Stacy Lewis: Driven By Data

Data and analytics have been present in the men's game for a long time and it is only in recent years that the women's game is now adopting a similar approach to help all players understand their own games better and give them the edge over their opponents. Step forward KPMG and their Performance Insights platform.

Ahead of the 2023 Solheim Cup, Team USA Captain Stacy Lewis, a KPMG ambassador, discovered that past Ryder Cup Captains had used analytics to help them determine their Captain's picks, pairings and strategy.

With that in mind, she asked KPMG to help address the disparity between the men’s access to powerful tournament analytics and the women’s continued reliance on basic player rankings and subjective measures. KPMG helped level the playing field. And then some.

This enabled Lewis to take a modern, data-driven approach to build her strategy for the Team USA, a process that was documented and is now available to watch:

You gain a fascinating insight into how Lewis leveraged the data and worked with the whole team to make sure that they performed to their best. A 14-14 tie, shows just how successful this strategy was.

Ahead of this week's LPGA Drive On Championship, Lewis spoke to the media about talked about the documentary, her relationship with KPMG and the 2024 Solheim Cup:

What went into the documentary and how has your relationship with KPMG helped your captaincy?

A lot went into it. It was a lot of me talking, so a lot of interviews. I wish I could have told more, but didn't want to give any secrets away to the other team. But it's just amazing how much it helped our team, it helped make things a lot easy for right now. I know these players, I know their games. I do think I'm going to have a better idea of who they're going to play with now further out, just understanding how all this works.

How about the way the team is looking for the 2024 Solheim Cup?

I don't think our team is changing a whole lot and it's still fresh on the girl's minds. They were not happy with the tie, and neither was I. So it's good that it's still fresh. They're still asking questions. They're already asking questions about a lot of stuff, so it's been fun. It makes planning easier. Our staff is staying the same behind the scenes, so really makes things pretty easy for us.

What are you looking for in terms of how you want to build your team this year?

Well, if you look at last year, the play spoke for itself. I didn't have to make a whole lot of decisions. The girls took care of it at the end. I hope it's similar. I still need to do some more number crunching and figuring out the golf course we're going to play to figure out what type of player I want there. We're really set up really well now with those younger ones getting a full Solheim Cup under their belt. They figured out by Sunday what Solheim Cup was and the pressure of it and handled it all remarkably well.

Who has stood out to you so far who wasn't in the 2023 team?

Alison Lee, the fall she had was unbelievable. We ranked 26 Americans and she was second in strokes gained in the fall. That didn't include her LET win, so obviously she was playing really great at the end of the year. And then Alexa Pano, she was the only one that worked her way into CME that wasn't on my list before. Then obviously got the great start last week. So those would be two outside of the team from last year that we're paying attention to.

Has it been easier now this is the second time, now that you know what to expect?

Much easier. In December I got to relax a little bit and didn't have to do so much planning. Helpful that our same group of core people that helped me is going to be the same. It is going to be a little more difficult being at home though. More people involved in general. More asks from me. Then the players are going to have more people around them. Going to be a little bit different of a challenge, but having the one under our belt, we have a blueprint and now we are going to add to it.

How important do you think the culture shift that you created last year will impact the future success of this American team?

Well, I mean, gosh, we're not going to know that for a couple years probably. My goal is that it transfers outside of me being captain, it goes to whoever is next. I've started a notebook that I'm going to pass on to the next captain just of everything we've done and communication. They can use it as much as they want or as little as they want. If we can keep this blueprint in place for the players so that it becomes very similar from year to year. I think it makes the transitions from captains more seamless and makes it easier on the players, which you make it easier on the players they're going to play better.

This year in particular being at home, how hungry are the girls to bring the Solheim Cup back to home soil?

We've got a lot of the girls on this team that have never experienced winning a Solheim Cup. They're more than hungry. A lot of caddies that have never experienced winning the Solheim Cup. That's why Lexi was in that last match on Sunday. She had all the experience. There is nobody I trusted there more. We're in a great spot as far as our leadership and the veterans that have stepped up. I'm going to do that with my assistant captains. I want people that have had a lot of experience to experience winning so these girls know what it's like.

But they are hungry. I know that. They want to win week in and week out, so we don't have to worry about that.

Interested in attending the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club? Find out more about tickets here.