Tough courses spur Lewis
World’s 3rd- ranked player is looking to rebound from loss
DALY CITY — Stacy Lewis relishes playing the toughest courses, which explains her career highlight: winning the Women’s British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
It also explains her confident demeanor heading into the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, beginning on Thursday at Lake Merced Golf Club.
“I like the challenge of this place,” said Lewis, last year’s runner- up. “It’s a hard golf course. You kind of have to play smart and miss it in the right places. It’s one of the best golf courses we play all year.”
Ranked No. 3 in the world, Lewis has 18 secondplace finishes in her career to go with 11 wins, incuding two major titles. She has been Rolex Player of the Year two of the past three seasons.
She takes all of those seconds in stride.
“If you start seeing runnerup as a bad thing, then it gets frustrating and you think you need to do all these things differently,” Lewis said. “I’ve tried to see it as a good thing.”
Lewis looks recharged after taking two weeks off following a frustrating playoff loss to Brittany Lincicome in the first major of the season, the ANA Inspiration. She bogeyed the third extra hole after her second shot landed in a sand- filled divot. Thus, she watched Lincicome celebrate by leaping into Poppie’s Pond.
SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC
Site: Daly City. Schedule: ThursdaySunday. Course: Lake Merced Golf Club ( 6,507 yards, par 72). Purse: $ 2 million. Winner’s share: $ 300,000. Television: Golf Channel ( Thursday- Sunday, 3- 6 p. m.). Last year: Lydia Ko won the first of her three 2014 titles, beating Stacy Lewis by a stroke. Last week: Sei Young Kim won the Lotte Championship in Hawaii, holing out from 154 yards for eagle on the first hole of a playoff with Inbee Park. After driving into the water on No. 18 in regulation, Kim forced the playoff with an 18- foot chipin for par. She also won this year in the Bahamas. Notes: The top- ranked Ko is coming off a tie for 51st three weeks ago in the ANA Inspiration, the third- worst result of her tour career.
Maybe she’s some better luck.
“Well, I practiced hitting out of divots this week,” Lewis said. “I don’t know. It’s hard, because golf is a lot about the bounces and getting the right breaks. You know, they just haven’t quite been there.”
Last year at the Swinging Skirts, Lewis lost a riveting showdown to Lydia Ko by one shot. The 17year- old clinched the victory by making birdie from out of the thick rough on the 72nd hole.
Ko’s ability to spray shots and still score well can give her a psychological edge.
“That’s the way Lydia plays,” Lewis said. “She
due
for never really gives up. She’s always hanging around. You expect players to pull off shots. You expect them to get up and down and to hit it in there close. You expect her to make birdie on 18, like she did last year. It’s just who she is, and I think she expects the same thing from me, too.”
Not surprisingly, n Lewis agrees with Paula Creamer that having a women’s Masters would be an excellent idea. But Lewis isn’t exactly holding her breath about the idea.
“I don’t know if it happens right away, but I would welcome it,” Lewis said. “I don’t think there are a whole lot of women that wouldn’t.”
On Tuesday, Creamer reiterated her recent tweet, saying she hoped the Masters would consider a female edition.
“It’s 2015,” Creamer said. “I think Augusta and the Masters and everybody with that event, they want to grow the game badly. That is what it is, about growing the game and giving people opportunities.”
Told that Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, effectively nixed the idea because of scheduling conflicts, Creamer held her ground.
“When they’ve only got one tournament a year there, I think the scheduling issue is kind of strange to me. There are a lot of weeks,” she said.
Norwegian Suzann n Pettersen, ranked eighth in the world, withdrew from the event because of recurring pain in her left shoulder. Petersen also withdrew from last week’s event in Hawaii before the start of the third round.