How KPMG Performance Insights helped drive Stacy Lewis’ Solheim Cup strategy

January 16, 2024

NEW YORK, JANUARY 16 – KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, is premiering a new sports documentary entitled “Driven by Data: Stacy Lewis’ 2023 Solheim Cup Captaincy” on Golf Channel tonight at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT. The 45-minute film tells the story of how U.S. Solheim Cup Captain and 13-time LPGA Tour champion Stacy Lewis leveraged KPMG Performance Insights, the game-changing data insights and advanced performance analytics platform used on the LPGA Tour, to make more strategic decisions at the Solheim Cup.

The KPMG Performance Insights platform provides full-field shot-level data and advanced analytics, delivering insights such as strokes gained, proximity averages and performance indexing that has been used by LPGA Tour athletes since 2021, providing critical information for athletes to diagnose and improve their performance.

Ahead of the Solheim Cup, the KPMG Performance Insights team harnessed the power of predictive analytics to run nearly 20,000 simulations examining how each athlete’s strengths informed optimal pairings. Insights such as which athletes perform best under pressure, who performs best on certain types of grass, and which pairings might produce the most optimal results were included in a custom platform that Stacy and the U.S. Team leadership relied upon to put a data-driven plan in place.

Although the competition resulted in a 14-14 tie with Team Europe retaining the Cup, the U.S. Team achieved three historic firsts during the tournament, including their first-ever foursome session sweep. The team also gleaned key insights for 2024 when the Solheim Cup takes place in the United States, with Stacy again serving as captain.

“As U.S. captain, I knew that I wanted to use data and analytics to drive my decision-making and put every player on my team in the best position to perform at the top of her game,” said Stacy. “This kind of technology has been available to men in team competitions like the Ryder Cup for years, but it’s never been available to the women’s game at the same level. KPMG has been a long-time supporter of mine and I was thrilled that they could provide a solution that enabled me to do more than rely on overall rankings and gut feelings when determining player pairings and captain’s picks.”

“Whether we’re using data and analytics to measure a player’s performance on the golf course, helping a client identify the right target for a potential acquisition, or working with a client to optimize their supply chain, data is at the heart of all we do,” said Shawn Quill, KPMG National Sports Industry Leader. “Being able to leverage data and analytics while working with Stacy to help level the playing field for women’s golf has been incredibly rewarding.”

“Driven by Data: Stacy Lewis’ 2023 Solheim Cup Captaincy” will re-air on Golf Channel at 1 a.m. ET/10 p.m. PT and will be available to stream on Peacock and YouTube on Jan. 17, 2024. For additional information on how Stacy utilized KPMG Performance Insights at the Solheim Cup, visit: https://kpmg.com/us/en/how-we-work/client-stories/making-history-with-kpmg-performance-insights.html

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