When the 2024 US Team for the Solheim Cup popped the cork, pouring champagne over everybody, Alison Lee had two reasons to be happy. Of course, the first was the US’ victory over Europe by 15.5 to 12.5. But there was another reason too, a secret she had been hiding from almost everyone. Well, not everyone. Lee, along with her best friend Megan Khang and captain Stacy Lewis, celebrated her pregnancy. And if not for Lewis, she might not have been in the room along with other Solheim Cuppers.

She was eight weeks pregnant at the time of the Solheim Cup, and the pregnancy nausea had started getting worse. Lee, recalled the incident on Fried Egg Golf, said, “We were on the driving range, and I couldn’t even stand up and hit range vault for 10 minutes. Like I had to sit down. I had a headache. I was throwing up.” There was no way she could play like this. She had to let someone know. Captain Lewis was the name that came to her head. “I actually called Stacy and told her I was pregnant and kind of said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry, but I think there’s a small chance I can’t play.’ And that really, really was hard for me to say.”

Zofran, the anti-nausea medication, dived in as her savior during that week. “It changed my life,” Lee laughs. It was the only thing that helped her get through the week. But the unsung hero was Lewis, too. With Zofran, Lee’s condition improved, and she could tee it off on the course. But Lewis made sure not to overexert her. “Since I was sick, she didn’t have me play in the morning matches because those are long days, and our shuttle ride, bus ride from the hotel to the course, took forever.” If this is not female solidarity, then God knows what else is.

Later, during the victory celebration, Khang, Lee, and Lewis reveled in their secret. “After we won, everyone was like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s drink. Here, everybody, take a sip of champagne.’ And they passed me the champagne. I looked at Stacy, and she looked at me like, ‘Oh.’ We didn’t know what to do!”

With all this help, Lee was successful in hiding her pregnancy from everyone. It was too soon anyway. It was not until March of this year that Lee posted a photo carousel on Instagram, when the world got to know about it. Soon after, she gave birth to her son, Levi Todd Kidd, and the labor was not any easier than the pregnancy itself. Levi came into this world after a marathon of labor that ended in an emergency C-section.

Alison Lee stepped back into golf just 18 weeks later. She missed the cut at the Kroger Queen City Championship. And when she was rising through the ranks at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, the weather robbed her of a well-deserved comeback.

She was tied for third after the first round, and that is when the tournament was canceled due to heavy rain. It denied her the opportunity for what could have been her first LPGA Tour victory since her return. Lee will keep fighting for another contention this week at the LOTTE Championship.

On the personal front, too, her hardship did not end. “You have so many different emotions,” Lee said. “Mom guilt, questioning yourself when you have a bad day of practice. What am I doing here? I could be spending time with my son.”

But what stands out amidst all this is the friendship that she made along the way. Without any support from Lewis or others, she might not have persevered.

Golf moms came through for Alison Lee

If Stacy Lewis and Megan Khang saved Alison Lee’s day by hiding one of her biggest secrets, then other LPGA pros like Michelle Wie West came through for her when she was surrounded by the novelty of motherhood.

West, who is a mother of two, Makenna and Jagger, was eager to help Lee. Having moved to Las Vegas recently, she keeps dropping by to give her son’s clothes that she had just a few months ago. “She gave me all of her son’s clothes, so all the clothes that Levi’s wearing now are Michelle’s hand-me-downs.” Not just that, she was also super helpful in clearing all of Lee’s doubts and keeping a check on her if she needed anything else.

Then there was Jessica Korda, another helping figure during that time. A mother to little Greyson, this group of boy moms formed a bond that is often overlooked amid the chaos of golf.

“I have other friends, too, like Jessica (Korda) has been amazing as well,” Lee added. “But having Michelle here, getting dinner with her, checking in, seeing her once in a while, being able to see her interact with her son when he was a month or two or three months old, I felt like it really prepared me.”

Now, Lee is extending the same helping hand to other moms-to-be. “It’s also cool to see some other girls announce their pregnancy. I’ve talked to Emma (Talley) quite a bit here and there. We were checking in on each other because she’s pregnant as well. Same with Ally (Ewing). I think it’s so cool that there are so many women on Tour right now that are going through the same experience that I did,” she told Solheim Cup USA.

These are some of the instances that give a humane nature to the otherwise ruckus nature of golf.