LPGA's Stacy Lewis back at Shore as wedding day looms
GALLOWAY, N.J. - Since she joined the LPGA Tour in 2009, Stacy Lewis has been known for her laser-like focus and tenacity, plus her ability to grind out good scores and win tournaments no matter the conditions.
GALLOWAY, N.J. - Since she joined the LPGA Tour in 2009, Stacy Lewis has been known for her laser-like focus and tenacity, plus her ability to grind out good scores and win tournaments no matter the conditions.
But for the 2016 season, she has something else to occupy her thoughts: her upcoming wedding.
A two-time winner of the ShopRite LPGA Classic, which begins Friday at the Stockton Seaview Resort, Lewis, 31, will marry University of Houston women's golf coach Gerrod Chadwell in August. The couple will spend their honeymoon in Rio, where Lewis will compete in the Olympics.
So yes, Lewis has a lot happening in her life right now. In addition to wedding preparations, there's also the matter of trying to break a victory drought that dates back to June 2014.
"It's been a challenge," Lewis said Wednesday. "It's been a lot more than I thought it was going to be. I kind of handed the reins [for the wedding] to my mom and said, 'Do what you want to do.'
"The golf honestly has been good because I think it's my time to get away from all of that and not have to worry about it. But we're kind of at the place with the wedding where a lot of stuff is done, which is good because now I'm heading into the busiest time."
Starting Friday, Lewis will play an LPGA event in eight of the next nine weeks. That will take her up to her wedding, and the Olympics will follow shortly afterward. She said she has been asked why she doesn't wait until after Rio to get married.
"I've waited for this for a long time and I've wanted this for a long time," she said, "and just because of some golf tournaments, I'm not going to put my life on hold. I've done that enough, and it's time to do something for myself that I've wanted."
On the course, Lewis said, she has been "playing better than the scores I've put out there." She won her 10th and 11th career tournaments in the span of four weeks in 2014 - the ShopRite and the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship. She hasn't won since, but she has played well - 10 runner-up finishes in the last two years.
"If you asked me a year ago, yes, it was driving me crazy," she said. "Now I've kind of come to terms with it, that I've finished second a bunch but I've played some good golf. It's not like I haven't played well.
"I've been working hard. I've got to get my act together a little bit. I like what I'm working on. I like where my game is going. I'm starting to trust my swing under pressure."
Lewis, who won her first ShopRite in 2012, is the top-ranked American here this week, No. 6 in the world. With the KPMG Women's PGA, a major, being played next week outside of Seattle, she is one of few highly ranked players to come to Seaview.
She said she has a comfort level with the course and with the fans, who still appreciate her $20,000 contribution to a community food bank in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The familiarity will help her as she tries to focus on winning here for the third time.
"It's been OK," she said, "but it's definitely been a challenge, and I'm looking forward to September, I can tell you that."
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