ABERDEEN STANDARD INVESTMENTS LADIES SCOTTISH OPEN

August 14, 2020

Stacy Lewis

The Renaissance Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Here with Stacy Lewis right after her round today, what a way to finish. Take us through that birdie on 18.

STACY LEWIS: Well, the drive actually went a little too far. I didn't feel like I was hitting it far enough at the end of these last two days, so hit driver down there and got pretty close to the end and fortunately gave me a little 9-iron that I was able to hit back there and make the putt. To finish the way I did was awesome and glad I get some rest now.

THE MODERATOR: You had to finish holes from your first round. When is the last time something like that has happened.

STACY LEWIS: I was just thinking I was glad the baby wasn't here. It would have been a lot tougher with her here. It's been a while. With COVID stuff, we are not allowed to take shuttles, either, so it's probably a good mile walk through the grass. I was out at 9.00 last night and walked back out there early this morning. Everybody's feet are hurting. We were all kind of rubbing our backs at the end. It was definitely an adventure the last two days.

THE MODERATOR: What was it like coming over here to Scotland, especially having to leave the baby behind?

STACY LEWIS: That was kind of hard but thankfully we have Zoom, as you can see, and FaceTime, so I get to talk to her and she gets to talk to me. I was just excited with the way I was playing.

You know, I finished really good in Toledo. Hit it awesome the last day. The golf swing has felt better every single day. I truly love playing in Scotland. I love links golf. All the different shots you get to hit, the different weather. You have to battle the elements which we did yesterday. I was just more than anything excited to come play some golf.

THE MODERATOR: I think this is your first time at the Ladies Scottish Open?

STACY LEWIS: Maybe second.

THE MODERATOR: But what do you think of the Renaissance Club so far, two competition days under your belt. I think a couple years ago, St. Andrews was one of your favourite places. So for you, what has it been like playing here at the Renaissance Club these last two days?

STACY LEWIS: Well, it's more of your modern-style links. It's not kind of the old ones like a St. Andrews, Troon, things like that. You have some -- little bit, I want to say a little bit goofier greens, kind of more mounds, more things going on. So you get some weird bounces, and I think with these modern links courses, it reminds me of Kingsbarns with the elevation changes. You have to really go with the flow because you're going to get some funky bounces, but we've had a great week so far, and just looking forward to some rest this afternoon.

Q. Have you always liked links golf or was it something that over a period of time you had to get accustomed to the funky bounces?

STACY LEWIS: For me it was the Curtis Cup at St. Andrews, and I have to give my caddie that week, Fraser, a lot of credit. He truly taught me links golf. Told me where to land a pitching wedge and let it bounce out. He picked out all these shots for me and helped me visualise things. I really think it was the experience with him and playing the Old Course as many times as we did last week is what made me fall in love with it.

Q. Being quarantined -- or basically in the hotel or the golf course and that's it, is it helpful or withdrawal that you're having to go through, with not having the baby and all the things you'd have to do otherwise?

STACY LEWIS: I tried to stay busy. I played 18 holes on Tuesday and Wednesday because I didn't want to sit in the hotel room. I'm getting a lot of practise time in there because you don't want to get stuck in there too much.

Everybody has to do it and we're all doing the best we can with it. We have a 45-minute drive to the golf course, so you throw an hour-and-a-half drive in there every day, so we're killing time.

Q. What's the longest you've been away from Chesnee so far, and when did you first Zoom with her or FaceTime with her? Does she know what that even is, who you are?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, so the longest I've been away was last summer when I went and played Evian, British. I was gone for two weeks. So we're doing the two weeks again. But now it's actually fun on FaceTime because as soon as my face pops up, she says "Mama" and she's all excited. She's showing me all her toys and all the stuff she's getting into.

It's not full-blown conversations yet, but she at least knows I'm there and understands that I'm on the phone and talking to her. It makes it a lot easier being here.

Q. And we've talked about how great you're hitting the ball in Toledo. Let's talk about your putting for a minute. Have you worked on something there or are you just feeling it today or what?

STACY LEWIS: No. I've been working on it. I worked on it hard earlier this week, and yesterday the greens were pretty slow at the end of the day and so I just -- it was hard -- I felt like it was hard to make putts at the end of the day yesterday. Just kind of working on keeping my left hand a little bit more stable, not letting the putter head release so much, and it's really just about how many opportunities on this golf course you can give yourself kind of inside that 15-foot range. You get it inside that, I feel like you have a pretty good shot at making it.

But when the wind gets up, it's even hard to get it that close.

Q. Can you give us the timeline, like when you went to bed last night, what time you got up? What the last 24 hours has been like?

STACY LEWIS: So it was about 8.30 they blew the horn last night and we had to walk all the way in. And then the keypad system wouldn't work to get in the parking garage. So we were walking in the hotel, gosh, it was a little before 10.00, and then I got in the room, ordered food really fast, FaceTime Chesnee, took a shower. I think I was in bed by 10.45. And then we had to leave at 5.30 this morning to get back out for the 8.00 restart. We had about 45 minutes between rounds.

Q. And I haven't seen yet, but how is the weather today?

STACY LEWIS: The weather was -- well, for us, it was much better. The end of the day, yesterday, was very windy. It got a little bit windier today as time went on, but kind of a typical Scottish day to start. We had kind of the mist would come in and would come and go but the wind picked up a little bit out around 13, 14, but was down for most of the day.

Q. Can you speak to the challenges you've faced getting your game where you want it, with going through mother hood now and then you throw the COVID break in the middle of it. What's all that been like?

STACY LEWIS: Well, the COVID break has done wonders for my golf swing, I'll tell you that, and my body. I've been able to, I look back kind of, but even before I was pregnant with Chesnee, earlier in that year, I had to pull out of Thailand and Singapore. I was overseas, kind of hurt my ribs. And then I go into having Chesnee and you know, just never really get my body back in shape where it needs to be.

And so this break, I met some ladies at home, they have helped me a lot just understanding how my body works and getting inflammation out of my joints, and helping me manage the day-to-day and not be hurt so much, and be a little bit more free, and in all that, kind of learn some things about my golf swing and my setup that my body is not able to do.

And so it's just really helped me just kind of understand everything that's going on.

Q. Can you drive over there or does Travis drive? Who drives?

STACY LEWIS: Actually I'm driving.

Q. Have you done that before?

STACY LEWIS: I did it -- well, I drove on the other side of the road in Australia for the first time and I actually quite enjoyed it. It was kind of fun. I think most players, it seems like the caddie is driving. They couldn't believe that I'm driving but it's kind of fun to be honest. We got a little Mercedes and you can get going pretty good on these country roads.

Q. When was it in Australia that you first drove?

STACY LEWIS: Oh, just this year when I went and played the Vic Open.

Q. You're brave.

STACY LEWIS: Well, it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be to be honest, so that's why I was pretty comfortable doing it this week, and I've got Travis there where if I get on the wrong side of the road, he's going to yell at me.

THE MODERATOR: I know what it's like to finally feel like driving on the other side of the road. I'm doing the same thing and I think I'm doing okay.

How do you feel about the state of your game after a Top-10 performance in Marathon and just be able to put together a round like you did today?

STACY LEWIS: I said it when I finished on Sunday that I really felt like my game was in a good spot. I just need opportunities to play. I need rounds to kind of work the kinks out, especially with the putter and just keep getting more comfortable with that. I'm really excited. It's as good as my body has felt in a really long time, and just had more of an understanding of what's going on and it's all added up to some good golf so far.

THE MODERATOR: And one more. The car you got, was it manual or automatic?

STACY LEWIS: Oh, definitely automatic. Not a question there.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Stacy.