Solheim Cup: Stacy Lewis credit win to KPMG Efficiency Insights

Stacy Lewis arrived on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership for final month’s Solheim Cup as assured as ever.

She knew her American staff had performed higher than her European counterparts all through the summer time. She additionally felt extremely ready, because of numerous hours of learning potential pairings, potentialities, and knowledge.

However the Individuals had misplaced three straight Solheim Cups, together with the final one held on American soil in 2021. Then, with Lewis on the helm in 2023, the Euros retained the cup at Finca Cortesín in Andalucía. An undercurrent of stress permeated the U.S. staff, particularly into Lewis’ thoughts, as she felt destined to snap the U.S. shedding streak and get the job accomplished this time. She assured herself that her staff would, however minor traces of hysteria lingered.

“What if we’ve to reply the query as to why we misplaced 4 in a row?” was a query that lurked behind her thoughts.

That query by no means needed to be answered, although. The Individuals cruised to a wire-to-wire victory, successful for the primary time in seven years. The U.S. raced out to a 6-to-2 lead after Friday’s Foursome and Fourball periods and by no means seemed again, successful 15.5 to 12.5 as Lilia Vu clinched the successful level on Sunday afternoon.

A giant motive for his or her success was by means of analytics, as KPMG’s Efficiency Insights helped Lewis make the suitable selections.

“The insights had been the premise of every thing we did, from choosing the staff and who made the staff to my picks, pairings, and the way they performed all through the week,” Lewis mentioned to SB Nation.

“They had been integral to every thing we did.”

Computer systems spat out numbers, creating preliminary pairings. She felt assured in her “components” on Wednesday morning, when she scribbled out her plan based mostly on what the numbers prompt. She then made slight modifications based mostly on type, really feel, and camaraderie however nonetheless leaned closely on the analytics general.

But, Lewis desperately needed to place an all-star pairing collectively throughout alternate shot. She needed Nelly Korda to staff up with Lexi Thompson, a duo that might be a formidable power and ship shockwaves of pleasure throughout the property.

“I feel everyone would have cherished to have seen Nelly and Lexi,” Lewis defined.

“I used to be making an attempt to get them to determine alternate shot, and the golf balls they play are simply too completely different than I initially thought they might be. So Lexi was going to need to make some fairly huge concessions. We had different good choices because of the numbers, which clearly labored high-quality, however I want we may have made that pairing occur for the followers.”

The Efficiency Insights additionally performed an important function in serving to Lewis make her three captain’s picks. On the finish of August, the numbers pointed to Sarah Schmelzel, Jennifer Kupcho, and Thompson, the three gamers Lewis chosen to hitch the U.S. staff.

“I made my captain’s picks based mostly on how we arrange the golf course, which we had been in a position to set as much as the energy of my staff based mostly on the stats,” Lewis mentioned.

Photograph by Amy Lemus/Getty Photographs

“Actually every thing we did revolved round it.”

KPMG has partnered with the LPGA for fairly a while. The agency additionally serves because the presenting sponsor for the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship, one of many 5 majors on the LPGA annually. Amy Yang claimed her first main title at Sahalee this previous June on the 2024 KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship.

However KPMG continues to play a extra outstanding function inside the LPGA. They offered Lewis—and the gamers—with vital info for gamers to dissect and perceive, which in flip helped their general efficiency. The 2024 Solehim Cup is proof of that.

KPMG will proceed to take action going ahead.

“We now have a blueprint. Between myself and a girl from the LPGA, we’ve been engaged on a guide we’re placing collectively for the following captain, saying, ‘That is what we did.’ Listed here are examples of stuff that we used,” Lewis defined.

“We need to attempt to make issues the identical for the gamers going ahead, so we don’t reinvent the wheel each time, and KPMG helped make this all occur.”

The Solheim Cup will happen in Holland for the primary time in 2026. The U.S. staff will face a tough activity, as successful a cup on the street is without doubt one of the most difficult issues in golf. Not less than KPMG and its efficiency insights will assist alleviate that problem.

Maybe Lewis will return for a 3rd consecutive stint as captain, making this tall activity extra manageable.

She didn’t rule out that chance.

“We haven’t had the conferences but, so we’ll in all probability get to that within the subsequent few months,” Lewis mentioned of her 2026 prospects.

“Some gamers and their mother and father have already requested if I might do it once more. I’d have a tough time saying no, simply because I loved it a lot.”

Regardless, the U.S. Solheim Cup staff has an amazing system in place, thanks partially to the Efficiency Insights offered by KPMG. Due to that, each future U.S. captain ought to arrive on the Solheim Cup feeling as assured as ever—simply as Lewis did this previous September.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.