Earlier this week, women’s professional golfer Stacy Lewis promised to give back to her hurricane-ravaged hometown. Sunday, she delivered in a big way.
Lewis won the Cambia Portland Classic, earning her first LPGA title since June 2014. The 32-year-old, who grew up in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands, promised in a Wednesday tweet that she would donate her tournament earnings to help relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. After shooting a 3-under-par 69 to win Sunday’s final round, Lewis donated her first-place check of $195,000.
"You know, when I said that I had the goal of winning the tournament -- you got to get a lot of things right, to go your way," Lewis told Golf.com. "Just what we're going to be able to do, we're going to be able to help rebuild houses and get their homes back. That's more important than anything."
Lewis still lives in the Houston area with her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, who is the women’s golf coach at the University of Houston. She had not won an LPGA event since the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship -- a drought of 83 starts. She had been the runner-up 12 times during that period.
One of Lewis' sponsors, Marathon Oil, is pledging $1 million to the relief efforts, LPGA Tournament officials told ESPN. KPMG, another one of her sponsors, pledged to match her $195,000 donation.
Saturday night, Lewis said winning for Houston this week would be “up there” with her two major tournament victories.
“It would be probably one of my most special wins, just to be able to do this for the people in Texas and to do it too when everybody is watching,” she told Golf.com. “I kind of put all the eyeballs on me and put some pressure on myself, so it's nice to kind of see myself performing, too.”
Lewis finished at 20-under 268. She opened with rounds of 70, 64 and 65 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round.
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