LPGA TOUR REPORT AND FINAL TOTALS

STACY LEWIS WORLD NUMBER ONE 

AFTER WINNING SHOPRITE LPGA

CLASSIC BY SIX STROKES

Photo Credit: Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Stacy Lewis holds the championship trophy after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer on the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Club on June 1, 2014 in Galloway, New Jersey.

Rolex Rankings No. 2, Stacy Lewis (-16)
Rolex Rankings No. 104, Christina Kim (-10)
Ricoh Women's British Open champion at St Andrews in 2013, Stacy Lewis claimed her 10th career LPGA Tour win with a six-shot victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer. Lewis shot a final-round 67 to push her three-day total to 16-under par, one shot shy of the tournament record. Fellow American Christina Kim finished runner-up at 10-under par.
 Lewis is project­ed to take over the No. 1 ranking in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday, snapping Inbee Park’s 59-week streak at the top spot.
“I don’t know what it is about this place,” said Lewis. “It’s just really special to me.  I’ve played some really good golf here, and it’s just mind boggling really to think I have ten wins out here.  It’s so hard to win. 
" There’s so many good players, and it’s so hard to win, so you never take them for granted.  You enjoy them, that’s for sure.  I’ve learned that you enjoy them because they’re so hard.”
Lewis started the day with a one-shot lead and two early birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 gave her a two-shot advan­tage through the front-nine. The Texan said that there was no point in round where she felt totally comfort­able with the lead. 
She made back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th holes to extend her lead to three but an up-and-down back nine kept things interesting.
“Making those putts on 10 and 11 kind of freed things up, but then that back 9 was just so back and forth,” said Lewis. 
“It was just kind of wild swings of emotion, from me, from Christina.  You know, we’d hit good shots and we would hit terrible shots.  And I don’t know, it was a little bit up and down.  It was kind of ex­hausting actually coming in.”
She had two bogeys in her final seven holes (Nos. 12 and 17) snapping a 33-hole bogey-free streak this week but sealed the victory with a six-foot birdie putt for a six-shot win. It marks the second time this season Lew­is won by six shots. She won the North Texas LPGA Shootout by the same margin.
Lewis became just the fourth player in the event’s 26-year history to notch multiple wins at the ShopRite LPGA Tour Classic and was stunned to hear the esteemed company she was joining. She now has her name alongside Hall of Famers Juli Inkster (1986, 1988), Betsy King (1987, 1995, 2001) and Annika Sorenstam (1998, 2002, 2005) as players to win the event more than once.
“That’s a pretty good list of people there,” said Lewis. “That’s not too bad.  Wow, that’s really cool.  I love walking through this clubhouse and seeing all the list of the names of the winners that are up on the wall and just to do it twice and I mean as you said, I don’t even know what to say.  I mean that list of past winners, they’re all Hall of Famers, so who knows what’s in store for me, but it’s just a really cool list to be on.”
NO. 1 AGAIN
The new No. 1 player in the world took over exactly the way she wanted to Sunday - by winning the golf tournament. She briefly took over No. 1 in 2013, but that reign was short lived, lasting only four weeks before Inbee Park started her 59-week stranglehold on No. 1.
“You know, last time it was taken away from me in an off-week when we weren’t even playing, so I’m definitely just going to not take it for granted and really enjoy it this time,” Lewis said. “Now I know all the extra things that come along with it, but I’m ready for it this time.”
The bullseye’s not going away. Nor is the hype or the questions about No. 1. She understands that, but this time she’s better equipped to manage her time.
“I’ve really gotten better over the last year at managing my schedule. And you know, knowing what I physi­cally what I can do and I now know better what helps me play my best golf.  So I think managing the sched­ule is going to be key,” Lewis said. “At the same time, you know, I can’t put too much pressure on myself.  You know, my goal, I know people get tired of me saying it, but my goal is to win the tournaments, and so what­ever happens after that is fine.”
AMERICAN TAKEOVER
The Sunday leaderboard at the ShopRite Classic Presented by Acer looked like so many have looked this season - laden with stars and stripes - as the Americans continue to dominate the 2014 season. Stacy Lewis’ win marks the sixth time in seven events that an American has won. Out of 13 events, an American has won eight times. The Race to the CME Globe standings look much the same with four Americans in the top five.
On Sunday, that was the case again with four American players in the top six including the top two.
On the other hand, South Korea, which has dominated the tour in recent years and had six winners at this point a year ago, has not scratched the win column yet this year. It doesn’t look like a brief anomaly either with every American winner so far under the age of 30. In addition, each of those American winners was in the top 16 in the world in the Rolex Rankings heading into this week.