When Stacy Lewis gives her word, it means something.
Despite dedicating a massive chunk of time over the last two years to her job as captain of the American side in the Solheim Cup, Lewis has boasted in the past that she’s proud that Northwest Arkansas — where she honed her craft in college as a member of the Arkansas Razorbacks golf team — is home to an LPGA event.
So even though she’s dragging quite a bit after her team drew last weekend in Spain — meaning Team Europe got to retain the coveted trophy — Lewis is back at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship this week, keeping alive a streak that dates back to the inaugural event in 2007. It was during that magical week in this plush part of the state that she secured her first LPGA victory, pulling off the feat as an amateur as she edged out Katherine Hull, Teresa Lu and Kristy McPherson.
And while Lewis might be still licking her wounds, at least she’s doing so at a place that’s long felt like a second home. She grew up in The Woodlands, Texas, just outside Houston, and still lives there, but maintaining a strong presence in this corner of Arkansas still means plenty to the two-time major champion.
“That’s part of why I’m here. I want to keep the streak alive and support the event. Yeah, I mean, I’m running low on energy, haven’t played a whole lot of golf, so who knows what this week will be like,” Lewis said. “Just to be back and see all the people that you know, in a familiar place, and try to get my body and brain back into normal routine and what I normally do.
“That’s really what this week is about.”
Since she was leading the American side at the Solheim, Lewis’ preparation for this week’s event has been minimal. She hadn’t played a full round of golf for four weeks before taking part in the pro-am this week, and she admits she might be rusty when the action starts at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas, on Friday.
Lewis is still close with Arkansas women’s golf coach Shauna Taylor, who was an assistant with the Razorbacks in 2007 when the former captured the NCAA individual title, marking the first time it had been done in school history.
But while she’s eager to relive some distant memories this week, she’s still working through the recent pain of tying the European side after holding a large early lead at the Solheim. Even with the results, Lewis is still pleased with the way she and her team prepared for the event.
“I guess I was proud of myself of how much I trusted the process and what we had in place. It’s very easy to second-guess yourself or you kind of get under the gun and you have to make a decision in the moment,” Lewis said. “I really trusted our process of our stats and the facts and what we held as true. Really stuck to the plan. I guess I was most proud of myself. There are some moments where you’re kind of like do I go a different direction? No. This is what we talked about, what we’ve worked on. This works. You need to stick to it.”
One thing Lewis has been mulling over is the lack of a tiebreaker, something that’s been in the rules since the event began in 1990, even though this year marked the first tie. Originally, Lewis sided with history and tradition, but she’s since changed her mind.
“They asked me about that on Sunday when we finished. At the time I was kind of torn on it, of what should you do. The more I thought about it, it’s just we put so much work into this, so much time and so much energy, to end in a tie it’s like a terrible finish. Just a blah finish,” Lewis said. “I do think there needs to be a playoff. I would do a team format. Like one of the first two days where you got to send your best two players and let them go duke it out.
“I think the event deserves that. It would be a cool way to finish on Sunday other than just a team retaining the Cup.”
Lewis will tee it up in the first round Friday alongside one of her Solheim Cup captain’s picks, Cheyenne Knight, as well as a member of the victorious European squad, Georgia Hall.
