Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
Stacy Lewis arrived at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for last month's Solheim Cup as confident as ever.
She knew her American team had played better than her European counterparts throughout the summer. She also felt incredibly prepared, thanks to countless hours of studying potential pairings, possibilities, and data.
But the Americans had lost three straight Solheim Cups, including the last one held on American soil in 2021. Then, with Lewis at the helm in 2023, the Euros retained the cup at Finca Cortesín in Andalucía. An undercurrent of pressure permeated the U.S. team, especially into Lewis' mind, as she felt destined to snap the U.S. losing streak and get the job done this time. She assured herself that her team would, but minor traces of anxiety lingered.
"What if we have to answer the question as to why we lost four in a row?" was a question that lurked in the back of her mind.
That question never had to be answered, though. The Americans cruised to a wire-to-wire victory, winning for the first time in seven years. The U.S. raced out to a 6-to-2 lead after Friday's Foursome and Fourball sessions and never looked back, winning 15.5 to 12.5 as Lilia Vu clinched the winning point on Sunday afternoon.
A big reason for their success was through analytics, as KPMG's Performance Insights helped Lewis make the right decisions.
"The insights were the basis of everything we did, from selecting the team and who made the team to my picks, pairings, and how they played throughout the week," Lewis said to SB Nation.
"They were integral to everything we did."
Computers spat out numbers, creating initial pairings. She felt confident in her "formula" on Wednesday morning, when she scribbled out her plan based on what the numbers suggested. She then made slight modifications based on form, feel, and camaraderie but still leaned heavily on the analytics overall.
Yet, Lewis desperately wanted to put an all-star pairing together during alternate shot. She wanted Nelly Korda to team up with Lexi Thompson, a duo that would be a formidable force and send shockwaves of excitement across the property.
"I think everybody would have loved to have seen Nelly and Lexi," Lewis explained.
"I was trying to get them to figure out alternate shot, and the golf balls they play are just too different than I initially thought they would be. So Lexi was going to have to make some pretty big concessions. We had other good options thanks to the numbers, which obviously worked fine, but I wish we could have made that pairing happen for the fans."
The Performance Insights also played a crucial role in helping Lewis make her three captain's picks. At the end of August, the numbers pointed to Sarah Schmelzel, Jennifer Kupcho, and Thompson, the three players Lewis selected to join the U.S. team.
"I made my captain's picks based on how we set up the golf course, which we were able to set up to the strength of my team based on the stats," Lewis said.
"Literally everything we did revolved around it."
KPMG has partnered with the LPGA for quite some time. The firm also serves as the presenting sponsor for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, one of the five majors on the LPGA each year. Amy Yang claimed her first major title at Sahalee this past June at the 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
But KPMG continues to play a more prominent role within the LPGA. They provided Lewis -- and the players -- with critical information for players to dissect and understand, which in turn helped their overall performance. The 2024 Solehim Cup is proof of that.
KPMG will continue to do so going forward.
"We now have a blueprint. Between myself and a lady from the LPGA, we've been working on a book we're putting together for the next captain, saying, 'This is what we did.' Here are examples of stuff that we used," Lewis explained.
"We want to try to make things the same for the players going forward, so we do not reinvent the wheel every time, and KPMG helped make this all happen."
The Solheim Cup will take place in Holland for the first time in 2026. The U.S. team will face a difficult task, as winning a cup on the road is one of the most challenging things in golf. At least KPMG and its performance insights will help alleviate that difficulty.
Perhaps Lewis will return for a third consecutive stint as captain, making this tall task more manageable.
She did not rule out that possibility.
"We haven't had the meetings yet, so we'll probably get to that in the next few months," Lewis said of her 2026 prospects.
"Some players and their parents have already asked if I would do it again. I'd have a hard time saying no, just because I enjoyed it so much."
Regardless, the U.S. Solheim Cup team has a tremendous system in place, thanks in part to the Performance Insights provided by KPMG. Because of that, every future U.S. captain should arrive at the Solheim Cup feeling as confident as ever -- just as Lewis did this past September.