to hit refresh.
“It gets repetitive,” said Masson. “Year after year, you go to the same places. After a while you don’t appreciate it as much. So just to build up that excitement and putting in the work and seeing the process and really getting a little bit better every day and every week has been really fun preparing for this.”
It’s easier now to remember what’s important, too, added Popov, who played two weeks ago on the LET in Florida.
“I love to hear the cooing, the sounds,” said Popov. “I really don’t care how you play golf, mom, as long as you feed me after the round, we’re all cool.”
McDede first asked Masson on a date at the 2013 Women’s British Open at St. Andrews.
NAPLES, Fla. — Caroline Masson wrapped up her 10th season on the LPGA with two big life moments on the horizon. She and fiancé Jason McDede are set to get married this week in Melbourne, Florida, followed by a honeymoon cruise with all the family to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. McDede, Nelly Korda’s longtime caddie, first asked Masson on a date at the 2013 Women’s British Open at St. Andrews. They met up on the iconic 18th hole at the Old Course and then went to dinner.
But it’s not just this week’s wedding, which got pushed back a couple of times due to the pandemic, that’s bringing big smiles to their faces. The couple are also expecting their first child in May. Masson delivered the news on Instagram last week.
“To be honest,” said Masson, “this is probably the perfect timing right now.”
The 33-year-old German, a four-time Solheim Cup player and two-time Olympian who broke through on the LPGA for her first title at the 2016 Manulife Classic, was pleased to be able to play a full season. She finished off the year with a T-25 at the CME Group Tour Championship, which earned her $58,000. She finished 61st on the money list with $425,919 this season.
“I always said trying without trying too hard was kind of the motto, which is just more like me,” said Masson of starting a family. “I didn’t want to force things.
“I love playing golf. It’s a tough thing to feel like you give that up, at least for a while, to have a baby. I think that’s what a lot of players go through. When is the perfect timing?”
Masson isn’t spending too much time right now thinking about long-term plans. She’s inspired by the players who come back out and compete with children in tow. The LPGA’s maternity policy has gotten more flexible over the years. Right now, she’s simply excited for some time off to prepare for the next chapter.
The couple found out there were pregnant at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in September, which seemed fitting to Masson to given that six years ago they adopted a puppy, Ace, from a family off the 10th hole at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers.
McDede remembers Masson feeling nervous about Solheim Cup picks that week at the Old Course. Liselotte Neumann ultimately gave her the nod.
“We just hung out all weekend and hit it off,” said McDede, “and the next thing you know, we’ve been together for 10 years.”
Nelly Korda said McDede has been like a big brother to her for the past five years they’ve worked together.
“I can’t wait to see him kind of step into that new role,” she said. “I know he is going to be great. I can’t wait to spoil their kid.”
What’s in the bag? From rain gear to snacks, take a peek into all the gear Caroline Masson keeps in her golf bag on the LPGA.
So what do touring professionals keep in those big pieces of luggage hoisted onto their caddies’ shoulders? Some of their bags are big enough to fit a small child, at the least. And while there are stories about some pros who fill them to the top with everything imaginable, most players take a utilitarian approach. The necessities go in, the junk stays out.
Four-time European Solheim Cupper and one-time LPGA winner Caroline Masson is a perfect example. There are the usual items in her golf bag: a Sharpie, a quarter for a ball mark, Band-Aids, used gloves and rain gloves. She carries two new golf gloves, rain gear, an umbrella and a towel.
Training aids such as alignment sticks, a putting ruler and various targets and practice aids all have a home. She carries different types of sunscreen for face and body, plus water and electrolytes. For snacks, she typically has two protein bars, nuts and one or two bananas.
“I try to keep eating a little bit about every three holes,” she said. “. . . I’m really trying not to get hungry.”
Caroline Masson carries everything from alignment aides to rain gear in her bag. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today)
Masson usually keeps at least 50 tees in the bag (she likes them white and unassuming, not in wild colors) and three sleeves of balls, just in case.
“I think that’s the German in me,” she said. “I just want to make sure I have plenty.”
How much does it all weigh? Before Masson’s bag ever hit the scale, her fiancé, Jason McDede – who is a tour caddie but isn’t her regular looper – correctly guessed its weight of about 34 pounds. And Masson is more conscious of that weight now because of McDede; she tries not to toss in extras and will stow unnecessary gear in the locker room when possible.
Still, some items – particularly bananas, it seems – have a way of getting lost in a tour bag. Once in a while, the whole thing needs to be cleaned out.
“This is like a suitcase,” McDede said. “A lot of times you find things in there that have been in there a couple weeks and you go, ‘I didn’t know that was in there.’ Rarely do you unpack it. More do you throw stuff in it.”
Caroline Masson and her fiancé, Jason McDede (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today)
Here’s the inside scoop on what’s in the bag, and what McDede won’t go without:
Heads-up for Ace
Ace the headcover is a reminder of the couple’s 4-year-old Goldendoodle, also named Ace, who they brought home from a tour stop in Arkansas. The week Ace joined the family, McDede’s player at the time, Haru Nomura, made a hole-in-one, hence the name.
Player-caddie partnership
McDede and Masson typically do not work together. McDede most often carries Nelly Korda’s bag, and Masson’s regular caddie is James Longman. Still, it’s fun for the couple to pair up once, maybe twice a season. In 2019 that happened at the Indy Women in Tech Championship, where Masson finished T-9. “We were building a swimming pool at the time,” McDede said, “and we made a deal however much money we won as a group, that would go toward the pool.”
