Time Is Now for Stacy Lewis to be U.S. Solheim Cup Captain

Four-time Solheim Cup member will be the youngest American captain, 38, when the 2023 matches are contested in Spain.

After Stacy Lewis was brought on as an assistant captain at the last Solheim Cup, some of the members of the American team — defeated by Europe 15-13 in September — believed Lewis could make a great captain one day.

"One day," Lewis thought. She pushed the idea aside. That is until late 2021 when she got the call. The past captains had decided "one day" was now.

Lewis was invited to be the captain of the American side for the 2023 Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin in Spain, a role she has accepted.

“I feel like the team needs me right now,” Lewis says.

Lewis will be 38 years old when the 2023 competition kicks off and will be the youngest American captain in Solheim Cup history. But she owns a robust resume and has already started to think about her approach to her captaincy.

“Most importantly I want these girls to have fun,” Lewis says. “And I want it to be a week that they leave there saying, ‘This was the best week of my life.’”

The two-time major winner and former No.1-ranked golfer in the world has been a four-time member of Team USA. Lewis has won 13 times on the LPGA Tour and was named the Rolex LPGA Tour Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014.

She represented the United States in each Solheim Cup from 2011 to 2017 and made the team in 2019 before having to withdraw due to injury. Captain Juli Inkster named her an unofficial assistant captain that year. Pat Hurst asked Lewis to join her squad of assistants, officially, in 2021.

One thing that has been a staple of the American captains at the Solheim Cup over the last few competitions has been the installation of a ‘pod’ system that helps determine pairings. Hurst even went as far as having each team member complete a personality test to help better create the best groups.

Lewis admitted she’ll likely keep “the concept” of the pod system but is keen to have more flexibility with her groupings. She felt like, in 2021, there weren’t that many options with the American pairings and as things unfolded — the Europeans were up 5.5-2.5 after Day 1, for example — they were stuck with what they had.

As far as the players are concerned, Lewis knows she’ll have her three top-ranked staples, including Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson — all of whom are currently ranked inside the top 15 in the world. Barring injury or a dramatic drop in the world rankings, it’s likely Nelly’s sister, Jessica, will also be a member of the team. But Lewis might need to lean on a good mix of rookies and less-experienced golfers for the final 12.

“I encourage our girls ... they need to play. They need to get in contention and have opportunities to win tournaments,” Lewis says. “That’s the stuff that’s going to feed over into the Solheim Cup and help us win — getting that experience and being in those last groups.

“It’s like a broken record every year that the U.S. is better on paper than Europe, and Europe has somehow come back and won every time — at least the last two.”

Lewis will be up against a formidable European captain in Suzann Pettersen, who was a winning assistant in 2021 and delivered a dramatic mic-drop moment in 2019. The Norwegian nailed the winning putt for Europe three years ago in Scotland and immediately retired.

Lewis is looking forward to going up against her — save one thing.

“We both have the personalities that hopefully we don’t have any rules issues,” she says with a smile, “because I don’t think either one of us will back down.”

While there are plenty of off-course demands that Lewis knows she’ll have to navigate — like outfits, meals, team-room decor, etc. — there’s one thing that no other American captain has really had to think about until now: She might be playing well enough to tee it up herself during the competition.

Lewis plans to play on the LPGA Tour as much as possible — “Being around the players is important,” she says — but her view on potentially doing double-duty at the Solheim Cup has changed since she returned to action the last month.

She’s currently ranked 43rd in the world, which is higher than Yealimi Noh, Mina Harigae, Jennifer Kupcho, and Brittany Altomare — all members of the 2021 American squad.

“If it gets to be sometime next summer and my name is still on that points list and I’m in the mix ... if I need to build the best team possible and my name is a part of that, then I’ll do it,” she says. “It’s not a conversation right now, but hopefully I keep playing well and it is a conversation we have to have.”

For now, however, the conversations Lewis is having around the Solheim Cup are merely wrapped in congratulations.