BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 24, 2022

Stacy Lewis

Shadow Creek

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Here with Stacy Lewis at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards. Just finished up with the pro-am here. Stacy, Shadow Creek looks beautiful to the layman's eye.

STACY LEWIS: Yes.

Q. How does it look to the professional eye?

STACY LEWIS: It's great. To play a golf course like this is pretty amazing. It's not the easiest golf course saying that; it's definitely a challenge, especially around the greens and in your approach shots into the greens.

But it's such a great spot for us and a great match play golf course.

Q. Yes, this is here for Solheim Cup. I'm going to start with you. How does it set up for you as a match play course? You played here last year; won 1&1. How does it set up for your game?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, probably not ideal, just the length of the golf course. But that being said, I think it's going to won and lost around the greens. You know, how is your short game, how is your speed on the greens. If it comes down to that I feel like I've got a pretty good chance.

Just try to hit as many fairways as I can and give myself some opportunities around the hole. If short game is really good I think I got a good shot.

Q. It's going to be at least three days of long, hard walks.

STACY LEWIS: Uh-huh.

Q. And now two days of pro-ams. How are you making sure you manage the legs, manage the back, manage the brain to make it through the heat? And match play is a game of strategy; it's a different animal.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, it is. We're playing in twosomes so we're going to play a little quicker which what will be to our advantage. I stay in shape and take care of myself, and make sure you're taking care of yourself at night.

I'm not too worried about the walk. I think that will be the easiest part of this week.

Q. How many water bottles are you going through a day?

STACY LEWIS: Exactly.

Q. I will ask you real quick about Solheim. You're in a pod with three potential Solheim Cup players in Jennifer, Emma, and Lauren. Are you scouting at all?

STACY LEWIS: 100%. I don't want them to put any pressure on themselves. It's more Emma and Lauren I really haven't played a lot with. It's more to see how they play and kind of their demeanor on the golf course. Just thinking about who they could potentially pair up well with.

Jennifer is probably going to make the team when it's all said and done, and I've played with her some so I kind of know what to expect there. I was a little bit disappointed because that means only one American is coming out of the four.

So I was a little disappointed there, but just to get to play with them is going to be really great. Lauren and Emma both have been playing really well. I don't think any of my matches are going to be very easy.

Q. You definitely got a sparkle in your eye when you talk about Solheim Cup and this planning. This really seems tot fit you. Are you enjoying it as much as it looks like you are?

STACY LEWIS: I have. It's been busy. We're kind of really getting into the thick of things now, working on clothes and bags is and all kinds of stuff.

It's a bit busy right bow but it's been fun. We are trying to plan dinners and get the girls thinking about things. We've got a trip planned over to Spain in August to go check a few things out. We're right in the middle of it.

It's been fun. The response has been really good. The girls have really responsive to it, and looking forward to the next few months.

Q. Are you at all disappointed that some of the top Americans aren't here getting the chance to play match play?

STACY LEWIS: I am a little bit, but I'm on the player board and we actually talked about this tournament being the week before the U.S. Open. It's not at a good time in our schedule. I wish we could get this tournament not on the front end of a major that's on the other side of the country. That's the biggest reason they're not here.

But those -- we've still got next year. A lot of the girls are playing Dow, playing the team event, so from that side I'm not too worried about it.

Q. Are you hoping for a better turnout for next year then?

STACY LEWIS: Yes, for sure. I'm hoping we can get this tournament in a little better spot next year. I think the golf course deserves it; the sponsor, MGM, deserves; Bank of Hope deserves it. We got find a better spot in the schedule for this tournament just to make sure that the field is a little bit more top heavy.

Q. I know wasn't as much of an issue with San Francisco; across the country it is.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, it is. Traveling over there, I think you leave here at 6:00 a.m. and you don't get to Raleigh until 3:00 in the afternoon and then you got to drive to Pinehurst. It's not an easy trip but thankful for the ones that are here. We still got some players playing pretty well right now.

Q. So what are the chances you can get it moved?

STACY LEWIS: I don't know. I mean, that is not my job. I mean, it's not my job to make the schedule. I can encourage them all I want, but ultimately they're going to do what's best for them to play well in those majors.

I think any player is thinking about how am I going to play -- what am I working on this week to get ready for next week? After the U.S. Open you're using the next two weeks to get ready for KPMG.

