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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

April 1, 2011

Stacy Lewis

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Stacy, thanks for coming in. Another good round today, 3-under 69. Can you tell me a little bit about your round?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah. My round was I was all over the place, but I made some really good up-and-downs and stayed really patient on the back nine, and fortunate to get away with a couple of pars that I probably shouldn't have and posted a good number, I think.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Yesterday you said the course is getting a little baked out, but you were playing in the afternoon. Did you get the sense that it had come back a little bit this morning or is it still pretty crispy out there?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah. It definitely came back. Actually had ball marks today and this morning, so I didn't have those at all yesterday.
The hole locations today, though, were tucked in the corners, and they were hard to get to. So I almost think it played a little tougher this morning, I guess.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the par that you thought you were lucky to save, where were they and what happened?
STACY LEWIS: Well, 6 through 9. 6 I made a pretty good up-and-down, had to make a three-foot slider down the hill, but 7 and 8, I mean 8 I made probably an eight-footer for par.

Q. And where had you been before?
STACY LEWIS: I was just right in the rough and just had a hard shot. And then 9, I hit it behind the tree off the tee and still had 200 yards in for my third shot and hit it just perfect just short of the green and got up-and-down for par, so I mean it could have been a huge swing there. I could have been 4-over easily.

Q. Was it a creative shot? What did you hit? How did you conceive of what you were going to do?
STACY LEWIS: Well, I mean it was just a hard shot. It wasn't -- I mean I don't know. Just not ideal. It's not what you want.

Q. What club did you hit there?
STACY LEWIS: I had a hybrid.

Q. Stacy, you were on a giant stage a few years ago at the U.S. Women's Open. Can you kind of tell us what the journey has been like and what you've learned?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I thought coming off that Open it would be kind of instant success and I'd be rolling right along, but kind of hit a rut a little bit at the end of my rookie year, and I was kind of lost. I was like what am I doing out here, and didn't really know what to do. And I found a new instructor to start the year in I guess will be a year ago in January, and since then I've just been working hard, and it's all about the process. I mean people say that all the time, but you gotta work hard. You gotta prepare every week, and I don't know. It's been pretty cool, though.

Q. Can you tell us how you got lost or what made you feel lost?
STACY LEWIS: I was -- well, it didn't help I was halfway across the world by myself playing in Japan and Korea and all that for the first time, and I wasn't playing good golf. And I didn't really have a coach at the time, so I didn't know what I was doing with my swing, and it was kind of like why am I doing this, like what am I doing out here.
So talked with my parents and they're like, you need to get a coach, you need to get a team together. You need a group of people that have the same goals that you do.

Q. Who is your coach again?
STACY LEWIS: Joe Hallett.

Q. You chipped in on the first hole?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I did. I was in the left rough off the tee and was trying to just bounce the shot in there, but it came up just a little short and chipped it right in the center.

Q. How far were you?
STACY LEWIS: I think the flag was probably 10 on, so it was probably 30 feet.

Q. With your experience at that Open just a few years ago, what did that teach you in terms of dealing with the kind of pressure in a major championship and coming in with the pressure and all that?
STACY LEWIS: It helped me on the back nine today because I was really frustrated making the turn. I mean I was exhausted. And just helped me to stay patient and just keep -- every shot's important, and one swing can completely change a round. And that's what I found out at the last round at Interlochen, that looking back it was just a couple swings early in the round can completely change the momentum, so I was just trying to stay positive and stay patient.

Q. What did your new coach do with your swing? Did he do anything dramatic to it? Where had it gone haywire?
STACY LEWIS: No, not really. It was just kind of -- it was just little things that -- like I could fix it myself, but it would take me a week to do it where if you have somebody with another set of eyes, they can help you fix it in a couple days, and that's what you have to do out here. Not really any big changes. It's kind of just been a process over the year.

