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Stacy Lewis is set to participate in her fifth Solheim Cup at the Finca Cortesin, Spain, but this time she will be representing the United States team as the captain. In her previous four appearances, she has a career record of 5-10-1. She had won the 2015 and 2017 editions.
The 38-year-old Ohio-born golfer recently spoke with Golf.com about the advantages of analytics that helped her to prepare her squad for the upcoming event in Spain.
When asked about her approach to the analytics of the KPMG Performance Insights Program, which helped her in shaping the United States team for the Solheim Cup, Stacy Lewis explained the entire course of events.
Lewis revealed that after her announcement as the US captain, she researched and read many things about analytics, including Shane Ryan's book based on the Ryder Cup. She was quoted by the Golf.com as saying:
"When I was announced as captain, I started doing research and reading, including [Shane Ryan's] book about the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. It talked a lot about analytics — what the guys do, the two different [analytics firms] the teams used."
Stacy Lewis added that they met with both the analytics firms. Then she met with the company that collaborated with the Europeans, the Twenty First Group, which happens to be a partner of KPMG that helps the LPGA Tour with stats data management.
She added that the company offered to pay for all the analytics and provided them with the data. The captain also stated that it helped them to break down the data from three months to the last two years.
The US captain revealed what they are up to these days with the data provided by the analytics team. Stacy Lewis said,
"Right now, we're predicting who's gonna make the team kinda based on their schedules, what tournaments they've played and how, historically, they've played on certain types of courses. As we get closer to the event, we're starting to look into pairings, 'cause the data can, based on the course, simulate who'll play well together.'"
"The golf course itself is a little quirky' - Captain Stacy Lewis shares her thoughts on the 2023 Solheim Cup venue
The 38-year-old golfer was asked if she had ever been to the Finca Cortesin, the venue for the 18th edition of the Solheim Cup. She spoke of the beauty of the club and how awesome it would be to play at the venue.
Stacy Lewis spoke about her impression of the venue and called the course a "little quirky". She added that the course also has some funny holes. As per Golf.com, she said,
"Finca is beautiful. The resort is awesome. Five stars. So it's gonna be great for players to stay on-site. The golf course itself is a little quirky. It's got some funny holes, and you're on the side of a mountain, so it's hilly. It's gonna be a tough walk for the players."
Stacy Lewis felt that it would be difficult for golfers to play at the Finca Cortesin. However, she added that it would be absolutely perfect conditions to have the match-play events.
However, she added that the only downside of the venue was for the fans. She called it "silly" to host the Solheim Cup at the venue, which would have limited ticket sales. She concluded that it would be great for the United States fans and predicted less presence of European fans.
