Lewis looking to rebound in NWA tournament

Stacy Lewis watches her chip shot May 26 on the ninth hole at Travis Pointe Country Club during the LPGA Volvik Championship golf tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Stacy Lewis watches her chip shot May 26 on the ninth hole at Travis Pointe Country Club during the LPGA Volvik Championship golf tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.

LAS COLINAS, Texas — Stacy Lewis will always be the face of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

As long as the former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, All-American competes on the LPGA Tour, she will be linked to this event.

Lewis’ rise to No. 1 status in 2014 and her continued success on the tour runs parallel to the continued rise in popularity of the Northwest Arkansas event, said tournament director Harry Hardy with Octagon Events.

“This tournament has grown with her career,” Hardy said. “That culminated in 2014, when she came in here as world No. 1 and won. That certainly helped with the popularity of this event.”

That win in 2014 was the last time Lewis has won on the tour, and she enters this week’s event at Pinnacle Country Club ranked No. 17 in the Rolex Rankings and 13th in the CME race with winnings of $360,000 through 11 starts.

Her highest finish this season entering the Meijer LPGA Classic was second at the Founders Cup, and she opened the season by finishing third in the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic.

Over her last 16 starts, Lewis has finished in the top 10 just three times, and she closed last season with five consecutive starts in which she finished no higher than 31st.

The blonde-haired, blueeyed Texan has found that there is more to life than birdies. She married University of Houston women’s golf coach Gerrod Chadwell last summer and said she’s “in a good spot.”

“I think life has settled down,” Lewis said at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in April. “This is my new life now, and things are good. I’m playing where I want to play, and I’m happier.”

Lewis enjoyed a storybook season back in 2014 when she swept the three top LPGA Tour awards and held the Rolex No. 1 spot for 21 consecutive weeks. She won three times that season and finished second five times.

She opened 2015 with nine straight top-15 finishes, including three more seconds.

Lewis appeared on the brink of becoming just the second two-time winner of the NW Arkansas Championship that June but saw a late lead evaporate and finished tied for third as Na Yeon Choi rallied late to win the Rogers event.

“The biggest difference in that year and now is putting,” Lewis said. “In 2014, I was rolling with the putter and really just making a lot of putts. And that frees up everything. It frees up the golf swing; it frees up your mindset and how you play. You’re able to play more aggressively.”

Lewis, who resides in Houston, Texas, spent time with her former Arkansas golf coach Shauna Estes-Taylor to work on the mental side of her game. Lewis said she can always count on Estes-Taylor to give her an honest assessment of where she needs to make changes.

Lewis hasn’t been a college golfer for almost 10 years, but she remains tied closely to Estes-Taylor and the Arkansas golf program.

“I talk to her all the time, and she’s an important part of my life,” Estes-Taylor said. “She is a friend, a supporter of our program, and I know she’s proud to be a Razorback. Stacy loves coming back and being a part of what we do, and I’m really grateful for all that she does for us.”

With Lewis in the field, fans are expected to flock to Rogers this week to cheer on their local favorite.

“The Razorbacks are the No. 1 game in town,” said tournament chairman Jay Allen. “It brings the Razorback element into the tournament. There’s no question people come out here because of that.”

Lewis has always played consistently well at the NW Arkansas Championship since the first year in 2007, earning the “unofficial winner” title in an event that was wiped out by torrential rain. In 10 official starts, Lewis has finished in the top 10 five times.

She admits that the demands off the course at this event were difficult early in her career, but she has learned to balance those and remain focused on the reason she is in the tournament in the first place — to win.

“It’s just being where you are and enjoying the moment,” she said. “When I first came on tour I kind of thought ‘Oh, gosh, I have to go to Arkansas, and it’s going to be crazy.’ It’s hard, but now I’ve learned to just embrace it. This is awesome. I get to do this, and nobody else on tour has this support, that has this week.

“And so I’ve learned to like it more and to enjoy it. I guess I just don’t put as much pressure on myself as I used to.”

Lewis said she is also learning how to merge her life as a tour professional with her husband’s life as a college golf coach.

“We have found a balance in our schedules on how much we get to see each other and how much we don’t,” she said. “We have to sacrifice some things to go be with the other person. We’ve figured out that that’s how life is going to be, and that’s OK for right now.”

As for her golf game, she is starting to see some of the 2014 form that made her the LPGA Tour’s top player. She is also gearing up for the Solheim Cup in August in Des Moines, Iowa. Lewis helped the U.S. team earn the trophy back from the Europeans in 2015 in an epic final-day surge.

The 10th all-time leading money winner on the LPGA Tour with more than $11 million in career earnings, Lewis understands that playing at an elite level is often more mental than physical.

“When you’re playing well, it’s easy,” she said. “You don’t worry about a missed shot; you don’t worry about a missed putt. And all of a sudden they start to miss when they were going in before, and it just kind of falls into that cycle. And it’s hard to break it.”

This could be the week Lewis returns to the winner’s circle. It’s a course she’s had a lot of success on, and she’ll definitely have the Arkansas faithful on her side.

At A Glance

STACY LEWIS

BORN Feb. 16, 1985

HOMETOWN The Woodlands, Texas CURRENT RESIDENCE Houston, Texas

ROOKIE YEAR 2009

2016 EARNINGS $943,502 (16th) MAJOR WINS Two (2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship; 2013 Women’s British Open)

NOTABLE Former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville All-American. … 2007 NCAA individual national champion. … Swept top three LPGA awards in 2014 including Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy winner and top money winner. … Also won Rolex Player of the Year in 2012. … Held the No. 1 ranking for 21 consecutive weeks in 2014. … Last win was 2014 NW Arkansas Championship.

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