Team format gives much-needed spark to LPGA moms at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational

Afternoon tee times used to be a luxury for the Mom Squad. Now when a 2 p.m. tee times comes around, Jackie Stoelting and Katherine Perry-Hamski feel like they’ve already put in a full day caring for their two sons.

Stoelting, 35, and Perry-Hamski, 29, have teamed up for this week’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, and the format might prove to be just what the pair needed to kickstart the next chapter of their careers.

The revelation: “We’ve both been playing conservatively,” said Stoelting, a former Division II player at Florida Southern, “in that we’re trying to make the cut. We both have a lot on the line with having kids and trying to pay the bills at home.”

The Mom Squad traveled together before they were moms as both husbands caddied. There was an ongoing husbands vs. wives card competition on the road. Stoelting’s husband, Travis, has since gone back to work as a head golf professional. The guaranteed income freed them up financially to try and get pregnant. The COVID-19 pandemic extended Stoelting’s maternity leave to 14 months without a tournament after welcoming son Baren into the world.

Katherine’s husband, Kevin, worked as a general manager at several golf clubs before leaving to caddie for his wife. After Perry-Hamski had her best season to date in 2019, the couple felt it was time to start a family.

Both players made their first cut of the season at the VOA earlier this month, with Stoelting finishing T-14 and Perry-Hamski, a North Carolina grad, in a tie for 67th.

Heading into the final round at the Dow, the pair were in a tie for 23rd. Another mom duo, major champs Brittany Lincicome and Brittany Lang, were tied for seventh, five strokes back.

“It’s been a long year for me,” said Lang, “and I needed this so bad. To play with Brittany, I’ve learned a lot. I feel like I need to kind of switch my mentality more aggressively …  just to have fun on the golf course again because I have not had fun in a long time.”

Former No. 1 Stacy Lewis, who won for the first time as a mom last year at the Scottish Open, also held a share of seventh heading into the final round with fellow Arkansas star Maria Fassi. Other moms in the field include Sarah Jane Smith and Sydnee Michaels, who played with separate partners and did not make the cut.

During Friday’s round, a fire alarm went off and an ambulance drove up to the clubhouse at Midland Country Club. The two moms immediately began to worry about their kids. It wasn’t until Stoelting’s mom gave the thumbs-up that their kids were safe that Perry-Hamski burst into tears on the 10th tee.

Perry-Hamski’s son John is two days older than Jane Park’s daughter Grace. They’ve talked every day for the past 10 months, sharing milestones and advice. The emotion that came out on the 10th tee, she said, was a build-up over all the heartache felt for Park and her family after Grace was hospitalized with seizures and brain swelling during the tour stop in Dallas.

“They had a perfectly healthy child two weeks ago,” said Perry-Hamski. “It’s heartbreaking, and I wish there was more we could do for them.”