Putting 4 Dough

There are many interesting story lines in golf this season. Stacy Lewis has to be at the top of any list of the best stories in golf this year. Lewis is a rookie on the 2008 LPGA Tour and the tour's Qualifying School winner. She was the top ranked amateur the past two years and won the 2007 NCAA Individual Championship. With all those credentials comes an expectation of success on the tour. These expectations may lead to some pressure but it will not bother Lewis. She has dealt with pressure many times before and always seems to flourish when times are tough.

Stacy Lewis is a walking miracle on the golf course. Stacy developed scoliosis, curvature of the spine, as a child. At eleven years old she was fitted with a back brace that she wore until she was eighteen years old. She wore the brace under her clothes to hide it and only took it off to play golf. The fact that she was even able to play golf is amazing, but to play it so well is incredible. Lewis played well enough to earn a college scholarship to the University of Arkansas and then had to deal with an ordeal that most teenagers would never face. She needed a back operation.

The brace Stacy wore for all those years did not work. When doctors examined her at eighteen they realized that the spine did not straighten enough and Stacy would need a steel rod placed in her back (View Stacy's X-rays). So, here she was; an eighteen year old high school grad with a college scholarship awaiting her and she faces back surgery, months of rehab and no guarantee that she'll be able to play golf as good as she had been able to.

Stacy had her operation and spent a painful eight weeks in bed. They placed a steel rod and five screws in her back to stop the curvature. Arkansas kept her scholarship waiting for her and she red-shirted her freshman year. She went through months of therapy and was limited to chipping and putting for a year.

When she arrived at Arkansas Lewis spent much of her time with then assistant coach Shauna Estes-Taylor who now is the Head Women's Golf Coach. Estes-Taylor calls Lewis an aamazing kida and praises her work ethic. Coach said,a Stacy definitely had a little down time when she would get a little frustrated when she couldn't lift much weight or do a whole lot. When she got cleared to do some things like chipping and putting, she took full advantage of the year to work on her short game.a Read more