Two-time Major winner Stacy Lewis has been named captain of the US Solheim Cup team for the 2023 tournament that gets under way in Andalucia in Spain on 18th September next year. Lewis succeeds Pat Hurst, whose tenure lasted for just one tournament that ended in a 15-13 point defeat to the Europeans last September. At 36, Lewis becomes the youngest captain of the US team. However, she is hugely experienced, with 14 professional wins to date, including Majors the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and the Women’s British Open in 2013. She also competed in the Solheim Cup four times between 2011 and 2017 and was assistant captain last year.
Following the announcement, Lewis said: “To be named captain for the USA Solheim Cup Team is an incredible honour, and I’m beyond grateful to the committee for choosing me. I absolutely love the Solheim Cup, and I want 2023 to be as great an experience for my team as my years wearing Red, White and Blue have been for me. I have learned so much from the past captains on the Solheim Cup committee, and the fact that they chose me to lead this team is one of the proudest moments of my career.”
Lewis also explained that she intends to instill the competition’s importance into next year’s team: “This event, gosh, it’s everything for our tour. It’s everything for women’s golf. It is truly the biggest stage we get to play on. It’s different than your traditional four-round tournament, but this tournament is so important to us that these girls will know it’s important. I also want them to know what it means to have that American flag on them, as well, and what an honor that is, too.”
Meanwhile, Lewis hasn’t ruled out the possibility of playing in next year’s event, saying: “If it gets to sometime next summer and my name is still on that points list and I’m in the mix and if I need to build the best team possible and my name is a part of that, then I’ll do it.”
Juli Inkster, who led the team to victory in two of her three tournaments as captain, was quick to voice her approval of the appointment, saying: “Stacy is a quiet leader. She’s not going to get her pom-poms out and rah-rah the team to death. But bottom line – the team will respect her. They’ll play for her. She deserves this.”
The announcement follows the appointment last November of Norwegian Suzann Pettersen as the European team captain.
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