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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIPApril 3, 2011Stacy LewisRANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Stacy Lewis, the 2011 Kraft Nabisco champion. Stacy, congratulations. Can you tell me how it feels? STACY LEWIS: It doesn't even feel real yet. I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out if I actually won, but I played so good today and I was just proud of the way I hung in there and made some key putts, especially on 17. I don't know. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. THE MODERATOR: Can you go over your scorecard for everyone? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. The second hole I hit 4-iron into the green, went over the back and then two-putted from there for birdie. The third hole, I made birdie. I drove it right in the rough and then hit a good recovery shot and made about a 30-footer down the hill for birdie. And then 9, 9 I was about 240 to the front off the tee and so I just hit 3-wood up just short of the green, didn't hit a good chip shot, then made about an eight-footer or so for birdie there. Then 12, I hit a great shot out of the rough. I was about 100 yards out, I think, to about six, seven feet and made that. Made bogey on 15, just probably hit one of the worst shots I hit all day and then I actually hit a good recovery shot out of the bunker but missed about a five-footer. THE MODERATOR: And can you list off who all jumped in the water with you on 18? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. My dad, Dale Lewis, my mom Carol, and my younger sister Janis Lewis, and my caddie, Travis Wilson. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Stacy, how was the lake? STACY LEWIS: It was a lot colder than I thought it was going to be, but I don't know. It was awesome. Q. You had the lead the entire back nine. But it seemed like the putt you made on 17 was the putt that kind of shut the door on her. What was that like, because she said she was surprised that you made it, as tough a putt as that was. STACY LEWIS: I mean probably the look on my face was I was shocked it went in, too, honestly. It was a putt you had to hit on the perfect line with the perfect speed for it to go in. My bunker shot wasn't very good. There was less sand there than I thought, so I didn't hit a good shot there, but with Yani within two of me, I know she can catch up pretty quickly. I played with her in Australia, I mean I saw her shoot 63 without even trying. I knew if she could make birdie, then I needed to stay on my game. Q. Did you know that putt went in like a foot away? STACY LEWIS: No. I didn't know it was in until it went to the bottom. Q. Can you speak what it's been like to go head to head with the world No. 1 for two days? And a lot of people today if they were picking would have picked Yani. What was it like out there for you and what does this do for you confidence wise? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. I think going into today, I think she had -- I said it last night, but I think she had more pressure on her than I did, just being she won last year and being No. 1. So I was kind of an underdog role, and it actually relaxed me a little more and allowed me to play. But I knew from earlier in the year, I've played a lot with Yani, and I know I can hang with her and I know I can hit the ball with her. It's just making putts. And I don't know. It's huge. I mean I know I can play with the best players in the world now. Q. What happened with your drive on 17 that put you in the bunker to start with? STACY LEWIS: I mean just the end of the round and I was nervous. Q. It was just a nervous shot? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. I just didn't hit a good shot. Q. And is your mom okay? STACY LEWIS: I'm not really sure. I haven't been able to check on her yet, but I guess she hurt her leg, so hopefully she's okay. Q. So she hasn't jumped in too many ponds? STACY LEWIS: No. I don't think so. Q. Can you talk about, it seems like you were just kind of gathering yourself after the putt on 17. What were you thinking? What was going through your mind at that point? STACY LEWIS: Well, wasn't shaking, just trying to calm down. My heart was racing, and it was more just gathering my thoughts. And you know, I still had five more shots that I needed to hit and needed to make sure I paid attention to. So I don't know. I mean I told my caddie, I said, we can do this; we can do this. He's like, I know we can. So he was great out there today for me. Q. At the beginning of the day you were down by two. Talk about how important it was for you, after four holes it was already tied. How important was that for you for the rest of the round? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. It was huge. I knew I needed to get off to a good start, and it was key hitting the fairway on two so I could reach it and make birdie there. I could kind of tell from probably the third, fourth hole on that Yani just wasn't quite on her game today. She was just a little off, and I knew I needed to take advantage of that, and I did. Q. Could you just talk about the conversation that you had with your family on what to do about your grandfather's funeral? And was that a tough decision? How much back and forth was there? STACY LEWIS: There really wasn't much, actually, because everybody in the family knew that he would have wanted me to finish out this week. And so it wasn't even -- I don't think it was even a thought. If it was, my dad didn't tell me. But I don't think it was. I think he -- I mean he lived via my golf. He loved watching it on TV. He recorded it every week so he could keep watching it over and over again. But him and my grandma they both got to see me play the whole round today and they were out there with me for sure. Q. Great win. Great playing. But what happened? It seemed like the bunker shot that you hit on 15 came out really bad. STACY LEWIS: Well, 15 I really shortsided myself and I was in a bad spot. I actually hit a pretty good shot from there. But the one on 17, there was hardly any sand there. So the club just bounced a little bit through. But I mean what can you do? Q. Stacy, what happened? I was surprised because I was right there when you got into that bunker on 15. What happened there? Seemed like the ball came off the club or something. STACY LEWIS: Well, no. I was dead there. Like I literally had no shot, so I was happy just to -- I mean that's all I was trying to do was just open the face up and get it up and out as quickly as I could. Q. Maybe from the time you finished I think fifth here as an amateur and certainly the '08 Open people have been wondering when you would get that first win. Could you have imagined the first win would be a major championship or was it just going to come whenever it came? