What to expect from Stacy Lewis’ back-to-back Solheim Cup captaincy

As reported by GOLF.com over the weekend, Stacy Lewis has officially been named the 2024 Solheim Cup captain. With her stint as captain for 2023 already well underway, the extension means that Team USA will have continuity as they prepare for Solheim Cups in back-to-back years.

Lewis is already one of the most decorated women’s golfers of her generation, and with her back-to-back captaincy, she will have a chance to add to that legacy. At the age of 38 when competition begins, she will be the youngest American captain as she leads Team USA in Spain looking to snap a losing drought.

The two-time major winner brings plenty of experience to the biennial event, playing four times and serving as an assistant captain twice, but now she will have the run of show in back-to-back competitions. How does her vision for Team USA look as she takes on the role of captain? This is what she told GOLF.com in an exclusive interview.

Her youth will be an asset

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As a golfer still in the midst of her playing career, Lewis is very plugged in on the day-to-day life on the LPGA Tour. That connection to the younger generation of stars will be an asset as she takes on the role of captain.

“I know these girls so well,” Lewis said. “I know their personalities. I know their games. I’m friends with a lot of them and have good relationships with them, so I think that trust is there. If I had been a little bit more removed and maybe not around as much, the buy-in might be a little bit harder. But knowing the girls I think is the biggest advantage I have.”

She’s willing to be flexible

Lewis has been around the Solheim Cup for the better part of a decade, but she’s under no illusions that she knows everything it takes to be a captain. If one of her methods isn’t working, she won’t hesitate to change course.

“If it works, we’re going to do it,” Lewis said. “But the good part is we’ve got Spain to do what we planned, and if something doesn’t work or we don’t like something, we can switch it up and try something else in ’24. So we get a little bit of a trial run to figure things out.”

Continuity will be key

With the Solheim Cup switching to even years in 2024, there will be two competitions within a 12-month span. The quick turnaround will be a bit chaotic, but with Lewis at the helm, there will be some continuity to help make it a smooth ride as the page turns to ’24.

“The general makeup and how I’m going to do things is going to be very similar,” Lewis said. “That was a lot behind the decision to have me do both of them, was just the fact that things will be so similar for the players. Just trying to have two captains, have our staff work with two captains, was going to be hard.”

Prep for ’24 is already well underway

Lewis has not yet stood on the 1st tee as the captain of Team USA, but she’s already getting ready for when that moment comes in 2024. Although this year’s Solheim Cup takes precedent, preparations are already being made for the 2024 event outside of D.C.

“We’ve already started throwing ideas around for ’24,” she said. “We’ve got a ’23 pile and a ’24 pile started. There’s a lot of things for ’24 that will be done before we even play ’23. So this spring is going to be really busy.”

Analytics will be emphasized

Analytics have played a major role in Ryder Cups over the past decade, and with Lewis at the helm of Team USA, the same will be true at the Solheim Cup.

“You can go all the way to down to what type of player is going to play best on the golf course,” Lewis said. “We’re going to use [analytics] as much as we can.”

There will be a human element as well

While analytics will inform Lewis’ decision-making, she won’t defer to the computers for every decision. She’ll still have the autonomy to step in and make changes where she sees fit.

“There’s certain people that we know aren’t going to play together,” she said. “But there’s definitely a human element that we’ll use as well.”

Buy-in is a must

Lewis hopes that by using a mix of analytics and good-old-fashioned intuition, she’ll be able to earn buy-in from the players as they head off to Spain.

“It’s all about the buy-in,” Lewis said. “When you can put a ‘why’ behind it, you get a lot more buy-in.”