Rain gear: Take it or leave it?
Masson almost always keeps her rain gear – jacket, pants, umbrella – in the bag except perhaps in Arizona, where a zero-percent chance of rain is believable. “Other places, especially in the summer and anywhere in the States, they just pop up,” she said of frequent storms. “It’s just not worth it.”
McDede has no shortage of foul-weather war stories, from watching players who left umbrellas behind get soaked to feeling it himself. He remembers once, four or five years ago, taking the umbrella out of Nomura’s bag at Evian. “All of a sudden, it started hailing,” he said. “No umbrella, no rain gear, anybody in the group. Ever since that day, I’ll never, ever caddie without an umbrella.”
Double or single strap?
“The only time I would single strap is if I’m going from a green to a tee box that’s only 15, 20 yards away,” McDede said. “Sometimes if you’re trying to finagle with the bag or you’re drinking water you might have it single, but if it’s a long walk, I would say double strap.”
Toughest walk on the LPGA?
“Hands down, Evian. The mountain range, the sidehill lies, the ups, the downs. It’s brutal,” McDede said.
Tale of the scale: Masson’s full bag with clubs weighs 34.8 pounds. The bag without clubs weighs 19.2 pounds, and the bag when totally empty weighs 11.4 pounds. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today)
Tips for making the load lighter?
“Maybe looking at the weather forecast and try to convince the player to take some stuff out, but no, not really,” McDede said. “I don’t think it’s uncomfortably heavy. I think once you are kind of in mid-season form, it’s just natural.”
What’s in the bag that’s for the caddie?
“I would say water, snacks, nothing else really,” McDede said. “We have the bibs. … I think normally the caddies do a good job of drinking the water at the tee and throwing it away. They know they would have to carry that two pounds up the hill. I think there’s a strategic way to eat and drink as a caddie to lighten your load on the actual golf course.”
Masson’s gear
DRIVER: Ping G410 (9 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus 60-gram S shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Callaway Rogue (15 degrees), with Project X Hzrdus 65-gram S shaft
HYBRID: Ping G400 (19 degrees), with Alta 70-gram S shaft
Kim punctuated her round by sticking a 6-iron to a foot on No. 18 to get a two-shot cushion over Germany’s Caroline Masson.
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NAPLES, Fla. – Sei Young Kim didn’t light it up in the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship like she did in the first round.
But at the end of the day Friday, the spotlight was still shining on the South Korean at the top.
One day after shooting a 7-under 65 at Tiburón Golf Club, Kim dropped out of the lead, but came back with three birdies in her last six holes and remained up by two going into the weekend.
“I shot pretty solid round today,” Kim said. “My shots and putting wasn’t anything bad today. I think I had a lot of chances for birdie today but I couldn’t make a couple.”
Kim punctuated her round by sticking a 6-iron to a foot on No. 18 to get that two-shot cushion over Germany’s Caroline Masson at 12-under 132. She got a pep talk from Cristie Kerr, who was working as a guest on-course analyst for the Golf Channel. After missing a birdie putt on No. 17, Kerr told her dinner would taste better if she had a good finish.
“I just said ‘Yeah I’m going to make the birdie,'” Kim said. “It came true.”
Masson had her own memorable finish, making a long downhill putt from just off the green for birdie. Masson had a 4-iron coming in that went long.
“Just went over the green just a little bit, which it’s not awful but it’s not easy coming through the fringe which is very grainy and downhill after that,” Masson said. “To be honest, I hit it a little bit hard. It was tracking, though. It was on line and hit the pin and went in.
“Just the little luck that you need sometimes, and I feel like I earned that this week giving myself chances, and once in a while you make one of these, and it really feels really good.”
The touted global tour is in evidence on the leaderboard with nine countries represented in the top 14 (which goes through 6 under). Five are Americans, and only two are South Koreans.
Saturday’s third round will be live on Golf Channel digital from 1 to 4 p.m., and on TV from 4 to 7 p.m. tape delayed.
Nelly Korda was feeling good after taking the lead with a 5-under front nine, but she stumbled, shooting 1 under on the back to finish at 9 under and is three behind. She fell into a tie for third with Canada’s Brooke Henderson.
“Definitely hit the brakes on the back,” Korda said. “Started missing my shots a little.”
Henderson, a Miromar Lakes resident, did just the opposite of Korda, draining a long birdie putt on No. 12 to kickstart a finish that featured five birdies in her last seven holes.
“I wasn’t hitting it that great, but then on the back nine I made a long putt on 12 and that really started to get things rolling, and I had a great crowd out there today, as well, which is always really fun,” Henderson said. “I started to make some birdies there, and it just seemed like I could make everything. So the last like six holes were really fun.”
Su Oh of Australia also jumped up the leaderboard and is in fifth at 8 under, one ahead of defending champion Lexi Thompson and Nelly Korda’s sister, Jessica, and China’s Yu Liu.
Jin Young Ko, who already has wrapped up the Player of the Year and No. 1 ranking, still is well back at 4 under, but remains in position to win the Vare Trophy for season-long stroke average.
The increase in the prize money – combining the $1 million Race to the CME Globe that existed previously with the $500,000 first-place check – and the doubling of the purse to $5 million has had the desired effect.
“It definitely feels like a U.S. Open or British Open,” Kim said. “It feels like a major tournament.”
