ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer
Galloway, New Jersey
Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes
May 27, 2015

AVOIDING THE CRACKS
The cracks in Stacy Lewis’ driving distance in 2015 – a dip from 259 yards in 2014 to 250 this year – isn’t the result of declining power. Instead, the cause is cracks in her driver.

She first had cracks in the face of her driver happen at the Evian Championship a few years ago and wanted to ensure she took precautions in advance in the future and had a new driver in place before it got to that point. She’s now five different drivers into the process of finding a replacement since this past off season but thinks she’s finally found the one.

“My old driver was going to crack soon, so I felt like I wanted to get ahead of the game and find a new driver,” Lewis said. “But I’ve played the last three events with the same driver, so I feel like I’m moving in the right direction.”

In other words, it’s not a loss of distance that she’s in search of finding. It’s a loss of a driver that fit, and now she’s trying to find it again.

The initial one she tried at the Coates Golf Championship also brought with it a left miss when she didn’t catch it right.

The next two she tried didn’t go as long as she was typically used to when she missed it. The one that followed was great but went a bit too high. But the loft is down, the right combination is in, and she’s seen her distance return to normal levels.

“You’re looking for a driver that obviously they’re all going to go good when you hit it well,” Lewis said, “but when you don’t hit it well, you still want it to go a pretty good distance. So that’s what I’ve been looking for.”

WIE BACK IN ACTION
Michelle Wie returns to action this week after withdrawing after the first round at the Tour’s last stop at the Kingsmill Championship with a hip injury. Wie went through a series of evaluations and MRIs and was diagnosed with bursitis and was thankful for no further or serious damage.

“They thought it might have been a disk issue, so we went straight to the MRI,” said Wie. “Thankfully it was not a disk issue, which I was really excited about. And then I flew back to Jupiter immediately, took three more MRIs that day just because my whole left leg was hurting. So thankfully everything came out clean, except for my hip, which is kind of what I was thinking. No tears, nothing, no structural damage, which I was really happy about.”

With a week of rest ahead of her in Florida, Wie said she’s never one to sit around and just watch TV. She wanted to stay away from sulking on an injury and filled her time with attending an NHL playoff game in Tampa, a Darius Rucker concert and dying her hair purple.

“I mean it’s tough when you’re injured, so I think the worst thing to do is just kind of sit at home and sulk and do nothing,” said Wie. “So I definitely made the most out of it. We went to the hockey game, my first hockey game, which was amazing. Big hockey fan now. And then we went to a Darius Rucker concert. So yeah, the week actually flew by really fast.”

ROLEX RANKINGS SCENARIOS
The fight at the top of the Rolex Rankings continues this week on the Jersey Shore and with world No. 1 Lydia Ko taking the week off, the door is open for No. 2 Inbee Park to make a statement. She’s the only player to have a chance to move into the No. 1 spot. Here are the scenarios:

Inbee Park would become No. 1 if:

She finishes in a two-way tie for third or better. She would NOT go to No. 1 if she finishes in a three-way tie for third.

KEY NUMBERS TO KNOW
27 – This is the 27th staging of the ShopRite LPGA Classic, the fourth-longest running event on Tour outside of the majors
7 – past champions in the field this week
17 - of the top-20 players in the Rolex Rankings are in the field this week
3 - Stacy Lewis will try to become just the third player in the event’s history to win three times and would join Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam and Betsy King with a win this week
16-under par - Stacy Lewis’ winning score last year, one shot off of Annika Sorenstam’s tournament record
6 & 4 - Stacy Lewis won this event two out of the past three years and won by four (2012) and six (2014) shots respectively

PEAKING AT THE PERFECT TIME
Players are taking this week in New Jersey as the start of a critical stretch in the LPGA’s schedule in 2015 and are hoping to have their games fine-tuned for the summer. The Tour plays three of its five majors in a six-week stretch starting at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in New York in two weeks.

Last year around this time was when Stacy Lewis was in the midst of a three-win stretch in the months of May and June and the 3rd ranked player in the world knows it’s the time of the year where she wants to have everything fall into place.

“This is the time. I took some time off last week and didn’t play as much golf as I normally do just because of the business of this stretch and to really get ready for these next few weeks, because this is -- you know, I’ve talked about all year, the summertime is when you want to be playing your best golf,” said Lewis. “That’s when we have our biggest events, the most number of events. So this really for a lot of people and for me is a kick start into the rest of the year.”

Michelle Wie echoed Lewis saying coming off an off week is a great setup for a good summer run and is looking forward to the upcoming tournaments.

“I think it’s like the perfect time to peak,” said Wie. “You know, I’m just kind of slowly building, slowly building. Maybe a little bit too slowly this year, but I’m slowly building. I want to peak right at that time, and I think this is a really good three-week stretch. I love this week. I love Canada and KPMG is a really new, exciting event in New York at Westchester and I’ve only heard great things about it, so I’m excited for the upcoming events.”

BAYSIDE ELEMENTS
A year ago Stacy Lewis finished just one shot short of Annika Sorenstam’s tournament record of 17-under-par in a week in which Lewis blew away the field for a six-shot win with a 16-under-par 197 three-day total. However, just the year prior, Karrie Webb won the golf tournament by two shots with a 4-under 209 total. When it comes to the Bay Course at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club, it’s all about the elements.

“The winning score here is just all based on weather,” Lewis said.

More specifically, the wind.

“You know, the two times I won I think it’s been about the same, but ’13 when Karrie won it was crazy windy and scores weren’t that low. So you just gotta take what the golf course gives you and not try to force it.”

If anyone knows, it’s Lewis. She’s won this event two of the last three years with wins by six and four shots, respectively. It was here last year where Lewis was in the middle of the best stretch in women’s golf. From March through June last year, Lewis won three times and recorded three additional top-10 finishes in a seven-tournament stretch. And it was here where she produced her best work of the stretch – a second-round 8-under-par 63.

GOOD VIBES IN JERSEY
Christina Kim can’t pin point exactly what is it about what she likes about playing in the Garden State but the three-time LPGA Tour winner joked it has nothing to do with the jug handles on the road, routes that direct drivers to take an exit right to make a left turn.

“It’s definitely not the jug handles,” said Kim. “I don’t think those have a lot to do with it…People say what they think here, which I appreciate, you know. And it’s just -- it’s good vibes. I can’t put a finger on why. I just enjoy being here.”

Kim won her first professional event at the 2002 Hewlett-Packard Garden State FUTURES Summer Classic in Manalapan on the Epson Tour and has always appreciated returning to New Jersey ever since. She was runner-up here last year to Stacy Lewis in the midst of one of her best seasons on Tour. She finished 27th on the money list, improving from 76th in 2013.

“You know, I think I’ve got -- I’ve forged a lot of friendships out here, and you know, people are great out here,” Kim said. “They’re just really excited for golf, and they’re really excited to have us back. It’s one of the traditions of the area, and I think people really, really -- you know, they -- tradition is very important to people around here, and I love that.”

ShopRite LPGA Classic Pre-tournament News and Notes

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