SOLHEIM CUP

September 15, 2024

Stacy Lewis

Nelly Korda

Lilia Vu

Megan Khang

Lauren Coughlin

Rose Zhang

Lexi Thompson

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club

Team USA

Press Conference

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THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the media center for the 2024 Solheim Cup. I am joined by the victorious United States team.

I'll ask a few questions and open it up. Stacy, just talk about how proud you are of this team and the week you all have had.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, it was an amazing week from the start. We started the week off Monday going around D.C. and we had a great day.

From the moment this team was together, they were together. There was no we needed a couple days or anything like that. The vibe in the team room was amazing, the way they got along, the way they support each other. Our group of caddies were off-the-charts keeping the team room loose, making sure everybody had fun, and it showed. It showed in the golf that was played.

I'm just so proud of them. I'm proud that they get this moment where they get to celebrate tonight and win this Cup.

Q. Megan, you went back-to-back years undefeated in the Solheim Cup, a huge feat. Heck yeah. Just talk about how important both those experiences were for you.

MEGAN KHANG: You know, playing last year the way I did and then obviously ended up in a tie, it wasn't the best feeling, but at the end of the day we all played our hearts out and we knew with this year's Solheim Cup being one year closer, we were going to be more hungry than ever, and I wanted to do my part out there, and again, lay it all out there and get the crowd going, get the team -- as Stacy said, we were vibing all too well since the start of the week.

So just really embracing those moments and being on home soil and taking advantage of those crowds definitely helped fuel me to play my best this week, and I just had so much fun out there.

To be able to go undefeated for both Solheims, it's been incredible and a dream come true. Hopefully keep the streak alive and make the next Solheim Cup in 2026 in the Netherlands.

Q. Rose, you went 4-0 this week. I believe you never saw the 16th hole. Talk about your week and how awesome it was.

ROSE ZHANG: Oh, it's been absolutely incredible. I feel like starting off the beginning of the week, I just felt so comfortable with everyone. The whole team has just been -- they've just been so friendly, and everyone has had a good time in the team room, on the golf course. Like Stacy said, it translated over to the golf course.

I felt a lot more loose than I did last year, and it was good vibes all around.

Q. Lilia, you earned the point to capture the victory for the U.S. Team. How important was that for not only yourself but for the team?

LILIA VU: It was so important. I felt like in the middle of the match the wheels were kind of falling off. 16 I hit it through the green and into the bunker and I knew I had to make up-and-down.

And then somehow birdied 17 and was able to hit it really close on 18. I knew -- I looked at the leaderboard, saw we had 14 points, and like Stacy said at the beginning of the week, half points matter. I only had one goal was to get it close and get that birdie.

Q. Stacy, when you accepted the captaincy in 2022, you said that the team needed you now. What did the team need back then, and do you think you met what the team needed?

STACY LEWIS: They needed to have fun and they needed to enjoy this. This needed to do that but also needed to play good golf. I think there was a lot of tension of trying to play perfect golf and not enjoying it in the process.

This team enjoyed this week more than the golf itself. They had so much fun together. They picked each other up when they needed it. They did whatever I asked of them. They were great, offering feedback on pairings.

I can't say enough about them, all 12 of them. They played so hard, and it got hard at times. We knew it would. We knew it would get tough. It's just crazy how this thing, it doesn't matter what your lead is coming into Sunday, it's half points matter, half points here and there.

Just proud of those that got those matches to 18 and were able to get those half points.

Q. Rose just said the fun translated to the course. How did you see your players' enjoyment translate to on-course success?

STACY LEWIS: I mean, you guys saw it on the first tee. I've never seen a lot of these players act the way they did on the first tee. I know their personalities and I'm around them off the golf course, but to do that in front of everybody and to feel comfortable doing that, I knew we were doing a lot of things right behind the scenes.

Just seeing them on the first tee, I had a good feeling about the week, and I loved our pairings. I loved the way it all came together and the way they were playing.

I had a good feeling, but you never know. Today was really stressful, though, for me. I'm not going to lie.

Q. Lauren, I'm curious of the experience of playing in your home state and winning in your home state was like for you?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: I mean, it was my first Solheim so I don't really have anything else to compare it to, but it was an amazing week. I wouldn't change anything. I had an absolute blast with everybody out here, the caddies, my teammates, captains, our families that were around. It was a very special week.

Q. Stacy, for a rookie in her home state, how do you think Lauren handled all of the pressure on her?

STACY LEWIS: I think she did okay. And I knew she would. That's honestly why I put her in the position I did today. I figured it was going to come down to that 6, 7, 8 matchup, and I put people there that I knew that I could trust to make the putts and that could handle the moment.

I knew she could handle the moment just from the way her attitude has been all week. Even when she was down today, the attitude was amazing. I had a lot of belief that she was going to keep that match going.

