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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACERMay 31, 2014Stacy LewisGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY THE MODERATOR: I'd love to welcome in Stacy Lewis, our leader here in the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic. 8‑under today. You said you felt a lot more comfortable over the ball. What was the difference today do you think? STACY LEWIS: Well, one, I got off to a better start, but the first nine holes yesterday I just was uncomfortable over the ball. Alignment was kind of messed up the last few rounds, and kind of started to figure it out throughout the day yesterday, and it definitely felt a lot better today. Hit a ball a lot more solid, didn't have to make as many par putts, and it was just a lot easier overall. THE MODERATOR: We have to go back to your schedule this week, and I don't know if everybody knows what you've been up to, but you did the Pinehurst prep early on in the week, you came here for your pro‑am and essentially left right after, took a helicopter to New York City, came back, did the whole KPMG women's PGA Championship announcement, come here, take the lead in the second round, no big deal. Talk about your week and how you've been able to manage that. STACY LEWIS: When you say it that way, it makes it sound worse than it was. Well, I know my game is in a good place, so I didn't think‑‑ yeah, it was a lot, but I didn't think it was going to be too much. I really did good about when I had time to rest, I did, and got some good practice in at Pinehurst, which was actually good prep at Pinehurst for this golf course, just both being Donald Rosses and a similar style. You had to hit similar types of shots. So that was actually good practice for here. And then got a good look at the course in the pro‑am and had some fun on Thursday and just came here and played some good golf, which is what I've been doing. Finally played more consistent today, made some putts, and it was just a good day. THE MODERATOR: We keep talking about your role as an ambassador for this Tour. I was talking to your agent and you have a hand in maybe six of our events as you have commitments to do with your title sponsors. We have KPMG, Manulife, Marathon, Pure Silk. Talk about your role as an ambassador and your responsibility of making that trip up there, which was a huge deal during the week of a tournament week. STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I think like all the players, I hope all the players feel this way, is that this is our Tour, and we've taken ownership of it. Just to get my sponsors on board and get them to see the value in coming and being partners of our Tour, that's what I've been trying to do. That announcement on Thursday has been a long time coming. It's been cool to see kind of behind the scenes, seeing all the parties come together. They're coming to me with questions, what do you think about this, what do you think about that, and it's just been cool to be a part of that. Doing that announcement was really a no‑brainer. We made it a big deal doing it in the city like that with all the media. It was definitely a cool thing. I got a lot of calls and texts from people. It was fun, but at the same time I hope all the players see what I'm doing and see that they can do this too and really kind of help elevate the Tour. THE MODERATOR: What was the coolest part about that trip, maybe the helicopter? STACY LEWIS: Helicopter actually was pretty darned cool. We got to go do a bunch of shows, did the press conference on the Saturday Night Live stage which is a lot smaller than you think. All that media stuff isn't really all glamorous as you think, but definitely the helicopter into the city was definitely the best way to see New York. Q. Coming in here with the winds and the conditions being a huge part of what makes this golf course what it is, how does your experience factor help you when maybe you didn't have as much prep time as maybe you would in a normal week? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I think if you look at a lot of my wins and a lot of the courses I played well on is when it's windy and when it's hard. I enjoy that. I like when you kind of have to work shots into the wind or do you hit more club and work it into the wind or hit less club and let it ride the wind. I like doing that, like being creative. It really just suits my game. I really think the prep at Pinehurst was honestly really good. It wasn't as windy there, but at Pinehurst you're going to have to hit shots that either have a draw or a fade on them to hold the green, which is similar out here. You have to hit the right type of shot to get it close. Really the Pinehurst prep was probably the best thing I could have done without playing a couple more rounds on this golf course. Q. You mentioned yesterday the first nine were a little bit rocky, but what did you do to cure the alignment? I know it's hard to experiment in the middle of a round. How did you get to where you are now from that point yesterday until 63 today? