Over 900 elementary kids took over the driving range Tuesday to cheer on LPGA players in the annual Yokohama Champions Challenge. Former winners Katherine Kirk, Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis, and M.J. Hur all took part in a challenge to hit the most targets of nine tires set up to spell out Yokohama with the logo added as the ninth. Whoever hit the most also took home a new set of tires provided by Yokohama Tires.

Lexi Thompson won this event last year and again took charge early this year, reclaiming her title after being the first player to hit three of the nine targets. The ground level targets seemed natural for Thompson.

“Well, it’s sad to say that I’m good at like the low punch shots because some- times I need them if I hit in the trees,” Thompson said. “I definitely practice those shots on the range sometimes, but just punch shots in general just in case it gets windy, which it could out here.”

Alabama Power provided giveaways and t-shirts for the elementary kids in attendance and also held a Junior Clinic with Brittany Lincicome and her fiancé Dewald Gouws following the Champions Challenge. Prior to the Champion’s Challenge, a DJ rocked the range with tunes that had all of the elementary school kids showing off their best dance moves before welcoming the four past champions to the range with a thunderous welcome.

Between the challenge and the clinic, Tuesday was all about the community and youth involvement - essentially everything Lexi Thompson loves about the position she finds herself in at the pinnacle of her sport as a 20-year-old.

“I did it last year and it’s always a great time,” Thompson said. “Just to see the amount of little kids out here cheering us on and having a good time. It’s always good to come back here to Alabama, but that’s always one of my favorite things. It’s always cool to see little kids with a smile on their face and screaming, so it’s awesome.”

For Lewis and Thompson, both LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Ambassadors, there’s nothing more rewarding than giving back to the game that’s given them so much.

“It’s awesome,” Lewis said. “I think every year it seems like we have more and more kids, they get into it every year. It’s fun to come back here as a past winner and to celebrate that. The way that this tournament supports the local community, you can see it in these kids and it’s a great event every year.”

SOLHEIM ROSTERS SET

Solheim Cup rosters have been finalized and now it’s time for Team Europe and Team USA to start working on their game plans. For Team USA, Captain Juli Inkster announced Monday night that Paula Creamer and Brittany Lang make up the final two roster spots.

The addition of Creamer and Lang has the rest of Team USA excited to see how their playing styles and team chemistry will come together in these next few weeks.

“I’m happy with the picks,” World No. 3 Stacy Lewis said. “You’ve got two veterans there that are great in the team room, especially Brittany Lang I think everybody wanted there. It would be weird to have a Solheim Cup without Paula. I really like the picks and I like the way our team is playing right now.”

Lexi Thompson, No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings, mirrored Lewis’ thoughts on the announcement of Creamer and Lang joining the team that will head to Germany in September.

“They’ll be amazing for our team,” Thompson said. “Not only how they play, but just their attitudes in general. They’ll always pick us up. Just definitely a great addition.”

With the teams finalized, it’s time for Captain Juli Inkster and her team to strategize how they can stop a two-match winning streak for the Europeans. Leader in Solheim Cup points and top-ranked American Stacy Lewis has confidence in Team USA bringing back the Cup.

“Game plan is we’ve got to play some good golf and that’s really what it comes down to, and Juli knows that,” Lewis said. “I think everybody’s just going to be a little more matter of fact this year, just going out there to play some golf... But I like the way Lexi and Alison Lee are playing right now, especially Alison Lee, the rookie, is going to be, I think, a little bit of a dark horse for us and we might ride her a little bit, but I think she’ll play really well over there.”

Team USA will head to St. Leon-Rot, Germany directly following the Evian Championship. To learn more about the final Team USA roster visit: http://www.lpga.com/news/2015-meet-2015-us-solheim-cup-team

LEWIS FEELING CLOSE TO THE ELUSIVE 2015 WIN

Stacy Lewis doesn’t even try to pretend that a win isn’t on her mind. It’d be easy to brush aside the thought and act as if six runner-ups since her last win isn’t bothering her but Lewis, a notorious straight shooter, doesn’t see any benefit in pretending as if she’s not craving a return to the winner’s circle.

“The win has definitely been on my mind,” Lewis said. “I’ve been close a lot this year and doing it here would be really nice, especially leading into Evian and Solheim just to get that momentum. If I keep building off what I worked on last week and the good things I did last week, I think I’ll be just fine.”

Although Lewis lost in a playoff to Lydia Ko Sunday at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, her final-round 67 to even get in that playoff was further affirmation that she’s close.

“The golf swing is actually really close,” Lewis said. “The golf swing was better in Portland, and then last week was even better. I actually changed balls to a different Bridgestone ball last week and that was really kind of the catalyst that got things going in the right direction. I saw just the ball reacting the way it should into the greens. You start trusting more what’s going to happen off the clubface because of that.”

Of all the courses on Tour, this course is annually one of Lewis’ best. Along with a win in 2012, she posted a runner-up last year and a tie for sixth in 2011.

“I just- well, I like the layout and I like it when this golf course plays firm and fast,” Lewis said. “I think we’ve had that quite a few times the past few years. You can just kind of bomb it and go find it. I think you’ve seen that in the winners, they all seem to hit it pretty far, and it comes down to hitting the right spots on the greens and making putts. It’s just a fun course to play and I think just being back in the south is just really relaxing for me.”

ROOKIE SHOWS PROCESS IS JUST RIGHT

U.S. Captain Juli Inkster posted a picture on Instagram Sunday of her newest team member, Alison Lee, holding up a USA shirt alongside fellow Solheim Cup team members Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie. To Stacy Lewis, the leader of Team USA, it was a promising sign of both the team’s future but also that the automatic qualifier process for the 10 spots - eight based on Solheim Cup points and then two based on the next two highest ranked players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings - is correct.

Lee, a rookie, was 15th in the Solheim Cup standings but only had eight months to accumulate points. If given the two-year window to accrue points, Lee would have likely easily slid in the top eight, but instead Lee’s jump from No. 483 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings at the start of the 2015 season to No. 29 in the rankings released Monday was enough to get her in.

“It’s great to see her earn her way on to the team. Those Rolex spots, that’s really what they are designed for,” Lewis said. “They were designed to get the player that’s playing well this year that maybe didn’t have as much time to earn their spot. I’m happy that she’s earned her spot there. I think she was one of those people that she watched the points, she knew where she stood, she knew where she was in the rankings and she still played good golf.”

Being able to handle that level of pressure tells Lewis, the team leader, that although she may be a rookie, she’s more than up for the challenge of the pressure that comes with the Solheim Cup.

“Somebody that can handle that pressure and be okay with it is somebody you want on the team,” Lewis said.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

4 - Four past champions of this event are in the field this week 4 - Kris Tamulis’ solo fourth place finish here a year ago was her best ever finish in her 10-year career on the LPGA Tour, which she tied a month ago with a tie for fourth at the Meijer LPGA Classic

6 - Among the last three times Stacy Lewis has played in this event, her worst finish is a tie for sixth in 2011. In between she’s added a win in 2012 and a runner-up here in 2014.

8 - This is the eighth time the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic has been held here at the Robert Trent Jones Trail 9 - Stacy Lewis has posted nine top-three finishes since her last win 14 months ago at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G.

12 - After the two captain’s announcements over the last two days, both the European and American rosters are set at 12 and each of the American players rank inside the top 50 in the world. 21 - M.J. Hur’s record setting week here a year ago ended at 21-under-par for the tournament.

Tuesday Pre-Tournament News and Notes Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic

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