Stacy Lewis had to take a moment to herself on the first tee on Friday at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.

The former University of Arkansas Razorback announced her intentions to retire at the end of the 2025 LPGA Tour season via her social media channels on Wednesday before play began at Pinnacle Country Club, and with one last opportunity to watch their beloved adopted daughter compete in this longstanding event, the local contingent turned out in droves to support Lewis in the first round, raucously roaring as the 40-year-old took the tee, a moment that made the usually level-headed Lewis a little bit emotional.

“I had to catch myself a little bit,” Lewis admitted after round one. “When I walked on that tee, everybody started cheering for me and going crazy. I had to go hide in the tent for a second. Just had to get the first hole over with. I was actually pretty nervous starting the day, which I hadn't been like that in a while here.”

“Once I got off the first hole, I felt a lot more comfortable. It was a lot of fun. The shots I hit there on 15 and 18, I thought I was making a one, and then I thought I was making a three, so it was pretty cool.”

Lewis got off to a strong start despite the early nerves, picking up her first birdie of the day on the par-5 2nd hole. She stumbled a bit with a pair of back-to-back bogeys on holes four and five, but the 13-time LPGA Tour winner erased those mistakes by landing a pair of birdies on the par-5 7th and par-3 8th holes to get back to 1-under on the day.

She parred the first five holes of her closing nine before picking up her fourth birdie of the day on the par-3 15th hole at Pinnacle Country Club, a birdie that saw her nearly hole her tee shot for an ace. Lewis then finished up her round in a similar fashion, spinning back her third shot on the par-5 18th hole to tap-in range and cleaning up the resulting birdie to post a 68, her lowest first-round score since the 2024 Dana Open.

“What's crazy is I didn't feel that comfortable with my golf swing,” Lewis said. “Obviously, just managed it really good and hit it in the right places. When they were bad shots, I missed them in the right places. So, something to build off of and keep trying to clean up the putting for tomorrow.”

Considering that she’s played in every edition of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G since its inception, few know this property and its surrounding fan base better than Lewis. The energy of the crowds on the last four holes at Pinnacle is generally unmatched by any other regular-season tournament on the LPGA schedule, and the galleries were even more boisterous than usual on Friday in support of Lewis, taking full advantage of one final opportunity to laud one of their favorite Razorbacks, particularly as she gave them some great golf to cheer for coming down the stretch.

“From 15 in, the setting that you get. Fifteen, the par 3, you're hitting down the hill with all the people behind. So, you got people watching from the road and people watching from the other side,” Lewis explained. “And then going into 16, you're hitting the back side of 17, and then 17, of course, the big buildout, and then coming up to this big build on 18. We don't have finishes like this on any other golf courses. It's just really cool. It's a really cool finish here. It's great for the fans.”

Her 68 has left Lewis in a tie for 45th entering the second round, and at what’s usually a pretty low-scoring venue, she will need to keep the pedal down if she wants to have a Sunday tee time at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

But no matter what happens on Saturday in Rogers, Ark., the experience she had on day one of her last appearance at Pinnacle Country Club as an LPGA Tour member will always be something that Stacy carries with her, a singular round that will always mean just a little bit more to the 40-year-old because of the reception she received from the Arkansas crowds and the love she felt at one of the places that has meant the most to her over the course of her 17-year career.

After Announcing Retirement, Former Razorback Stacy Lewis Opens With 68 in Arkansas

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