LPGA's Alison Lee posts best finish as a mom on Mother's Day

Alison Lee took a deep breath at the top of her press conference on Sunday. The emotions came quickly for Lee, who put together her best finish since coming back from maternity leave on Mother's Day. Lee's share of third at the Mizuho Americas Open was its own kind of special win.

"I feel like this last year has been so difficult, you know," said Lee, whose son Levi recently turned 1. "I've worked so hard, so many nights of no sleep and, you know, trying to motivate myself to wake up, show up to the gym, show up to the golf course, even if it's for a little bit to work on my game and try and get back out here and perform well has such a journey and it's been really hard. "And to have weeks like this where I can really say that all the hard work I put in is paying off and see myself have a good finish at the end of the week is so rewarding.

To be able to do that and have my son here on Mother's Day and my mom is here, too, it means so much. " Lee shot 66-69 over the weekend to finish five back of winner Jeeno Thitikul . The 31-year-old came back from leave with two big goals: win an LPGA event and make the 2026 Solheim Cup team.

"There are so many moments where I thought, oh, my God, I'm doing everything I can. I feel like I'm going backwards. My speed isn't the same.