Q. Betsy King was in here earlier and talking about you and your mom accompanied her to Africa, and she said you got to meet your sponsored child and she imagined it was a life-changing event for you. And could you just tell us about that?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I went with my mom and Betsy, too. We went to Ruwanda, and that's where I met a little girl, her name is Alene that I sponsor. And I mean I saw things there I never thought I'd ever see in my life. It was such a shock to me that people live the way that they do, but they are so happy and so grateful. It just makes me thankful for everything that I have, and it gave me a renewed purpose of what I'm doing out here.
And the better I play golf, the more I can help other people, the more I can inspire people. So it just gave me a new purpose to what I'm doing.

Q. Is there one snapshot of just something you saw that has stayed in your mind that you never thought you would see?
STACY LEWIS: Just the kids, I think. Driving alongside the road you see kids with these huge buckets of water bigger than them. They had to walk probably miles to the wells to get water. And I don't think -- that picture doesn't really go out of your head, especially when you go to turn a faucet on or something.

Q. Do you think your physical issues growing up, how has that helped form your personality? Do you think that makes you any more willing or wanting to go out to places like Ruwanda or meet kids with scoliosis?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah. I mean I feel so lucky to be just to play golf, and so I don't know, I just feel like I'm put in this position for a reason and that's my purpose and that's what I'm here for. But it also taught me just to persevere and to get through things, and it helps me with my golf, too.

Q. And you talk quite a bit about your parents. What are their names, and how important are they to you? Are they a big part of your golf still?
STACY LEWIS: Dale and Carol. My dad's here. He's been here all week, and my mom's coming in tonight. I mean they've been there 100 percent the whole way, and especially my mom during the surgery was awesome. And I don't think -- my dad, he never missed a college golf tournament. So he loves it. He actually caddied for me a little bit.

Q. Is he a golfer at all?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, he's a 5-handicap, so he knows what he's doing.

Q. So he can beat you?
STACY LEWIS: He hasn't beat me in a long, but don't tell him that.

Q. Your first year on Tour when you're talking about all the stuff you didn't have and everything that you have in place when you're in college, and I was wondering if that's when you sort of learned to appreciate all that you had in college with the structure and the resources and the coaching and whatnot.
STACY LEWIS: Yeah. That was a big change, because in college you have your coach, your coach did your schedule for you. Your coach told you when you needed to be there. All you had to do was pack your bag and show up, and they did everything else for you.
So that was definitely a change coming out, having to figure out how I was getting from point A to point B and when I was getting there. That was definitely part of why the first year was so hard.

Q. Besides getting the coach, what else have you done to kind of change that team? Do you have more people working on the road helping you or manager?
STACY LEWIS: I mean I got -- when I started working with this instructor, I also started working with like a strength and conditioning coach and I've gotten stronger over the last year. And me and my caddie, I've had the same caddie since I've been on Tour, so we've been working really well together. And I don't know, I just feel like I have a really good group of people around me right now.

Q. Brittany talked about going to dinner with you and hanging out with you. How are you guys able to separate your competitiveness when you get off the course and maintain those friendships?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah. When we go overseas, we stay together all the time and go to dinner a lot. I think you need it out here. You need somebody that knows what you're going through.
When you're frustrated you can talk to them, but as soon as you get it out, we're over and we're done with it. Whenever we finish a round, she's going home to take a nap and I'm figuring out what I'm going to do, but it's nice to have somebody that knows what you're doing. I mean when we're on the golf course, we want to beat each other, but we're also cheering for each other, too.

Q. To follow that, some people would feel like they were making themselves vulnerable by admitting I'm struggling with this or I'm having trouble with that. What is it about like Brittany that you felt like you could sort of confide in her and you wouldn't live to regret it?
STACY LEWIS: I think we're about the same age and we were kind of brought up the same, and I don't know, we're just -- we're pretty similar actually. I mean we play different games, but we're pretty similar, and I don't know, we just get along really well.

Q. Brittany mentioned the nap thing yesterday, too. When she goes and takes a nap, she tells you you have to go out and do something. So I take it you're not a napper?
STACY LEWIS: I'm not a napper at all. It was kind of hard for me because she likes to go to bed at 9:30 and I'd be up at 5 every morning. So we have to kind of manage that, but other than the napping part, it's fine.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Stacy.

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