I think everybody plans their schedule that way, and so I like to play the week before the major and there are a lot of players that do and I think that's why they're here. Others said it's too much golf or the golf course is too hilly or whatever it is.

So I don't know. Like I said, I think this tournament deserves a little better spot in the schedule, and hopefully Shadow Creek and we can kind of move things around and make that a little bit better next year.

Q. Speaking of the course, last year most of the girls hadn't seen it before and were playing on feel.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah.

Q. How do you think it changes this year for those of you that did get familiar with it?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, it definitely helps having the knowledge. You know there are certain greens, you can use slopes to help get the ball close. A lot of times you're just hitting to the front edge and letting it release out.

Just that knowledge of that, and I think kind of you temper your expectations, too. The golf course is hard. You're not going out there trying to birdie every hole. You're trying it hit it to a certain spot and hopefully it ends up in a good place from there.

So it definitely helps the more times you play this golf course.

Q. Sophia talked a little about naivete last year helping her.

STACY LEWIS: Uh-huh.

Q. Because you didn't know the course so you just played by feel.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah.

Q. Do you think there is any validity to that?

STACY LEWIS: I think it depends on the player. For me, the more I played it the more it's helped me. First couple times I played it it was kind of like, where do I hit this golf ball? How do I get it close to the hole?

Sometimes 20 feet is a great shot. So you kind of have to temper -- I just think you have to temper the expectations on this golf course more than anything.

Q. Stacy, I wanted to ask you, first of all, on the topic of schedule, when you sit down and plan out your schedule for the year, give me the pros and cons of playing this week and how you came about the decision. Was it a quick one? How much of it is based on you and the Solheim Cup list at all and rankings and you playing your way on the team not with your captain hat on?

STACY LEWIS: Zero percent of it was me playing my way onto the team. For me it was more I wanted to play the week before the major. I feel like I've always played better at majors doing that.

I think -- I mean, you get three rounds of golf this week to kind of work on some things. If you make it past that, it's a bonus in my head.

More than anything I just want some time on the golf course to work on a few things. Your cons are definitely how hilly this golf course is; the travel to Pinehurst from here is obviously not easy. So those are the negatives.

And it's also the front end of we have five or so in a row, so that's a con for some people as well.

But I mean, for me it was it's the week before a major, let's go play golf and work on some shots around the greens. Chipping around these greens, the fairways, the short cut is really tight, so it's going to be similar to what we'll see in Pinehurst, as well.

I like to work on things that way.

Q. And I wanted to talk about Pine Needles for a bit, what you remember about playing in '07 and what you liked about it.

STACY LEWIS: The rough, and I think the rough is gone from what I've heard. It was my first U.S. Open so I don't remember a ton about the golf course. Obviously the elevated greens. You're always -- feel like you're always hitting up into the greens.

But it was my first one and I just remember how tough the rough was. You know, definitely wasn't prepared. I do know that. (Smiling.)

Q. And then my last thing: Were you looking at live scoring all during your pro-am? How are your nerves?

STACY LEWIS: I've been sweating it all out week. This has really been horrible. I went to Phoenix for a couple days last week and left on Friday morning. I'll tell you this: When I left it was as calm and the girls were just in a really good frame of mind, as calm as I've seen my husband in a while.

So I'm not surprised by their play. I was totally sweating it out this morning. Got to the first green on my pro-am and Adela made her putt for them to advance.

I told my guys, okay I'm done. I can focus on golf now. Man, it's been so hard to watch, but it's been great having it on TV and being able to cheer the girls on and cheer my husband on.

Just an unbelievable run for them.

THE MODERATOR: I guess I'll ask. The hope is you make it through the weekend.

STACY LEWIS: Yes.

THE MODERATOR: If not, will you stick around and scout at all or get on over to Pinehurst?

STACY LEWIS: I might. We'll see how things fall with the travel. I got to figure all that out. I might maybe watch a little bit of golf on Saturday and just kind of see how things come together.

But I'm always watching leaderboards, watching how girls are playing, and seeing who is trending in the right direction.

You know, soon need to kind of start thinking about pairing and who is going to play well together. Going to listen to the girls a lot and we're going to be prepared. It's not something we're going to be thrown together at the last minute, and they're going to know what to expect that week.

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