Stacy Lewis shot a final-round 67 for a 16-under-par total to claim her 10th career LPGA Tour win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey, six shots clear from fellow American Christina Kim.
Stacy Lewis claimed her 10th career LPGA Tour win with a six-shot victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey. Lewis shot a final-round 67 to push her three-day total to 16-under par, one shot shy of the tournament record.
Fellow American Christina Kim finished runner-up at 10-under par. Lewis is projected to take over the No. 1 ranking in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday, snapping Inbee Park’s 59-week streak at the top spot.
“I don’t know what it is about this place,” said Lewis. “It’s just really special to me. I’ve played some really good golf here, and it’s just mind boggling really to think I have ten wins out here. It’s so hard to win. There’s so many good players, and it’s so hard to win, so you never take them for granted. You enjoy them, that’s for sure. I’ve learned that you enjoy them because they’re so hard.”
Lewis started the day with a one-shot lead and two early birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 gave her a two-shot advantage through the front-nine. The Texan said that there was no point in round where she felt totally comfortable with the lead. She made back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th holes to extend her lead to three but an up-and-down back nine kept things interesting.
“Making those putts on 10 and 11 kind of freed things up, but then that back 9 was just so back and forth,” said Lewis. “It was just kind of wild swings of emotion, from me, from Christina. You know, we’d hit good shots and we would hit terrible shots. And I don’t know, it was a little bit up and down. It was kind of exhausting actually coming in.”
She had two bogeys in her final seven holes (Nos. 12 and 17) snapping a 33-hole bogey-free streak this week but sealed the victory with a six-foot birdie putt for a six-shot win. It marks the second time this season Lewis won by six shots. She won the North Texas LPGA Shootout by the same margin.
Lewis became just the fourth player in the event’s 26-year history to notch multiple wins at the ShopRite LPGA Tour Classic and was stunned to hear the esteemed company she was joining. She now has her name alongside Hall of Famers Juli Inkster (1986, 1988), Betsy King (1987, 1995, 2001) and Annika Sorenstam (1998, 2002, 2005) as players to win the event more than once.
“That’s a pretty good list of people there,” said Lewis. “That’s not too bad. Wow, that’s really cool. I love walking through this clubhouse and seeing all the list of the names of the winners that are up on the wall and just to do it twice and I mean as you said, I don’t even know what to say. I mean that list of past winners, they’re all Hall of Famers, so who knows what’s in store for me, but it’s just a really cool list to be on.”
Picture: Getty Images