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, a lot of people have always -- like other players have told me, they're like, you'll win when it's your time and you'll win when it's the right time. I had a good feeling coming into the week because I love this golf course and I've played well here before. I don't know. I had a good feeling about the week, and even when my grandfather died, I was like, there's a reason that happened this week and there's a reason my parents were here. It all worked out the way it should, I think. Q. What did it feel like walking up 18? So many champions have talked about what that walk is like. What was it like? STACY LEWIS: It was unbelievable. I was still kind of upset about the shot that I hit into 18. But my caddie was like -- I kind of had my head down. He's like, not many people get this walk. You better smile. So he definitely helped me relax a little bit. And that was probably the best walk I've ever had. Q. And when Yani kissed and picked up the trophy at No. 1, did you feel like -- STACY LEWIS: I didn't even see her do that. Q. What's your grandfather's name? STACY LEWIS: Al Lewis. Q. Was he a golfer? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. He played golf and he's the one who got my dad started playing and then my dad got me started playing. Q. Did you play with him much when you were growing up? STACY LEWIS: I did when I was little, but not since I've really played on Tour or anything. Q. So was he good? STACY LEWIS: I think he was a pretty good player, yeah. I was pretty little at the time. Q. When you tied on ninth, did that rejuvenate you, give you a different game plan that you could win it from there on if you'd played even or better than Yani to play a solid back nine? STACY LEWIS: I really didn't feel like I had like a good chance of winning honestly until 17. Even after I mean nine, we had two shots going in there and I took the lead. But I knew, just the way she plays, I know she can make birdies. She makes a lot of them. So I wasn't comfortable all day. I felt like I was going to throw up all day, and even walking up 18 I wasn't really that comfortable, but I definitely had a better sense by 17 that I had a chance to win it. Q. Stacy, you really seem calm, because I was with you the last hole. Did you really say, okay, now this is my moment and I'm doing it or was it something else that really got you that inner calm? You just hit those shots and they were great. STACY LEWIS: Yeah. I wasn't calm. I might have looked calm, but I wasn't. My heart was racing. I was just trying to relax for every shot, and my caddie was great about -- I mean he was talking about the numbers, talking about the shot, and he was talking so much about what I was actually doing that I couldn't even think about anything else until -- I think that was the key that kept me calm at least over the shots. Q. You finished at the top of a very American-heavy leaderboard. What kind of feeling does that give you about where American golf is right now? STACY LEWIS: I think -- I mean I was looking at that right now. There were five Americans up there, and I think it's huge for us. I think I know when I see other American players playing well, it makes me want to play better, too. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year and Solheim Cup and all that. Q. Yeah. Just a question leading onto that, what are your objectives for the rest of the year now? Have they changed? STACY LEWIS: I have no idea. I mean the goal this year was to put myself in contention to win and make the Solheim Cup team. So I think I've made both of those pretty solid now, so I'll have to reevaluate next week. Q. I was talking to Karrie a little bit about your game, and she said she felt like putting was the thing that needed to improve to put you over the edge how now you've spent a lot of time working on some new methods. Can you talk a little bit about your putting? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. It was last September I came back, I was back home after the Canadian Open, and I had missed three greens in 36 holes and missed the cut. So I knew I needed to do something else. And my college coach, Shauna Estes-Taylor, she kind of told me about this aim point which is a greens reading method, and she's like, let me just show you a little bit and just kind of get a general understanding, so I learned the basics and I finished Top 10 at Arkansas. And I was kind of like maybe there's something to it. Then I went and worked with Mark Sweeney, and I worked with him over the winter and things like that, but it's more -- I understand how greens work and what the putts are going to do. It just made me more confident over the putts in general. Q. We're sorry about your grandfather. Are you going to celebrate today? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. The funeral is in the next couple of days, which that'll be hard and everything, but I'm excited, actually, to go home and see the rest of my family because then we can celebrate together and celebrate with them. So it'll be sad, but it'll also be a celebration, too. Q. Now when you and Brittany go to dinner, can you compare notes about your pond jumping and celebration? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. I don't even know what I did. After I made that putt it was all blurred, so I hope I didn't look too much like an idiot. Q. And what did it feel like to have all the players out there pouring champagne all over you? Did you even know who was out there? STACY LEWIS: Yeah. It was a lot of my friends, and we had talked before, because like some of your friends you just wouldn't pour beer on; they just wouldn't like that. I said, if I win, you can pour all the beer you want on me, and I got a lot of it. I don't know. You have to have friends out here to succeed and get through the hard times, and I'm just happy that they were out there to enjoy the experience with me. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Stacy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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