Sarah Schmelzel was diagnosed with stage IV endometriosis and adenomyosis after years of debilitating pain
The LPGA Tour golfer underwent surgery in December 2025 after symptoms affected her career and daily life
Schmelzel shares her story in Playing Through to help others feel less isolated while seeking answers
For nearly two decades, the same questions would cross LPGA Tour golfer Sarah Schmelzel’s mind from the moment she woke up.
“Is my body going to work for me or against me today?” the 32-year-old athlete recalled in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. “Am I going to be able to complete anything from daily tasks to being able to go perform at the highest level?”
Grappling with a lower-body pain that had become all-consuming, Schmelzel consulted medical professionals for years about a proper diagnosis — one that finally arrived in late 2025, when she underwent endometriosis excision surgery and was diagnosed with stage IV endometriosis.
“Just hearing that, that was the first sense of validation, going into surgery and getting the diagnosis of it was stage four and I have adenomyosis,” Schmelzel says, adding, “Almost like relief of 15 years of trying to convince myself it wasn’t as bad as it was to, ‘Oh my gosh, it was as bad as it was.’ ”
Defined by the Cleveland Clinic as a condition “where tissue that is similar to the lining of the uterus grows on other parts of one’s body,” which can result in “painful symptoms that can impact not only one’s menstrual cycle but also your daily life,” endometriosis affects one in 10 women and is a common cause of infertility. Adenomyosis, meanwhile, occurs when “the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows into the muscle wall of the uterus,” per the Mayo Clinic.
“It was a very isolating experience. It was obviously very frustrating,” Schmelzel says of navigating the uncertainty around her health. “Dealing with endometriosis went so far beyond a sports level. It was something that completely ran my life.”
Sarah Schmelzel playing golf as a child.
Credit: Schmelzel family
Inspired to play golf at a young age after watching her older brother, John, pick up the sport, Schmelzel went on to compete collegiately at the University of South Carolina, where she was named a 2016 Golfweek All-American. Three years later, she played her first season on the LPGA Tour, making 20 cuts across 25 events.
As Schmelzel’s career continued to soar — she recorded seven top-10 finishes and represented the United States in the biennial Solheim Cup against Europe in 2024 — the pain didn’t subside.
“The symptoms that I had were really on my mind twenty-four seven. I was constantly aware of how my body felt and how much pain I was in,” Schmelzel says. “When I would be on the golf course, it would really turn into a countdown of how many holes do I have left? How close am I to getting back in bed or sitting down? At its worst, every step I took, I could feel something.”
Sarah Schmelzel underwent surgery in December 2025.
Credit: Sarah Schmelzel/Instagram
Things came to a head last fall when Schmelzel was competing at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, where the pain was so extreme she was confined to her bed.
“I was on my period, and I could not get out of bed,” she recalls. “I was going to the golf course for maybe an hour or two, just to get a little bit of practice in. I couldn’t even go downstairs to get dinner. My caddy was bringing food up to my room, and I texted my parents and I said, ‘I really need help.’ And it makes me emotional now, just because I genuinely felt like I couldn’t go on as a human anymore.”
Schmelzel underwent surgery in December 2025, a procedure that included “an appendectomy and bilateral ovarian cystectomies to address my endometriosis-filled cysts (endometriomas) inside my ovaries,” according to an Instagram post she shared in May. “I had multi organ involvement, nearly fusing my pelvic organs/structure in place with scar tissue and adhesions. Of the 22 specimens excised, all were confirmed endometriosis,” she added.
Now, reflecting on her 15-year journey in a candid new feature, Playing Through: The Sarah Schmelzel Story, Schmezel says she wanted to speak openly about her experiences to help others who may be struggling.
“When I was going through it at the time, and throughout my journey of trying to get to a diagnosis, the thing that helped me so much was scrolling Instagram, scrolling TikTok, and seeing someone talk about their experience. It was something that really made me feel seen,” Schmelzel says. “And so, when I finally got that validity of a diagnosis, I knew that I wanted to help people like myself feel seen in their process in a time where you feel so isolated and misunderstood.”
Sarah Schmelzel is preparing to return to the LPGA Tour.
Credit: LPGA
With her sights set on a 2027 return to professional golf after a year-long absence, Schmelzel says she’ll be playing with a “new lease on life” in a comeback that will be one to watch.
“It’s the first time in a very, very long time where I feel like I have answers. I have a clearer path forward towards relief and towards symptom management,” she says. “… I finally have a game plan for my health, and that brings such a sense of peace in being able to go out and compete. Maybe I’ll finally have a season on tour where I’m not, you know, dealing with pain, I’m not dealing with the constant thoughts of ‘How is this going to affect my body today?’ ”
Admittedly “nervous” since she’s “never taken this much time off from golf,” Schmelzel believes this experience was part of a greater plan.
Sarah Schmelzel in 2024.
Credit: Kate McShane/Getty
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“I think in order for me to be the best version of myself, this had to happen to me,” Schmelzel says. “I was in such a state of pushing through everything, and this has really shown me how to slow down, how to take care of myself, how to listen to myself, how to listen to my body.”
She adds, “I’m just really excited to get back into the swing of things.”
Read the original article on People
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