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MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-I

July 18, 2017

Stacy Lewis

Toledo, Ohio

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in Stacy Lewis, 11-time LPGA winner and Toledo native. How does it feel to be back in Toledo?

STACY LEWIS: It's always exciting. You know, this is a homecoming. I have a lot of family, a lot of friends here this week, but it's also a week of rest, just coming off the U.S. Open. It was a long, crazy week, and kind of looking for this week is definitely a little bit easier and kind of a low-key week and get to hang out with the family, which is always fun.

THE MODERATOR: As you mentioned, we're winding down a 12-week stretch. You just played in two straight majors yourself. How are you kind of holding up and how are you gauging where you're at right now with your game?

STACY LEWIS: I feel good, actually. I'm happy with where the game is at. I feel like I've been playing some good golf over the last month and a half on so, so I'm excited that once I can just play -- I'm playing the next three weeks and just to keep things going because I'm doing a lot of good stuff on the golf course, and not having to work a ton on it, which is nice, during a long stretch like that. I'm excited with where things are at.

THE MODERATOR: Now the Marathon Classic, you have six top-25s here, last week was your best finish, T5. What would it mean to win this week.

STACY LEWIS: It would be a big deal. It would be a big deal for me personally, just being that I was born here, and my parents, I know it would be a big deal to them, and this is also the first LPGA event I've ever played in, my first invite. It will be a big deal, and I feel like I've learned how to play this golf course better and better over the last couple years, and like I said, I'm looking for a low-key week, and that usually leads to good golf for me.

Q. Last week you were in real good shape, but what was your perspective as things were unfolding?
STACY LEWIS: Well, it's golf. You play enough golf and things like that are going to happen. Unfortunately it was in front of the world and in front of -- for everybody to see. You know, I've had a left miss going I'd say the last couple weeks, and it caught up with me. You know, it's unfortunate the way -- obviously the timing of it, but that's golf. I mean, I've never had anything like that happen to me on the 18th hole, and it just -- other players have, and it's just, things happen. It didn't change the way I thought I was playing. It didn't change things at all. Came back and birdied 18 on Sunday.

I played really well on Sunday, too. It's just golf. You move on and you forget about it, and I'm playing too good to worry about that stuff.

Q. Along those same lines, golf is a mental game. Is there a process for getting over a hole like that?
STACY LEWIS: I mean, obviously I was over it pretty quick. I wanted to figure out my golf swing more than anything because it just -- I was dying the ball around and was getting away with it for a long time, and it really just kind of showed me that I need to fix my golf swing more than anything. But this game, we all find ourselves -- we remember those things longer than we remember the great rounds, and I'm not going to do that. I just told myself I'm not going to do that. Life is too short, and I'm going to start remembering the good things, and you've got to move on. That's the name of the game, you've got to move on. Whether it's good or it's bad. I saw Sung Hyun Park, who won last week, she's playing 18 holes today. You know, she's moved on, and she won. So you just move on. Like I said, it's golf. It's really not that big of a deal.

Q. I have a question in terms of whether the LPGA is addressing issues (indiscernible)?
STACY LEWIS: You know, the video reviews are something that -- one, I don't know how you stop them. I don't know how, unless you just say those emails never get to an official, but if an official gets that email and sees something, they have to call it. That's their job. That's what they're hired to do. I think it's a very hard thing to stop. I do think there needs to be a time frame that it can be implemented, like in Lexi's case, that once that round is -- once we've started the next round, you can't go back and look at it again. And the two-stroke penalty for the wrong score after the fact, you know, she signed for the right card at the time. The rules like that I think need to be addressed versus the call-in part itself because I don't know how you stop the call-in.

Golf is very different from a basketball game or a football game. There's plenty of calls in a football game that most of us would like to change, but we can't. But in golf, golf is a game of integrity, and it's calling rules upon yourself, and sometimes things happen, and things happen that we can't see all the time. I've gotten penalties from a call-in before, but it happened, and I just think the time frame of it needs to be addressed more than anything.

Q. How important is it for this next generation to have more American stars?
STACY LEWIS: For sure, I think the next -- I'd say the next five to ten years coming out on the LPGA, we need Americans. Right now we don't have a ton of the young Americans coming up. I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's just kind of the cycle that we're going through that maybe some of those girls decide to go to college for a few years before turning pro. I don't know what it is to be honest. But I think for the growth of this Tour and the importance of this Tour, we need American players, especially if we want to keep it an American-based Tour.

Q. Going back to the call-in issue, do you think it's unfair for players like yourself who are on TV more than other players?
STACY LEWIS: It is unfair, but it's also just part of the game. It's part of -- there's advantages to being on TV, as well. And then there's the other side, there's disadvantages to it. I just think it's part of the game and it's part of the world we're in with cell phones and videos and everybody can video everything. It's part of the game now, unfortunately.

Q. (Question on dress code.)
STACY LEWIS: I honestly have been shocked by the response to it because you look at other sports, the NFL, the nab, they have a dress code when they're playing, they have a dress code when they travel. They have a dress code at functions. You guys with your jobs, you probably have a dress code, as well. I honestly don't understand the kick-back we had from addressing the issues that we had on this Tour because I think we needed it to be honest. I've had a title sponsor say to me something about what somebody was wearing on the golf course, you know, and when your title sponsor sees that, they're the one paying the bills, and we have to -- we need to address that and make sure that we come across as being a professional organization.

You know, I think it's pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward, and we have a dress code. So again, I don't understand this. We've had a dress code for a long time, and it really just addressed a couple of the trends in fashion and what the clothing companies are coming out with now. It really just addressed a couple things there. But really, we've needed to change it, and it's really not that big of a deal that everybody is making it out to be.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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