Stacy Lewis Is Moving Up

Stacy Lewis (LPGA.com)

WITH HER VICTORY LAST WEEK AT THE HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore, Stacy Lewis collected her fourth LPGA Tour win since last June. Ward Clayton noted at LPGA.com that Lewis’ most recent title signals her best career start. Previously, none of her five wins had come earlier than April.

The 2012 Rolex Women’s Player of the Year is still clicking after winning three times last season, including in September and November. Lewis began her 2013 campaign with a T3 at the Honda LPGA Thailand, where she fired a career-best 63 in the opening round. She leads the tour with 58 birdies.

Lewis is now ranked No. 3 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. But her sights are set on No. 1, the spot Yani Tseng has held for two years.

“There’s really no timetable on what I’m going to be able to do and how long I’m going to be able to play because there’s nobody else doing this with a rod and five screws in their back,” Lewis said.

“It’s really kind of an unknown, and I think that’s one thing that kind of helps me go play every week and makes me work hard is that I need to take advantage of the time that I have right now. There’s no guarantee how long my back holds up, so I’m thankful for the time that I have and it makes me just go work hard every day.”

Tseng recently admitted her struggle with occupying the No. 1 ranking.

“It’s tough and it’s very lonely,” Tseng told the Associated Press. “No one knows how do you feel. Everybody wants to be in your shoes, but no one knows how tough is that.

“The first year, when I was world No. 1, I feel good. But every month, everybody keeps building the expectations on me, and that’s lots of pressure.”