Stacy Lewis is a 13-time LPGA Tour winner, two-time main winner, and former No. 1 in world rankings, holding the highest spot for consecutive weeks longer than some other American lady earlier than Nelly Korda broke the document in 2022. At 39 years outdated, the veteran is the U.S. Solheim Cup crew captain and the fifth individual to captain the crew not less than twice. Lewis, who tees off on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship this week, talked to ESPN about how her function in golf has modified since her tour debut in 2009.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
ESPN: The KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship will function entry to superior information comparable to strokes gained and shot trails for the primary time on the LPGA Tour. What distinction will this make for gamers and followers?
Stacy Lewis: It is going to be wonderful for the gamers to come back off the course and examine stats in actual time to historic information. It was an extremely invaluable instrument for us throughout final yr’s Solheim Cup, particularly with the captain’s picks. [The Solheim Cup roster comprises the top seven players in the point standings and the top two on the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings. As captain, Lewis selects the final three players to the 12-person roster.] You wish to know who’s enjoying one of the best golf, and diving into the stats, you are in a position to see who’s trending in the correct route and who’s not. You are attempting to foretell who’s going to play properly two or three weeks from now. I am excited to see one of these information come to the LPGA Tour, and I do know will probably be well-received by the gamers and followers.
ESPN: Come September, you may return to your function as U.S. Solheim Cup crew captain. What did you be taught from final yr’s tie at Finca Cortesin?
SL: You are concerned in all the things that is happening with the crew — from the week’s schedule to the garments they’re sporting and what the bag seems like. We’re serving to them ensure they get their flights booked, and we have now transportation to select them up. I needed my hand in all the things as a result of it impacts gamers’ total expertise. The extra relaxed they had been, the extra they’d take pleasure in being there and be capable to play higher golf. It is sort of like having 12 children for the week. You are attempting to pay attention to what’s occurring in individuals’s lives as a result of it additionally impacts how they play golf. I believed being a participant on the Solheim Cup was exhausting, however this was by far essentially the most exhausting and tiring I might ever been.
Clearly the consequence wasn’t what we needed, however the progress we made behind the scenes as a crew — we took a very younger crew to Spain and got here again with a tie. All in all, it was a hit in my e-book.
ESPN: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic postponed play in 2020, the Solheim Cup is being performed in back-to-back years as an alternative of each different yr. How do you handle the short turnaround as captain whereas balancing being an lively tour participant?
SL: I am glad it is back-to-back as a result of I felt like we have now some unfinished enterprise from final time. I am glad I get one other alternative at it. However enjoying, having a daughter, and all that, makes life fairly busy. I am a notetaker, so I’ve a notepad the place I put all my flights in, the place I’ll be, the place my husband can be, and the place my 5-year-old daughter can be. It is a each day calendar, mainly. It helps me keep organized and never really feel so harassed about all the things.
ESPN: You’ve got been a part of the LPGA since 2009. How have you ever seen the game change through the years?
SL: It is modified dramatically, from the purses to the golf programs we’re attending to play at. The play itself is tremendously higher. The standard of golf, the expertise, the athleticism, the size these ladies are hitting it. There’s a lot good, proper? It has been actually cool to see extra athletes selecting the sport of golf.
I hope we are able to discover a TV accomplice that will get us extra protection. Our purses and all the things are nice — they’re rising incrementally. However for us to actually take the following step, we have to determine a option to get extra publicity for the gamers. Extra streaming choices and creating extra protection round our occasions weekly.
ESPN: How has the best way you view your profession modified since while you first began?
SL: It is utterly modified. I have been in a position to accomplish a variety of nice issues, and that was due to the chance created by the gamers earlier than me. Now, I really feel prefer it’s my duty to assist this present era perceive the identical factor — you could have this chance, and it is your flip to provide again. Continue to grow this tour.
Taking part in as a rookie, you are attempting to be taught the sport and play higher golf, and you then change into a star, the marquee title. You are on all of the posters. And you then’re being requested to do all of the features, communicate on issues, and be in a distinct function. I used to complain about having to do media. It was my mother, to be trustworthy, who stated, ‘Look, if you are going to play good golf, that is what comes with it. You higher work out find out how to prefer it.’ I did a bunch of media coaching and realized find out how to get snug in that place. You’re feeling such as you’re being susceptible and placing your self on the market for the positives and negatives that include it, nevertheless it’s virtually liberating in a method. Some individuals are going to love you, and a few individuals will not, however you get to be your self. It has been actually cool to be a part of the transformation of this tour over the previous 15 years.