EXCLUSIVE: Stacy Lewis wants to lead USA’s Solheim Cup defence and front a new era for women’s golf

Stacy Lewis is undefeated as a Solheim Cup captain and hasn't ruled out a third term in Holland in 2026.

Stacy Lewis might be the most revolutionary Solheim Cup captain America has ever had. What she wants to do next could change the women’s game for the better.

Stacy Lewis has a lot to think about right now. Her daughter wants a swimming pool – something she requested while celebrating with the trophy on the 18^th green – while everyone else wants to know what’s next for America’s culture-changing captain.

This is the first time Lewis has given a one-to-one interview since she left Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with the Solheim Cup in tow. She spent her first evening back home watching a re-run of Sunday’s singles in its entirety. The rest of the time, she says, has been spent lying on a couch, replying to the hundreds of emails and text messages she has received in the wake of leading America to their first victory in seven years.

“And I still have more to get through,” she says, laughing. “It has been really fun to reflect on it. To think that we actually did… I mean, it has been really, really cool. And now, it is almost like, what’s next? You know, what do I do now?

A smile breaks out across her face as she pre-empts the follow-up question. She’s yet to have a conversation with the Solheim Cup selection committee about her future, though it’s easy to assume that she would be the popular choice among players and fans to lead the team for a record-equalling third time at Bernardus Golf in 2026.

One of her abiding memories was seeing the 12 players and four assistants bounding down the 18^th fairway on Sunday, chanting her name in unison. The wistful tone in her voice suggests she would quite like to experience that feeling again.

“If I was asked [to be captain again], I’d have a hard time saying no, just because it’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve gotten to do in this game. I mean, I enjoy playing golf, but this was just so much fun, getting to be around this team, trying to move the Solheim Cup forward.

“But I also think that with the assistants I brought on board, they [Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome] are going to be your next couple of captains moving forward. And that was purposeful, to try to set up this blueprint for success.”

A lot has already been made about how Lewis has changed the culture of a team that had been ground down by so many near misses. It started in Spain where Lewis concluded that “there was a lot of tension” among players who were trying to play perfect golf.

To help lighten the mood, she arranged a series of team dinners this year and took all 12 players around the nation’s capital to foster the kind of fun and togetherness that had previously been lacking. At night, she read several books on leadership and looked outside of golf for examples of best practice. She even gave in to a team request for a karaoke machine to be installed at their rental home.

“I read a lot of articles about our women’s soccer team, and what they have gone through with the changing of the guard, and what Emma Hayes has done to change things there. And that’s really what we needed. We need a culture shift kind of similar to that.

“I had LPGA player Emma Talley come in and be our social media person behind the scenes. I wanted the fans to get a look at who these players really are and and I wanted the players to feel comfortable with putting that stuff out on social media. And Emma was literally the perfect person for it.

“She has this infectious personality, and she was so excited just to be in the room and part of what we were doing. She helped to keep the team room so light. I mean, to see Nelly skipping out of the tunnel with Megan Kang… I never in my wildest dreams thought I would see that out of Nelly. I think that showed what was going on behind the scenes and the looseness that was there. And Emma was a big part of that.”

At the Women’s Open, Lewis gave every player a t-shirt with the words ‘Unfinished Business’ emblazoned on the front. She then invited all 11 past captains to speak after the opening ceremony, and regularly called on the expertise of stats guru Justin Ray – America’s not-so secret weapon – for performance insights to help justify decisions to herself as much as the players.

She tells the story of how Ray visited the venue in early 2024 and used data from the PGA Tour’s Quicken Loans National event nine years earlier to generate profiles of the types of player that could succeed at Robert Trent Jones. In comparing the two teams, Lewis was presented with the data that showed America had the edge in ball-striking.  

“The biggest thing I was able to do this year with hosting was I got to help set up the golf course,” she explains. “It’s really the first time that our officials have said, ‘What do you want?’ And I was able to give them a definitive answer of what I wanted based on our data. I wanted us to be hitting shots from 130 to 170 [yards] into every green. I wanted rough and I wanted bunkers in play off the tee. I wanted a ball striker’s paradise basically.”

Her approach and strategy was so well thought out that America never lost a team session all week. She structured her singles order so her best putters were numbers 6-7-8. She even tried to plan it so one of her picks, Lexi Thompson or rookie Lauren Coughlin, holed the winning putt.

It was perhaps the only thing she got wrong all week.

A hero’s welcome is expected when she tees it up in front of a hometown crowd at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on the LPGA this week. She doesn’t plan on playing again until next year.

“I need the break,” she says, before adding that she’s already started making a list of the things that organisers can do better to improve the Solheim Cup.

“My golf game suffered some because of it, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m gonna take a few months off and kind of figure out what’s next. I don’t see it as like I’m done, done, but my daughter started kindergarten and my life and priorities are changing a little bit.”

Time spent in her company confirms that she has a lot of bright ideas for the sport, which include turning the Presidents Cup into a mixed event and bringing together senior and Epson Tour players to help prepare the future generation for life on the LPGA. So would she ever consider making the step up into the boardroom and taking on a bigger leadership role at the LPGA?

“I would love it to be honest,” says Lewis, who currently serves as a Player Director on the LPGA Board of Directors. “I’ve always been a big picture person of seeing things, not just how they affect me, but how it affects everyone. Straight at a Solheim Cup level, we’ve got to make the fan experience better.

“We’ve got to make our events perfect and perfect for dads to bring their daughters to. I have a five-year-old myself and we need to have a station where you can go make bracelets and get faces painted. You know, all the stuff little girls love to do. Why aren’t we doing this at events on the LPGA, week in and week out? Why weren’t there radio pieces at the Solheim so that everyone could listen to the broadcast and know what was going on?

“The bus thing was big, but we need to make the fan experience better across the board and that’s something that I’ve been able to help the tour with in getting sponsorships and bringing KPMG on board. I just feel like, as a player, I’m kind of reaching my whole limit.

“If I want to continue to affect things more, it’s going to have to be in a different role, in a different position. So yeah, I’d love to be more involved because we’ve got to push the game of golf forward. And not just in women’s golf. We’ve got play faster and make the game more enjoyable for everyone watching. The fans need to come first in my book.”

Business, it seems, is far from finished.

You can read the extended interview with Stacy Lewis, including why she went back on her original plan to play Nelly Korda with Lexi Thompson in the foursomes, in the January 2025 Issue of Today’s Golfer. On sale: November 28, 2024.

About the author

Michael Catling – Features Editor

Michael Catling is an award-winning journalist who specializes in golf’s Majors and Tours, including DP World, PGA, LPGA, and LIV.

Michael joined Today’s Golfer in 2016 and has traveled the world to attend the game’s biggest events and secure exclusive interviews with the game’s biggest names, including Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Martin Slumbers and Justin Thomas.

Get in touch with Michael via email and follow him on X.