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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 11, 2015Stacy LewisLANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA MIKE TROSTEL: It's my pleasure to welcome Stacy Lewis into the media center. Stacy with rounds of 69, 67 and 69, for a three-day total of 205. That's 5-under par and in second place, three strokes behind Amy Yang. Another excellent round today. Just take us through your card little bit. You bogeyed the first hole, but then for the third straight day you birdied the second hole. STACY LEWIS: Just hit a terrible second putt on the first hole. But then really after that kind of got dialed into what I was doing. I started hitting some good iron shots, hit good tee balls, started making putts. I really got into a good rhythm there on the front making birdies. I can't even remember what the holes are now, it's been such a long day. MIKE TROSTEL: 2, 4 and 6. STACY LEWIS: There you go, 2, 4 and 6. But 6 was, I think, probably the best shot of the day. Hit a nice 7-iron in there. And then kind of hit the ball a little sideways for a few holes and made some putts that kept me in it. And then hit some better shots again and then made some more putts at the end. It's a little bit of an up and down day, which you would expect at a U.S. Open, expect to have some 4- and 5-footers for par and expect to have to grind it out. MIKE TROSTEL: Did you have a hard time finding your speed on the greens today? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I did little bit. You know, there were a couple of hole locations that the ball didn't roll out like I expected. And then you get one that rolls out way more than you expected. So I don't know if it was something that I did or if it was something with the greens. I know that there are a couple of hole locations that if you just put a windmill there, it would be perfect. There are a couple of bad ones. I'm going to go work on it a little bit here afterwards, because this is the speed that the greens will be tomorrow afternoon, as well. MIKE TROSTEL: You played in the final group in 2008, last year you came from behind and kind of freewheeled a little bit. Tomorrow you'll be in the last group again playing with Amy again. How is it a little bit different from the situation you were in last year? STACY LEWIS: Well, last year, I mean, it was pretty bunched up on a golf course that was -- you could make some birdies on and shoot a low number, freewheel it a little bit more. But this golf course I think is playing even harder than Pinehurst was last year. So it's a little bit comparable to the Kraft in 2011 when I was playing with Yani Tseng, where the two of us kind of separated ourselves from the field and it kind of became a two-man show there at the end. It's similar to that and I was I think a couple behind going into that day, as well. I've always -- I think I've always played better coming from behind. So I like where I am going into tomorrow. Q. I was going to ask you about two putts, the bomb you made to save par on 10, the importance of that; and then also the par-putt on 18 to stay in the last group and come in here a little bit happier. How important those two were? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, you guys were probably all glad I made that putt on 18. The one on 10, I really just hit an awful tee shot, kind of double crossed the iron shot to get back there. I was trying to make good contact on it, with it being up against the fringe and hit a great putt. I was hoping to make one of those putts on 11 or 12, and really felt like I had some good momentum going there, but I never really quite got anything going. But 18 was nice, especially after 3-putting 17. It wasn't the easiest putt in the world, it was a little bouncy. But definitely makes things a little bit easier and more, I don't know why, but 3 seems a lot better than 4 behind. And it will make dinner taste a lot better, too. Q. Every time it seemed like you got close to Amy, she was able to keep stretching it out and keep stretching it out. How difficult is that to continue to keep going when a player is just kind of grinding it out? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I mean it's hard. I felt like I hit some great shots that put a lot of pressure on her, and then she just would respond and hit it right in there with me. There were multiple times today that it was iffy who was away. I mean, we were hitting shots on top of each other. In a sense it's frustrating, because you're trying to get closer but you really can't get any closer. But it's also what you want. I think it's great golf. I think we both played really well today given the circumstances, and I expect more of it tomorrow. She's hitting the ball great, so I don't see that changing too much. Q. You mentioned the ANA earlier, this past year you ended up being in the final group as well, down by 3, as you are this one. On the back nine, it looked like match play situation, someone comes out of nowhere. How do you avoiding that mindset of being match play and remember that there's a full field still out there? STACY LEWIS: I was honestly -- I was watching the leaderboards today, waiting for someone to jump up there and it just never happened. So I think I'll again go with the same mindset. I like watching the leaderboard, I like to see what people are doing, just to see how the golf course is playing. I'll go in with the same mindset. I didn't really get into