11 hours ago
Fuming Stacey Lewis says WPGA making the best look silly and turning fans off
Ex-Solheim Cup skipper reckons women's game is being shown in a big light
Fuming Stacey Lewis reckons fans are being turned off ladies golf by set-ups at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship which are making the best look silly.
The two-time United States Solheim Cup captain hit out at the lay-out of the course for the Major at Fields Ranch East in Texas.
With searing hot conditions and blustery wind, play has been slug-slow with rounds of over six hours through the event with some high scoring as some of the best in the women's game have been buffeted around and struggled.
Lewis, who amongst the big names who missed the cut, says that's offering no positive advertisement to the watching fans on-course and at home at a time when the ladies game is looking larger audiences and grow their status.
She moaned: 'The issue of this all too is, make us look good. We're trying to get more people to watch women's golf, to watch us play golf and setups like this, they don't help us. This is when we have our biggest stages, network TV and all of that and we're making very good players look silly.
'Just hole locations again, on sides of hills. Then you throw the wind in there, there was no way to stop it on No.8 again today [Friday]. We should be playing the front of that tee, probably 120 yards, can't hold the green.'
Some of the tournament's best players gave their insight. recent US Open Major winner Maja Stark said: 'I played to the big areas on the greens and tried to not end up in the places where you couldn't do anything. I don't know if it was more of a fight. It was obviously you had to hit good shots here and just trust it.'
On the eighth, she said: 'I was trying to go long and right of that pin, but it was howling right to left and you don't want to get stuck in the bunkers because they're so deep. I knew that I was going to end up in that place. That's just major golf. It's very annoying when it's like that, but it's just the mindset switch you need to have.'
American Auston Kim added: 'A lot more challenging. Wind was definitely stronger. Feel like it was blowing probably twice as strong as yesterday and a lot of the spots where you're supposed to land the ball is pretty shiny and the greens have gotten a lot firmer, rough is getting thicker, so the course is just overall being really challenging.'
Canadian star Brooke Henderson said: 'It's a tough and challenging course and tests you physically and also mentally. It's very demanding and trying to stay sharp and hydrated and well rested. It's a very firm green (eight) and the wind is very strong right to left and down, so it's very tough to hold the green. You can see that a lot of girls have been trickling over the left side. I've been able to hit couple good shots in there the last two days and I guess I walked away with par and I'm very happy with that.'
