by Jeff Skinner
Stacy Lewis and Michelle Wie have become fast friends recently and they have become golf’s latest odd couple. A few years ago we couldn’t have imagined the two of them as best buds but the past few years have seen changes in both of them.
The two of them now practice together, hang out away from the course and win a fair share of tournaments. Lewis has three wins this season while Wie has two including her first U.S. Open. 
The Stacy and Michelle Show is the best thing to happen to women’s golf in years and the two of them both know it and welcome it.
Heading into this week’s third major of the season at the Women’s British Open the pair are playing great golf and are ready to take their friendly rivalry to the next level. Lewis and Wie have a chance to be the LPGA’s version of Jack and Arnie or Jack and Tom for years to come.
The LPGA and women’s golf are having a dream season and if these two stars contend this week it may just keep the buzz going that was generated at Pinehurst.
Three of the best writers covering women’s golf feature the Lewis/Wie rivalry this week and it’s a treat reading each of them.
Ron Sirak of Golf World knows the LPGA and its players well and says that the players acknowledge how important Michelle is to the tour. By creating a bit of space from her omnipresent parents — they still live together in Florida, but she has developed a life of her own — Michelle has become friends with other LPGA players.
“I’ve gotten to know Michelle through the Solheim Cup,” said Stacy Lewis, who is No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings and plays a lot of recreational golf with Wie in Florida. “I think once she went to Stanford, she really kind of became a different person. Now she hangs out with players more instead of just sticking to her team all the time. That’s kind of when it all changed.”
LPGA players have also come to realize that a successful Michelle is good for all of them.
“The U.S. Open couldn’t have been scripted any better,” Lewis said about Wie’s victory there. “We are on our biggest stage and our biggest star winning there, and she won’t tell you that, but she is our biggest star and she moved the needle and her winning there was huge for us.”
No writer has the inside track to Stacy and Michelle like Beth Ann Nichols of Golf Week. The LPGA hasn’t had a good sparring match since Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam, and that was short-lived. Neither particularly lit up the press room either.
Lewis, one of the best interviews on tour, welcomes the idea of going toe-to-toe with Wie.
“I think rivals are great for any sport,” she said. “I don’t think you have to hate each other because we are never going to hate each other. But I can tell you we both want to beat each other once we get on the golf course, and that’s all you need for a rivalry to work.”
Stats help too. Lewis and Wie have played in 50 common rounds in 2014 and are deadlocked at 21-21-8.
Randall Mell of The Golf Channel highlights Stacy’s spectacular shot on St. Andrews 17th that won her last year’s British Open and the fact that Wie uses her for motivation. “The best part of winning at St Andrews was becoming a part of their history,” Lewis said.
Lewis, the Rolex world No. 1, will tee it up at Royal Birkdale this week looking to win her fourth title of the year. Michelle Wie, who has become a friend to Lewis, says there’s a fire driving Lewis every time she tees it up.
“I think she’s really motivated,” Wie said. “When I see Stacy, even if she finished fourth, she’s still really motivated. She’s pissed off that she was fourth place, and I really admire that. Her work ethic is just unbelievable. It definitely inspires me to work harder, every time I see her in the gym, every time I see her on the golf course.”
Take a minute to click through to Sirak, Nichols and Mell it is simply great stuff.
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