Q. Five months ago I know the back was still bothering you, but five months later you're in this position. When you were at home and working through that injury, did you picture yourself in this moment, and what does it mean to have come back from so much this year to be here?

LILIA VU: I mean, this week was kind of hard for me. I felt like I wasn't physically 100 percent, and I almost felt guilty taking that spot from someone else and felt like I was trying to find something out here on the golf course. Luckily I have the best team around me and was able to kind of find my game today.

Yeah, I'm pretty grateful to even be playing golf, though.

Q. Lexi, potentially that was your final moment with your teammates out there. What did it mean to get a win in your potential final Cup?

LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it was very special. It meant the world to me just to be here and to be part of this team. These girls are incredible.

Words can't really describe just the personalities on this team and the talent that each and every one of them has. Like they've all said, from the beginning of the week, there was just something about this team that was different, the atmosphere, the energy from the team rooms to the bus rides to the first tee experience.

There was nothing like it, and just how we all came together and had fun and played some amazing golf on top of it. It was just great to be part of it.

Q. Stacy, what does it say about the will of your entire -- we've talked about how loose everybody is, but the will that on the back nine a couple different matches where you guys were down, for so many people to grind out half points and come back in those matches?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I honestly think it's the experience of last year and knowing what half a point means. They were on the wrong side of things last year and knew what that felt like. I think if last year doesn't happen, maybe today ends a little differently.

I think they all learned a lot last year, and I think it showed up today.

Q. Lilia, can you walk me through the second shot on 18 there, the club you used and to stick it that close to the pin, and did you know what you needed to do and what had happened in front of you to get that half point?

LILIA VU: Yeah, so it was 103 yards, helping wind. That's actually my least favorite number to hit, like a 90 shot downwind. But I just had to step up to it. I knew I had to hit it close.

Albane was putting well all day so there was a chance she could make any length of a putt. I knew I had to stick it close, and was able to somehow hit that shot to a foot and a half.

Q. Stacy, you turned and you passed the Cup to Lexi, kind of reminded me of the Stanley Cup in hockey when players do that. Why was it important for her to have that moment?

STACY LEWIS: Because she deserves that moment. I think she was kind of one of those first players to really get that first tee going loud and going crazy, and I think the Solheim Cup is what it is because Lexi started that, and she started with that energy.

All of my favorite Lexi memories are at the Solheim Cup. I'm just super proud of her. I know today was hard. It was a hard day for her emotionally, I think. Just proud of her fight.

She's been a leader of this team for a long time. On and off, she leads by the way she prepares and the way she goes about her business. Who knows, maybe she'll make another one.

Q. Stacy, you have talked about how you relied on analytics so heavily. How validating was it seeing that the margin you built up over the foursome sessions proved to be the difference?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I mean, I loved the pairings that we came up with to start the week, and then you just have to hope that the right people play well to make those pairings work.

We were fortunate that they did play well and I didn't have to make any adjustments and I was able to stick to our plan that we had, and it got us our best possible pairings out.

It's something that we had -- we were talking about in the past. We've always tried to play all of our players in four-balls, so we did some research, and the last five winning Ryder Cup teams didn't play all of their players in four-ball.

We've done that in the past to get everybody ready for singles.

So this year I said I'm going to put out the best possible pairings I can for every session, and if it doesn't get everybody in four-balls, then it doesn't get everybody in four-balls. That was something I learned last time that we're probably going to keep doing going forward.

Q. Rose, we asked you earlier this week what is it about playing in this air that fits your comfort zone. After going 4-0 here, do you think it might be the grass, the air? Any thoughts after another win outside D.C.?

ROSE ZHANG: Maybe the grass and the air. I'd like to say -- it's just been really comfortable to be playing on bentgrass and playing on these types of golf courses. The fans, I've always just thought about how great the fans were.

When they came out and just represented USA and how loud they were, it was just so cool to witness and to feel that inside the ropes.

The first time that I really played back in 2020, it was still COVID, and it was the U.S. Amateur. I don't really consider that a full-on experience. I'd only consider that the golf course.

Other than that, this week has been just incredible with the golf course and the fans.

STACY LEWIS: I will add that in my day she had the highest course fit rating of anybody on this team, so there's that part, too. The golf course was made for you, Rose.

Q. Nelly, I'm curious where this week ranks on the fun scale for you over the course of your career.

NELLY KORDA: This was probably the most fun I've had on a golf course ever. Just the team, the team environment, the caddies, everyone getting along, the fans. Everyone was so incredible. We all vibed really well off of each other. This is probably the most I've laughed and the most I've fist pumped ever on a golf course. It was just an amazing week and a dream come true.

Q. Stacy, I know Justin Ray didn't hit a shot this week, but can you sum up what he's meant to you personally in this run?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, he's been a huge asset for the last two and a half years, from all the phone calls to the random texts to I kind of had a little freak-out moment last week. I was trying to figure out pairings and I couldn't get it done and we did a call and he got me back on track.

