COLORADO SPRINGS — The pre-surgery X-ray of Stacy Lewis’ spine revealed a curvature of about 30 degrees — the loft of a 6-iron.
The post-surgery X-ray of the young woman, who suffered from idiopathic scoliosis, showed a titanium rod and five pins that looked like molly bolts. The spinal deformity had improved by 15 degrees, and, as a result, Lewis was 2 inches taller (to 5-foot-5).
At 18, Stacy feared she would never play golf again.
At 26, Lewis is playing fearless golf.
She won 2011’s first LPGA major — the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
In the lightning-struck U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor, Lewis is tied for second at 2-under with two holes left to play this morning in her second round.
“I played good all day, just frustrated with the way I finished,” Lewis said as she left the course.
On Monday, Lewis arranged to play a four-hole match with four Wounded Warriors from nearby Fort Carson. She understands pain.
When Stacy was 11, a doctor strongly recommended that she wear a hard-plastic back brace 18 hours a day to correct her condition.
Yet, at 13, living in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb, Stacy decided to take up golf — and removed the brace only while she played.
Despite the scoliosis that caused her body to slump and develop an unorthodox swing, Stacy played extremely well. In her senior year of high school, the doctor announced that the condition had improved considerably. She celebrated the disposal of the brace, her graduation and a scholarship from the University of Arkansas.
A month later, the joy drowned in tears of sorrow. An X-ray disclosed that the scoliosis (from the Greek word for “crooked”) had worsened, and Lewis had to undergo a dangerous spinal-fusion operation (four hours, the removal of a rib and the insertion of the rod and screws into five vertebrae).
The surgery was successful, but Lewis went off to college knowing she couldn’t play golf for a full year, or perhaps ever.
She did come back a year later. As a redshirt with the Razorbacks, Lewis was selected SEC freshman of the year. Her swing was smoother, her shots straighter, her confidence bolstered by months of rehabilitation and chipping and putting practice.
In 2007 Lewis won the NCAA Division I golf championship and was selected an All-American and an academic All-American (with a major in finance and accounting and a 3.75 grade-point average). In an LPGA- sanctioned tournament in Arkansas, Lewis finished first, but the title was declared unofficial (because the event had been rain-shortened to one day).
She was invited the next year to play in the Curtis Cup (U.S. women amateurs vs. Great Britain) at St. Andrews, and Stacy became the first player to win all five of her singles matches in the American victory.
Lewis turned pro to play in the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open and rose to the top of the leaderboard after three rounds — but flared to a 78 on Sunday to finish in a tie for third. She still had to attend qualifying school, yet finished first, six shots ahead of a much more famous player, Michelle Wie.
Stacy’s shooting-star streak somewhat fizzled rather than dazzled through 2009 and 2010. She didn’t win on tour.
Late last year, LPGA veteran Betsy King asked Lewis to join her for a trip to Africa to visit youngsters with the HIV virus. Lewis met the girl in Rwanda whom she sponsors financially.
Because of the experience, Lewis rededicated her efforts on and off the course. At every tournament stop, she visits a hospital; she became a spokeswoman for scoliosis care, and she works with several other charitable organizations.
This year she has made the cut in nine events, ended up in the top 10 five times and won her first tournament — the women’s version of the Masters — overcoming the game’s best player, Yani Tseng.
The woman who has been featured on three magazine covers, a Fox sports special and several ESPN shows two weeks ago is a rising star once more.
When the rain-delayed first round finally was concluded in early afternoon Friday, Lewis had shot 3-under-par 68 — with four birdies on the front side — for a one-stroke advantage. Teeing off again shortly after — “I inhaled some food,” she said — she birdied two of the first five holes to increase her lead on the big board. She bogeyed No. 9 and was at 4-under, and one shot in front, after the 11th when play was interrupted. Stacy returned after the rain delay with a birdie at the 12th. But she then had a slight meltdown with a bogey on No. 14 and a double-bogey on 15 that dropped her out of the lead.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