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I mean, I know my tendencies. My tendencies are for my feet to get closed. I do it all the time, and you wish you could figure out some way to not do it. That's the tendency. To do it, my feet at the time moment feel pretty open, which is hard, because I feel like I'm going to hook the ball a lot. So that was yesterday. I had to just get comfortable. I was kind of blocking some shots early yesterday because I wasn't trusting that I was going to hit it straight when I was lined up good. That was the first nine, and really, I hit some good shots, hit a good drive yesterday on 1 and 2, and that really kind of got things going in the right direction. Q. You have a chance to take over the No.1 spot this week. What would it mean to you to be able to accomplish that? STACY LEWIS: You know, it would be huge. I was only there for four weeks last year when I got there, so I never really‑‑ it was so crazy those four weeks, I never got to enjoy it. So I definitely want to get back because I know kind of now more what to expect with it. Honestly kind of tired of hearing all the scenarios and hearing everybody talk about it. I would like to take care of that here this week, especially with the Open come up and all that, just would like to go in there without having to deal with all these extra story lines that people like to make. Q. And when were you down at Pinehurst and when did you get here? STACY LEWIS: I flew into Pinehurst on Sunday night right after Mobile and flew up here Tuesday night. So I got two good rounds there. There was hardly anybody on the golf course so we could kind of take our time and do what we needed to do. THE MODERATOR: You have a lot of good memories here, obviously the win and I mentioned outside about your donation after the storm. What about this event and how much would it mean‑‑ you took over the No.1 spot as an American here. Just as a nostalgic factor, winning here again, No.1 ranking aside. STACY LEWIS: Well, I like this golf course, and I think the fans, they just‑‑ they seem to just come out of the woodwork for this tournament, and it's awesome. We've been coming here for so long that it's nice, everybody kind of has where they stay and where they go eat. It's nice to just come back to a place that you're used to. I definitely have good memories obviously of two years ago being the top American, and I was thinking about that yesterday when we were playing that it feels like it was just yesterday that we were here. So it's just amazing that it's been that long. It would definitely be cool to take over the No.1 here, too. Q. And on the course, what is it about this golf course that you like so much? STACY LEWIS: I like the creativity. I like‑‑ the wind can switch because today we had more of a north wind and yesterday we had a south wind, so the golf course can change overnight, and you have to be able to adjust with it and you have to be able to change your shots. I like the crosswinds where you can be creative. This golf course this year obviously is a lot softer, so around the greens I don't think you're kind of‑‑ you're not fretting as much as you were in years past. But it's just more the creativity I like on this golf course. Q. And the greens, how are you finding the greens this year compared to last year? STACY LEWIS: The greens this year are definitely much better than last year. Last year they were pretty bumpy. But speed‑wise, I don't know, the whole golf course, I don't know what it is, the whole golf course just has more grass on it in general. So the greens are rolling a little bit better, and today, I don't know if it was the wind or just playing in the morning, but they were a little faster for us today. Q. Was that your first time at Pinehurst? STACY LEWIS: First time since the redesign. Q. What were your impressions as you went around those couple days? STACY LEWIS: Yeah, Pinehurst is awesome. As I said, it's very similar to this, but the greens are just a little bit more elevated. But you're going to have to play some golf. I think even par, possibly over par wins there at the end of the week. It's going to be a challenge. There's some holes that have some length but then there's some holes you can make birdies on. With those greens, we were looking at the yardage book, and the actual size of the green, you could probably cut them in half, just all the runoffs. Like this golf course, you're going to have to be able to run some shots in, use slopes, hit cuts, hit draws. You're going to have to hit a lot of shots there. You can't just hit one shot and get away with it. Q. How were conditions today? Was it calmer in the morning? Did it get windier as the day wore on? STACY LEWIS: It definitely was a little calm this morning, but it definitely got windier as we went on, and when we looked at the forecast this morning and saw it was supposed to be 10 to 20 I think which was more than it was yesterday afternoon, I was pretty excited actually, that I was in the morning. We were going to get most of our round in before the wind started. Compared to yesterday afternoon it was actually pretty similar this morning, but it definitely picked up there as the day went on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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