Stacy Lewis talks KPMG, Solheim Cup and her LPGA journey

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 file in 2022. At 39 years outdated, the veteran is the U.S. Solheim Cup staff captain and the fifth particular person to captain the staff at the very least twice. Lewis, who tees off on the KPMG Ladies’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 Ladies’s PGA Championship will function entry to superior knowledge resembling 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 superb for the gamers to return off the course and examine stats in actual time to historic knowledge. It was an extremely helpful device 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 need to know who’s enjoying the perfect golf, and diving into the stats, you are capable of see who’s trending in the correct path and who’s not. You are making an attempt to foretell who’s going to play properly two or three weeks from now. I am excited to see this kind of knowledge come to the LPGA Tour, and I do know will probably be well-received by the gamers and followers.

ESPN: Come September, you will return to your function as U.S. Solheim Cup staff captain. What did you study from final yr’s tie at Finca Cortesin?

SL: You are concerned in every part that is happening with the staff — from the week’s schedule to the garments they’re carrying and what the bag seems like. We’re serving to them make sure that they get their flights booked, and we’ve got transportation to choose them up. I needed my hand in every part as a result of it impacts gamers’ general expertise. The extra relaxed they had been, the extra they’d get pleasure from being there and be capable to play higher golf. It is type of like having 12 children for the week. You are making an attempt to concentrate on what’s taking place in folks’s lives as a result of it additionally impacts how they play golf. I assumed being a participant on the Solheim Cup was exhausting, however this was by far essentially the most exhausting and tiring I would ever been.

Clearly the end result wasn’t what we needed, however the progress we made behind the scenes as a staff — we took a very younger staff 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 a substitute 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’ve got 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 shall be, and the place my 5-year-old daughter shall be. It is a each day calendar, mainly. It helps me keep organized and never really feel so confused about every part.

ESPN: You have been a part of the LPGA since 2009. How have you ever seen the game change over time?

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 every part are nice — they’re growing incrementally. However for us to essentially take the subsequent step, we have got to determine a strategy to get extra publicity for the gamers. Extra streaming choices and creating extra protection round our occasions weekly.

ESPN: How has the way in which you view your profession modified since while you first began?

SL: It is fully modified. I have been capable of 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 technology perceive the identical factor — you may have this chance, and it is your flip to provide again. Continue to grow this tour.

Enjoying as a rookie, you are making an attempt to study the sport and play higher golf, and then you definately develop into a star, the marquee identify. You are on all of the posters. And then you definately’re being requested to do all of the features, converse on issues, and be in a special 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 determine how one can prefer it.’ I did a bunch of media coaching and realized how one can get comfy 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, but it surely’s nearly liberating in a approach. Some persons are going to love you, and a few folks 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.