He's been a great friend, and he loves his stats but he loves golf, and he loves watching this team compete.

Just grateful for his friendship.

Q. Where are the big bottles of champagne?

STACY LEWIS: We haven't even been back to the team room yet. I think there were a couple. I think they drank them already.

Q. That was a little bit of a joke, but you look a little bit drained up there. You look very relieved. Do you feel like a burden has been lifted and you can just exhale?

STACY LEWIS: I feel that way. I don't know how the rest of them feel. How do you guys feel?

MEGAN KHANG: I got some choice words that I'm not going to say, but we feel good.

ANGELA STANFORD: We feel like a million dollars, because we got the Cup.

Q. Do you feel like you celebrate in a more mature way than the guys?

STACY LEWIS: We haven't gotten a chance to yet.

MEGAN KHANG: Have them bring the bottles out and we'll see.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: We haven't gotten to celebrate yet.

Q. Lauren, you mentioned that I think you came here four times beforehand. In any of those times did you ever practice a putt to win the Cup?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: So Terry, my caddie, came up the week before Canada, and on the 18th hole he put a putt down and he said, this is to win the Solheim Cup, and I made it.

Q. How close was today's putt, and how similar was it to the one that he put down for you?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Different putt because it was a different hole location, but it was a little bit longer than what I had. But maybe closer to like the one I had on 17.

Q. How far was your putt today?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: On 18, I had about 15 feet.

Q. Stacy, I think Allisen Corpuz when she got the 13th point, it was just before 1:00, and when Lilia's putt dropped it was almost 2:30, so that was like 90 minutes between the two. What wait was longer, that or from last year to this year to get the Cup back?

STACY LEWIS: That was the longest hour and a half of my life. I'm not going to lie.

The morning went by really fast and those early matches finished really fast. Then that last hour of those matches on 16 and 17 and 18, it just felt like it was never going to end. Just really nerve-racking. You felt pretty helpless.

But I started walking with Andrea because her and Rose had some really -- they played really well the other day when I started walking with her. She said she needed her good luck charm back and she made birdie, so I was like, I can't leave now.

So I ended up with Rose and that helped the time go by a little bit faster, but yeah, the last 30 minutes or so were pretty rough.

Q. Lauren, standing on the 11th hole, you're 3-down. Is there a conversation that you had with yourself or with Terry to then go birdie 11, 12 and 14, square up that match, knowing where you are in the lineup and how important your match could be?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, Stacy was on the tee, and I told her that I fight, so don't worry.

Yeah, Terry and I have talked about my story and my background a lot, and pretty much the whole time we've been working together, he keeps telling me how that's what I do best is fight, and so I told him today what I do best is fight, and so I was going to keep going until the match was over.

Q. Suzann was in here just a little while ago and she was a little emotional. Have there been moments since you won that it's been a little overwhelming for you or that the emotions have really hit you?

STACY LEWIS: Right now, no. Similar to her, in Spain, it didn't really hit me until I got on the airplane and I was sitting on the airplane with my daughter and she was sleeping and I just lost it and I started crying.

I was like, we did all this work for these girls to play to a tie, and that was literally the only moment. From that point though on it was right back to work because I don't want that to happen again.

There were parts of this journey that were hard. It was busy. There was a lot of work at times. There were frustrating things at times.

But that's part of it, and just to watch them celebrate and to see Lilia pull off that shot in that moment was just really, really special.

Q. Do you think now after you leave here you'll be able to finally, like you said, exhale and enjoy the moment?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, the shoulders are already down, so we're going to enjoy the moment. We're going to celebrate. This has been seven years in the making for a lot of the women on this stage.

There's a lot -- actually 10 that haven't had this celebration yet, so we're going back to the team room to celebrate.

Q. Knowing how much you love analytics, now that the matches are over, can you share some of the specific metrics you were using to help determine some of the pairings?

STACY LEWIS: No. No. I mean, a lot of it, it's got to stay within this team. The assistants know it. We know what works, and I think I've got the buy-in now from this team, as well.

But yeah, we're going to keep a lot of that to ourselves. But I'll tell you one thing is this team played really, really good this week. It doesn't matter the pairings or any of that. If you play really, really good golf, you're going to win.

Q. Stacy, the business is now finished. Can you just speak to what that means?

STACY LEWIS: It's a little strange, to be honest. I don't know what I'm going to do next week now.

Yeah, I mean, the job was to get the Cup, and we finished the job. I don't know what we do now. I hadn't thought past this moment, to be honest.

Other than we celebrate, I've got to get my daughter back home to go to school on Tuesday, but past that, I don't know what's next.

MEGAN KHANG: But that's Tuesday, and it's Sunday.

STACY LEWIS: Exactly. That's my point.