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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACER

June 1, 2016

Stacy Lewis

Galloway, New Jersey

Q. You've won twice here. How is it coming back? Bringing back good memories?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I love this golf course and I love coming back. Having success here, that's obviously why I'm back. Just looking for a place where I know I play well. I don't know what it is about this golf course, but I just seem to play well on it, and that's why I'm back.

Q. Do you do some things out here this week and try to also mentally prepare for the major next week, as well?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I've got my coach here this week, Joe, and we're definitely kind of gearing a lot of what we're working on towards next week, and it's going to help on this golf course, too. You have to drive it straight here. You have to be able to control it in the wind. Next week the premium is going to be on driving it straight. We're kind of working on some things this week that are going to lead into next week, and I like playing a week before a major. I don't like taking a week off. I think it's good to work on some things at the beginning of this week which helps with the three-day week. You have an extra day to work on stuff and test it out, and then you go to next week, and if there's something you need to work on, you do, but then by next Thursday you're just playing golf, and that's what I like to use this week for.

Q. You have been good at that, you're top 5 in driving accuracy, greens in regulation, T2 a couple weeks ago. Do you feel like things are starting to kind of mesh together well?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I've really played well. Other than Sunday at Kingsmill, the last -- really the last three weeks I've played, I've played pretty well. I like the way things are coming together. It's been a little bit frustrating because I feel like I'm playing better than even the scores I've put out there. Sometimes you've got to go through those moments and fight through those times, and then it leads to some success on the leaderboard down the road.

Q. What did you do last week with the week off?
STACY LEWIS: What did I do? Well, a Cliff's Notes version is I went all over the place. My future mother-in-law, we had a surprise birthday party for her, and then we were in New York and Connecticut doing some wedding stuff, and then came down this way. I did get some golf in there in between, so it was a good week off and a good -- to have some time to rest because now I'm playing eight of the next nine weeks. Yeah, the next -- I'm taking off Grand Rapids. That's my next off week. After that -- I'm going to use that week to relax, and then after that it's go time.

Q. When you won here, you really just sort of dominated. You won by six strokes last time, four strokes the time before. Is it just something where you've gotten hot here and just kind of gone from there? It's kind of -- you had like feast or famine weeks here kind of.
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, and you kind of get that on this golf course. A lot of dependent on the greens for me. Last year the greens weren't very good, but this year they're good again, so I'm excited about that because I feel like my ball-striking on this golf course is good enough to win, and that's why I've gotten off to really good starts the last couple years. I think I had big leads going into Sunday, which was nice. But I mean, honestly, I don't know what it is. I think I like -- you have to be a little bit creative, you have to bounce some balls in there. You can't just hit it at every pin, and I think it's just a good test of golf.

Q. The event has been around a long time. You've won it twice. Only two players have won it three times, Sorenstam and Betsy King. What would it mean to you to sort of join those two?
STACY LEWIS: That would be pretty cool. I mean, I think the only other people to win it two times are Hall-of-Famers, so it's a pretty good list to be on. I'd love to win this event again. I really love this event, and I think it's done so much for this town and this area, and to come back here and support it, it means a lot to me.

Q. Do you get a sense even when you're back and you're walking around and you play, especially what you did at Sandy and stuff like that, that you're almost like the home team or a hometown favorite here even though you're not from here? Do you get a sense that people are rooting for you or it's kind of like you're the favorite this week, the crowd favorite?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I think coming back to a place like this where we've played so long, you see kind of the same fans. They know you. They know the routine. It's kind of a comfort level. I still get email responses about what I did for Sandy, which I didn't feel like it was that bad of a thing, but it was. It meant a lot to this community. To me it just felt like something I needed to do, and I was just glad I was in the position that I could.

Q. I mean, is it the fact that you played well? Is that why you're back? A lot of players are obviously skipping this week because you're on the other side of the country next week. Is it that you've just played well here and you're looking for a win and this is a place where you've done it before?
STACY LEWIS: That's a lot of it, yeah. That, and I like to play the week before a major. You know, I usually play better when I get some momentum going, and so that's what I'm trying to do is get some momentum in the next week. Certainly going somewhere that I've won is going to help that, just the comfort level, and I like having an extra day off to practice and to work on things. It makes the week just a little bit calmer and not quite as many things going on. But more than anything, the success I've had is why I'm here.

Q. I know how competitive you are; is this kind of stretch that you've gone through without a win, is it driving you crazy, or how are you mentally handling it?
STACY LEWIS: I mean, if you asked me a year ago, yes, it was driving me crazy, but now it's -- I've kind of come to terms with it, that I've finished second a bunch but I've played some good golf. It's not like I haven't played well. You know, sometimes you kind of take advantage of the situation. I was rolling there for so long, I didn't have to work that hard. It was just things were happening, and I was playing good, and now it's like, I've been working hard, I've got to get my act together a little bit. I like what I'm working on. I like where the game is going. It's just getting back in those last couple groups which I've done the last few weeks and getting comfortable there again. I'm starting to trust the swing under pressure. Alabama was big because I hit some shots there down the stretch that I needed to hit. Things just didn't quite work out, but being able to hit the shots under pressure is what's going to get that win.

Q. You mentioned your future mother-in-law, all that sort of stuff. How have you sort of balanced golf with -- when I got married, I bought the band and showed up. That's all a guy has got to do. For women it's a little different. How are you handling golf and that?
STACY LEWIS: It's been a challenge. It's been a lot more than I thought it was going to be. I kind of handed the reins to my mom and said, do what you want to do, but there's still a lot that I have to do and that we need to take care of. So it's been a lot more than I thought. You know, the golf has honestly been good because I think it's my time to get away from all of that and not have to worry about it. But we're kind of at the place with the wedding stuff where a lot of stuff is done, and now it's -- which is good because now I'm heading into the busiest time, and now it's just little stuff. It's been okay, but it's definitely been a challenge, and I'm looking forward to September, I can tell you that.

Q. This has got to be an exciting time for you.
STACY LEWIS: It is, yeah.

Q. It's got to be a thrilling, sort of just exciting time.
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, and you know what, some people might think why isn't she waiting until after the Olympics and all that stuff is over, and it's not like -- I've waited for this for a long time and I've wanted this for a long time, and just because of some golf tournaments I'm not going to put my life on hold. I've done that enough, and it's time to do something for myself that I've wanted, and that's what we're going to do.

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