the whole match play thing, other than we were making putts on top of each other, I thought that was really cool. I didn't think of it too much as a match play mentality. But I think if you get down the back nine and we're three shots ahead, I think it's a different ballgame then. Q. Congratulations on another great round. Just another question about putting. There were a few putts that you missed and I noticed a reaction from you. And I wanted to know was it more -- don't take it the wrong way, was it more misread? Or was it more inconsistency in the green from a speed perspective or did you feel like you had the speed down pretty much all day, it was more just a little bit of a misread? STACY LEWIS: I mean I think -- I just think the severity of these greens, you go -- I think like the putts -- the hole location on 8 today was insane. And so you go where it's breaking a ton, it's super fast. So then you go to 9 and you've got a straight downhill putt, but it's not nearly as steep as the hole before, but you can't get it in your head to hit it hard enough. So it's just the severity of these greens. And the moment you do try to hit one of those down the hill, that's when you knock it five feet by. I don't know, I don't think the speed of the greens is that inconsistent, I just think it's the slope within the greens. You have some hole locations that are flat, one, two percent. And then you've got some today that are almost a five. It really kind of messes with your mind more than anything. Q. How has the golf course changed from Round 1 to Friday to today? STACY LEWIS: Well, early in Round 1, I played in the morning and it was pretty soft. As the day went on, it dried out. And then when we came back -- that was Thursday, sorry. Then came back on Friday and it was pretty wet, could just free it up and kind of go at a lot of hole locations. And then today really had to think more going into the greens. Balls were releasing out more. You had to play for more release. Really play the contours of the green more than we have the last few days, especially like into 18. My iron shot barely landed on the green and skipped all the way up there. And I expect that to continue into tomorrow. I don't see it getting any softer. Probably even a little bit firmer, if anything. But I think the harder it gets, the better that is for me. Q. Given how well your ball-striking has been, do you feel like you're able to see your lines a lot better or are you still, because of the severity of the golf course, kind of playing avoidance, you sure don't want to be over there? STACY LEWIS: I think the ball-striking is better, that I'm able to hit more to spots on the greens, which is the way I play. I like to be able to play where I'm hitting to the uphill putt, hitting to the straighter putt. There's just some of these -- I think we were on 4 today and my caddie told me to be a little right off the pin and we get up there, and there's really no place to hit it to have a straight putt at this hole. I like being able to pick spots and hit it there, and for the most part today I've been able to do that. That's when I know my ball-striking is getting better. Q. If the course is faster and harder tomorrow, as probably will be the case, do you think that makes it easier to come back from 3-down or will it not affect it really one way or the other? STACY LEWIS: I don't know. I don't know if the golf course is going to change too much, but a lot of it depends on what Amy does. She's got the length advantage off the tee, so she's hitting shorter clubs into greens than I am. So that's definitely going to help her. I don't know, a lot of it -- I think it depends more what she does than what the condition of the golf course is. Q. Natalie mentioned that dinner is at your house tonight. Just curious what your evening plans are and what's for dinner? STACY LEWIS: Well, we're having lasagna. My mom made it the other night and the power went out, so we weren't able to cook it. So we're having that tonight, I think we're eating all the leftovers in the house, because we're out of here tomorrow. I think Natalie is coming over, and I'm sure we'll play some cards again and hang out and have a good time. Q. Do you have a number in mind that you want to get to tomorrow that you think will hold up? STACY LEWIS: I have no idea. I think I've at least got to get to 8, at least what Amy is at right now. But it depends what they do with the hole locations. I'll see what scores look like tomorrow morning, and then I'll probably get a number in my head. Q. When you saw that 64 this morning, what went through your head? STACY LEWIS: Well, that it's impressive and she must have made a lot of putts for that to happen. What was weird about it was that you didn't really see that many other low scores with it. So it was a little bit of an anomaly. I was on the putting green when she finished, I watched her hit a putt, I think she had a putt for 62. So I saw the putt for 62. I was hoping she would actually make it. But it's impressive. No offense to Chella, but it's a lot harder to do that at 2:00 versus 9:00. In my head I knew there's no way anybody that was near the lead was going to do that. So it was just go out there and stay patient and not worry about it. MIKE TROSTEL: Stacy Lewis, 5-under, 205, three strokes behind. Best of luck tomorrow. Enjoy the lasagna. STACY LEWIS: Thank you FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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