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COATES GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY R+L CARRIERS

February 2, 2016

Stacy Lewis

Ocala, Florida

THE MODERATOR: Happy to be joined in the media center by Stacy Lewis. Stacy, Top 10 at this event last year. What do you specifically like about this event?

STACY LEWIS: You know, this golf course is hard, and to start the year on a golf course like this is pretty tough. But I just like you have to hit shots. You have to hit some long irons. You can't just kind of slap it around and expect to score. You gotta hit good shots.

The course is in much better shape this year. The greens are rolling really nice. So I would look for some good scores this week.

THE MODERATOR: How would you say this event rated as a first-year event last year with the crowd support and everything surrounding it?

STACY LEWIS: I think we were all pleasantly surprised when we came here, and just to see the support of the community and the way it's grown, just with all the stuff going on. I mean there's the craft beer and I mean there's a ton of stuff going on this week. And for a second-year event to have that, usually it takes a little while to get the community involved, and they're already ready for it. So we were all pretty surprised. But it's a great market for our tour.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions for Stacy.

Q. Get it out of the way right away, Stacy. All second places aren't made the same. They aren't all created the same. Some are better than others; some are worse. How would you describe this one?
STACY LEWIS: You know, this one wasn't -- I mean it wasn't bad. I really played pretty good. Front nine -- the front nine last week I hit a lot of good putts. They just didn't go in. That was kind of the story of the greens last week.

You know, I knew the way everyone was bunched up it was going to take 7, 8-under to win, and I didn't shoot that. So it's just kind of the way it is. I still shot 5-under. I shot 16-under for three days. So there wasn't a whole lot of bad there.

Q. So you're a goal setter. What would a terrific 2016 look like for you, outside of getting married?
STACY LEWIS: Olympic medal and a couple of majors would be nice. I mean and I think it's possible. I think with where my game's at right now and what we've been working on, I think it's there.

And for me it's probably just getting over the hump and getting that one win out of the way, and I think it gets easier from there. So you know, I don't know what the magic formula is. I don't know what I need specifically will get me over the hump. You just gotta keep putting yourself there.

Somebody on Twitter, I wanted them to come to the media center, but they said -- something said something about nine second place finishes, and they said, well, it's better than nine thirds. (Laughs). I said, I want you guys to come write some stories for me.

So when you look at it that way, it's true. I mean it's better than finishing third or fifth or missing a cut. So I mean if you look at third and second as a bad thing every single week, it's going to be a rough life out here.

Q. Lydia Ko is making her debut. She won five times last year. Did you see her game even elevate a little bit more? What are you seeing from her?
STACY LEWIS: You know, I really haven't -- over the last year I haven't really seen her game change a whole lot. It's Lydia doing what she does. It's her just hitting -- she hits the ball well and hits her wedges in there close and makes the putts. What she does is not anything crazy. If somebody is going to watch her practice and watch somebody next to her practice and think, what's the difference. You know, I don't think anything wasn't -- she's not like Yani that hits it crazy far or anything like that. It doesn't blow you away, but when you add it up over four days, it's really good. Playing against it is really frustrating.

Q. A followup on Lydia. A player that you want to beat because they're No. 1, I imagine you could work up a dislike for them, a healthy dislike for them. But she's so likeable. What's it like having her personality as the No. 1 player?
STACY LEWIS: You know, it's a little frustrating because I wish -- I wish she would just -- I think she knows how good she is, but I wish she would kind of own up to it sometimes, you know, and just -- and say, I'm the No. 1 player in the world and I'm pretty good. But she's really humble about it and doesn't really want anybody to think that about her. So it's almost frustrating in a way because you want her just to be a little more confident in it and a little bit more, I'm the best player here and I'm going to win. But you know, she's thinking that inside. She just doesn't really portray that.

Q. You said a couple of days ago, or maybe it was Sunday I guess, people don't understand how hard it is to win out here. Can you talk a little bit about the depth of the tour and maybe if you think it is even deeper in the last two years, say.
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, you just look at over the last two years the number of the young kids coming out, especially out of Korea. I mean it's just one after the other. I mean you probably go over my nine second place finishes and it's probably nine different people that beat me. It's not like it's been one person that's been dominating. And that's the hard part about it. It's not one person. It's not two people kind of battling back and forth every week. It's 20 different people going at it, which I think is good for the tour. I think you want that, because I think we're all making each other better. But it's extremely hard to win. I mean to go and -- I shot 5-under and 6-under, and then I had to go shoot 7-under just to get into a playoff. I mean that's playing some golf. And you know, it just doesn't -- wins just don't happen. You gotta keep working on it and you gotta play great.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Stacy? Appreciate the time. Best of luck this week.

STACY LEWIS: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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