In February of 2022 KPMG Ambassador Stacy Lewis was announced as the 2023 U.S. Solheim Cup captain. The Solheim Cup is a biennial competition between the United States and Europe in which 12 players on each team face off in match play competition. It's widely considered as the marquee event in women's professional golf. As the youngest captain in Solheim Cup history, Stacy sought to lead the US team in a way it had never been led before.

“From reading some things about the Ryder Cup, I learned of all the analytics that were being used by both teams. You know, if the guys have access to this, I feel like we should have access to it as well and so knowing what KPMG Performance Insights have provided for our tour, I approached them to see if they could help the Solheim Cup team.” – Stacy Lewis

Launched in 2021, KPMG Performance Insights is a game-changing technology platform that provides data insights and advanced performance analytics for the LPGA Tour. The program’s full field shot level data and advanced analytics, such as Strokes Gained, proximity averages, and performance indexing, provide critical information for players to diagnose and improve their performance.

“Data has literally transformed our entire lives, it's disrupted entire Industries, and has changed the way that we work and live. We spend a substantial amount of time not just thinking about data and technology, but the core business problem. We spend time with people navigating process observing what's happening and that allows us to help formulate technology and data analytics solutions that actually mean something to the business.” – Mike Krajecki

“So KPMG is a real leader in the data analytics space with our clients. It’s what we do both outside the sports industry and inside of sports. It was a natural extension of our business to be able to assist the LPGA in providing the Strokes Gained analytics and the Performance Insights that they need in order to have this D&A based program.” – Shawn Quill

“Golf is a really difficult game. It requires quite a bit of analytics. It’s a very subjective game too, so people need to have all the data that they can have to drive their own performance, so we were at a significant disadvantage to not have that data. These women are the most competitive athletes that you’ll ever find, and you have to use all the resources that are at your disposal and we’ve got to be able to provide those resources to our athletes and without that data you’re just guessing.” – Mollie Marcoux Samaan

“You know, I understood the performance insights that we had week to week you know with players. I just didn't realize all that was going to be possible with the Solheim Cup.” – Stacy Lewis

“Basically, it's an optimization of the potential of the players on the team. You know, putting them in the best position to succeed, analyzing what players strengths and weaknesses are, what players are going to succeed on certain types of holes [and] certain types of golf courses. Predictive analytics are important in terms of, you know, giving us the most information possible. We assemble different combinations of players and run 10,000-20,000 different simulations as to how a certain match might happen." - Justin Ray

“It's changing the way I think about pairings. It's changing the reasons that you pair people up. It's really been a great starting point of trying to help us make the best possible decisions.” – Stacy Lewis

At the 2023 Solheim Cup in Spain, the United States and Europe played to a 14-14 tie, with incumbent champions Europe retaining the cup. Despite the overall score, the US team achieved historic results throughout the week, including:

•       The first ever foursome session sweep in US Solheim Cup history.

•       the best total foursome score on European soil

•       and the best ever score after four sessions on European soil

“The Performance Insights it worked, I think that's first and foremost. You know, I had faith in it, I believed in it, and that first session on Friday morning was just kind of the icing on the cake. It was like, okay this is the blueprint and we got to just keep moving forward from here.” – Stacy Lewis

“I think the use of data in golf is a great analogy for us at KPMG and in the world of business. To say, it’s one thing to have all the data. It's one thing to run routines and come up with what you hope are insights, but to know that they’re right and that they’re repeatable and then you still have to hit the shot and I think that’s where we’re finding with clients. It’s grabbing those insights and then making meaningful, accurate, insightful decisions based on that data. Those are the clients that are really winning in today's world.” – Mark Gibson