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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 18, 2016

Stacy Lewis

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

KRAIG KANN: Welcome to Rio 2016, day two of the women's golf. We welcome Stacy Lewis, who opened with a 1‑under par round of 70, and today shot 63. She is at 9‑under par, 11 birdies, a bogey and a double‑bogey in her round, phenomenal golf.
Let's get some thoughts, first of all, on last night and your mind‑set after the opening round and what you felt like you perhaps needed to do on the first tee today.
STACY LEWIS: Well yesterday, I was actually pretty happy walking off the course with a round that I didn't feel like I played that well. And to get under par ‑‑ but the swing just wasn't where it needed to be, so we spent some time last night working on it.
And then again this morning, I mean, I probably left the range a little bit mad, the swing not really there, not where it needed to be. And then just kind of something throughout the day, I don't know if something seemed to click and I got some more confidence as the day went on. I think the putts going in definitely helped. Any time you see some putts go in, it frees up the swing a little bit more. But I don't know, I didn't expect this today as all.
KRAIG KANN: We're going to take a bunch of questions, but one last one from me before we start in a second. You've had a lot of great rounds in your career, you've had a lot of great events in your career. Does today's round, given that it's the Olympic Games here in Rio, add anything extra to this in your mind? And I know we're not done yet with this event.
STACY LEWIS: I think it does. If it was Sunday, it would probably be a different story. But I guess I have a course record here, and to put my name on that; is and just to being atop of the leaderboard at the Olympics. It's something that I think now, every kid is going to dream of doing.
It's been such a cool week so far, and the highlight for me was just getting to see the guys up there on the podium on 18 on Sunday getting their medals and just thinking about how cool that would be to be in their shoes and be doing that on Saturday. It's definitely a motivating factor but I've had a great week and we're enjoying it so far.

Q. Have you ever made four birdies in a row?
STACY LEWIS: I have no idea.

Q. How has the learning curve been ‑‑
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, he's learned the different levels of grumpiness with me I guess. Definitely I was a little bit mad on the range for sure, just kind of frustrated that the golf swing wasn't there and has not really been there the last few days. I kind of told him that I shouldn't have as high expectations, just coming off the wedding and everything, but that's just what I do.
Sometimes when I get mad, I get more focused and that kind of happened today to start the day and then that happened on 14, as well, when I made double. It just kind of got me more focused instead of going the opposite direction.

Q. You talk about having lowered expectations, and you clearly don't have them now; is it a matter of standing on the first tee and they are back to where they have always been?
STACY LEWIS: No, it was a process throughout the round. It was hitting some good shots. I wouldn't say it was one swing or another, but I honestly think the putts going in just completely freed things up. You know, didn't worry about trying to hit it so close. When you're making a 15‑ or 20‑footer, instead of‑‑ you're not worried about trying to hit it to five feet.
When you're not trying to hit it so close, that's when you do. It was just all about freeing it up with the putter. I think that's really what got the golf swing going.

Q. You said you walked off the golf course yesterday frustrated. Now are you comfortable walking off the golf course with your swing?
STACY LEWIS: A little bit. It's definitely not 100 percent. There are some swings out there today I'd like to have over again. But I feel like I know what I need to do. I'm going in the right direction. And just to step up, especially that shot up on 18, it was so perfect, it was crazy. To step up and hit that shot, I mean, that gives you more confidence than anything. We're heading in the right direction and still haven't played my best golf yet.

Q. How much plays into your mind coming into a round like today, more pressure?
STACY LEWIS: I don't think you're really thinking about that too much. I was excited from the get‑go with the announcement of the Olympics. There are probably a lot of reasons why we shouldn't have come and shouldn't have done this, whether it was Zika or other issues.
I just did my homework and nobody gave me a good reason why I shouldn't come. You'd have to‑‑ I mean, there'd have to be something seriously wrong with me to not come play in the Olympics. This has been so cool. Just a different feel about it. Feels like a different tournament.
I'm truthfully more excited about the diving I get to go watch this afternoon than the round I played. I'm looking forward to doing all this other stuff versus the golf, and that's what this week is about for us.
KRAIG KANN: Best moment thus far outside of the golf?
STACY LEWIS: Best moment‑‑ in the women's 400, I don't know who it was, the girl that dove across the line, that was pretty sweet.
KRAIG KANN: You've gotten to see a lot?
STACY LEWIS: I've gotten to see some. I wouldn't say I've seen a lot. Just kind of a crammed schedule. But we've been watching a lot on TV. I want to go to the Olympic Park today and walk around and maybe jump in a couple different events and maybe check things out.

Q. What happened on 14?
STACY LEWIS: 14 was just not a very good 4‑iron off the tee. I wasn't trying to get all the way to the pin but got in the bunkers, a decent lie, but it was just on a huge upslope. Caught it heavy and then was feeling pretty confident with the putter and decided to ram the putt by, and then the 4‑footer lipped‑out. But if anything, that kind of got me focused, all right, let's hit putts the right speed, and we are not just here trying to make them. Let's hit them the right speed.
15, I hit a 9‑iron in there to ten, 12 feet, made a good putt down the hill.
16, laid up with hybrid down the left and it actually went a lot further than I thought. And only had about 35, 40 yards to the pin and pitched it to four feet. Made that putt.
17, hit a little 9‑iron and got pretty lucky with the result but it stayed on the back edge and made, I don't know, a 15‑footer there.
Then had 199 into 18 after all the mess off the tee and hit hybrid to four feet.

Q. How would you assess your year to this point? Have you played well enough to win and just couldn't get over the line?
STACY LEWIS: I would say, probably the first half of the year wasn't very good. Wasn't in contention very much. The swing, the putting, nothing was where I wanted it to be.
Actually on my way to Portland, I pulled out DVDs of a couple of my old wins, and just was trying to see what is different. Something has to be different here. Saw one thing in the setup of my putting, and that was kind of the big thing was the setup of my putting. Got my hands a little bit further away from me.
But also saw that I hit a lot of bad shots and won golf tournaments. I don't know what it was, but just watching those videos really helped me, helped me start playing better. And really from Portland on, I've played some really good golf. The last four weeks, I think I've had four Top‑10s. So the golf is going in the right direction, and that's what‑‑ when I win, it's usually after some Top‑10s. And so I know I just need to keep grinding out and keep trying to play some good golf.
KRAIG KANN: As a follow‑up to that, the LPGA schedule has had 11 events in a row this summer and you've had an incredibly busy summer. I believe you played six events in a row that included also a trip to the White House, a weeding, UL International Crown team event. How have you paced yourself to be fresh and to have these type of results at arguably the biggest stage in the world in sport?
STACY LEWIS: Well, I wouldn't say I've been fresh. But I've tried to just‑‑ I've gotten the mode where I worry about today and then tonight, I'm going to worry about tomorrow and the next day I'm going to worry about the next day. That really helped me get through that stretch, because I got a point two weeks into that six‑week stretch where I was like, I don't know how I'm going to do this.
I also see our schedule this year‑‑ everybody's talked about how busy it is and how condensed; I see it as an opportunity. It's an opportunity that if you start playing some good golf, you can get on a run there and win a lot of tournaments. That's what I've seen it as; it's an opportunity for our tour. In that stretch, I think we've been on network TV a lot and had some pretty good results.
So it's just a great time for our tour. I just tried to see it all as a good thing.
KRAIG KANN: Fantastic round. You're 9‑under par, Stacy Lewis.

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