THE ROSAFORTE REPORT
ADAM PRETTY/GETTY IMAGES
Finding comfort in stardom
STACY LE WIS’ GAME ISN’ T THE ONLY THING THAT EMERGED IN 2012. SO DID HER SELF-CONFIDENCE At the north end of the range at Medalist GC, tucked in a corner, Stacy Lewis was beating balls. She waved.
I waved. She was still in her office,
working. I got that. No American LPGA
member works harder at her trade
than Lewis. That’s one of the reasons
why she has evolved into one of the
world’s best players, claiming
player-of-the-year honors on the
LPGA Tour in 2012. With that comes
interviews, like the one we scheduled,
managing time, switching on and off
between 5-irons into the wind and
being a spokesperson for the LPGA.
When she was done, Lewis drove
over in a cart. I got in and suggested
we pull over by the short-game area,
an appropriate place because of all
the tour pros who call Medalist their
home, Lewis spends the most time on
this turf.
How has she grown most in a year?
“Probably with all the extra off-
course stuff,” she said with a smile and
some energy in her voice. “I feel like
I’ve gotten better, more personable
with the fans and feeling more com-
fortable in general. It’s not that I didn’t
do it well before. I was just pretty shy.”
A year earlier, we met at Medalist in
front of the TV camera. That was a
different Stacy Lewis, not there yet as
a player or a public person. Although
she was engaging, her voice had a flat
tone. I learned how competitive she
was, even in her fantasy football
league. I learned how much she loved
living nearby in Palm Beach Gardens
and paddle boarding off Juno Beach. I
learned she was most proud of getting
not one but two degrees from
Arkansas—especially in an era when
several top American players skipped
college to turn pro early.
During that earlier interview we
didn’t go much into her history with
scoliosis, because that story had been
told. But talking recently to U.S.
Solheim Cup captain Meg Mallon, I
better appreciated how much the
essence of Lewis’ determination and
intensity was wrapped up in those
months with a back brace, being told
she would never play golf again. “Start
with that,” Mallon said.
Perhaps the story is widely known,
but it can’t be overlooked. After
surgery to put rods in her back, Lewis
red-shirted her freshman year and
didn’t even think about playing on
tour until she was a junior and won
the NCAA title. Judy Rankin, one of
the most respected voices in women’s
golf and a former intense competitor
herself, believes no top athlete in the
world has overcome as much to reach
the pinnacle of their sport.
“People think I must think about my
back all the time, but I don’t,” Lewis
said. “I know everything I went
through made me the person, the
fighter I am. I may be missing a cut by
five, but I’m still going to try and
