NAPLES, Fla. -- Stacy Lewis might not be the LPGA Tour player of year if not for her doctor buying a raffle ticket he didnt want. Its a bizarre twist in her unlikely path to the top of womens golf. And its a reminder to Lewis that whenever she asks that familiar question -- "Why me?" -- the answer no longer is grounded in self-pity, but in sheer amazement. "I guess its fate a little bit," Lewis said. Fate doesnt happen without hard work, and few players had it tougher than Lewis. She was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 11, so severe that she wore a back brace for 18 hours every day from age 11 until she got out of high school, and then had to have surgery when that didnt correct the curvature in her spine. Thats when Gary Brock, her orthopedic surgeon in Houston, entered the picture. Brock knew Lewis played golf at The Woodlands Country Club. He just didnt know she was good enough to have earned a scholarship to Arkansas. In the months leading up to her back surgery, Brock was invited to a charity event in which one of the prizes was a series of lessons with a golf pro. "I went with a friend of mine. He was the one who wanted to win the raffle ticket," Brock said Wednesday. "I just bought one to humour him, and I ended up winning. The pro that I worked with had worked with Stacy. All summer long, he said what a great golfer she could be." It was enough for Brock to consider giving Lewis a chance to succeed. The original plan was to insert two rods in her back. Brock suggested a single rod with five screws, which would allow her more flexibility and rotation for golf. It also meant going in from the side, breaking a rib and manoeuvring around two major blood vessels. "I remember he called my wife and I and said, We need to do a different surgery," said Dale Lewis, her father. "He said, Its going to take twice as along. Its twice as risky. The recovery is twice as long. But shell be so much more flexible." Lewis took it from there. She spent her first year at Arkansas as a redshirt, recovering from surgery. She could only chip and putt for six months before she was allowed to swing, and she earned a spot on the team. As a junior, she won the NCAA title. As a senior, she tied for third at the Kraft Nabisco Championship on an amateur invitation. She ended her amateur career by going undefeated at the Curtis Cup. And now this, a breakthrough year of four wins to become the first American since Beth Daniel in 1994 to win the points-based player of the year. She will be honoured Friday night during the LPGA Titleholders, and Brock is flying to Florida to join the celebration. All because of his raffle ticket? "Exactly," Lewis said, smiling at how something so small can lead to something so grand. "I think its amazing how you make a decision a certain way, how little things seem to fall into place and you can look back say that was a turning point. At the time, I didnt really think the stuff with my doctor was that big of a deal. But now looking back, I mean, he doesnt win the raffle and Im not here today? Its crazy." Brock thinks that might be a stretch, but not much of one. Lewis still could have played golf with two rods in her back, but its fine line between good and great, and he wonders if she could have gone as far as she has. With Lewis, though, there was always something about her that had nothing to do with science. "She has a spirit about her," Brock said. "I dont think anything would have held her back." That spirit showed as a kid. Lewis despised being in a brace, and she hated it even more when she was told after three years that she needed to keep it even longer because she kept growing. Her father said she never bought clothes, such as sleeveless shirts or halter tops, that would expose her brace. It was a happy day when the brace came off for good, and Lewis thought about burning it. Instead, she keeps two of them in a closet at her parents house -- the first one and last one she had to wear. Her agent said a photo doesnt exist anywhere of Lewis wearing the brace. She refused to be seen in it. "She got over the bitterness and it became, How lucky I am that I still get to play golf," the father said. "She just wanted to be normal again." There is nothing flashy about Lewis, which might explain how she reached her main goal -- becoming the highest-ranked American in womens golf -- and achieved another one that she didnt think possible at the start of the year the way Yani Tseng ruled the sport. That also might explain why she has been overlooked for so much of her career. She didnt have the star power of Michelle Wie, the youth of Lexi Thompson, the marketing prowess of Paula Creamer. "I didnt have all the expectations everyone else had and I think thats really helped me get to where I am," Lewis said. "I like working hard. Some girls like to do all the extra stuff off the course and the sponsor things and this and that, and I just love to go out and play golf. I dont know if thats what has gotten me to this point versus everybody else. But thats just what I like to do." There is work left for Lewis at the LPGA Titleholders, which starts Thursday at TwinEagles Golf Club. Lewis would have to win to have any chance of overtaking Inbee Park on the money list. Park only has two wins this year, but she collected first-place money from the Canadian Womens Open when an amateur, 15-year-old Lydia Ko, won the tournament. Park also has a narrow lead in the Vare Trophy for lowest adjusted scoring average. Otherwise, this week is a celebration. Brock didnt realize until this week that Lewis would be honoured Friday night. He rescheduled a clinic to be there. Even now, he has a hard time believing that a change of surgery brought on by a winning raffle ticket would lead to this. That the little girl, who grew 1 1/2 inches after surgery, would become the best American female in golf. "We would never have dreamed that in a million years," Brock said. wholesale jerseys China .Y. -- When push came to shove, Carl Edwards got the best of Brad Keselowski. wholesale jerseys . The United States international has been linked with a move to Liverpool throughout the off-season, and Rodgers was quoted as saying "Clint is a player weve inquired about" on the website of Liverpools owners. http://www.cheapjerseys2014.us.com/[/ur... . This week, they discuss the Hornets proposed name change, the Vikings Adrian Peterson, Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, and the Blue Jays late broadcaster Tom Cheek. [url=http://www.cheapjerseys2014.us.com/]Cheap Jerseys free shipping . -- Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels will outspend the Oakland Athletics any day. Cheap Jerseys from china . After dropping four straight games on the road, the Bombers finally got back in front of a wildly enthusiastic home crowd and fed off the energy to register their first win. GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Down a goal, the clock ticking down, Dallas never panicked. After being in a similar position against the same team just two weeks earlier, the Stars had no reason to think they couldnt pull off another late rally. And Dallas did just that, sending Phoenix to another deflating defeat. Trevor Daley scored on Dallas eighth shootout attempt after Adam Burish tied it with 61 seconds left in regulation, helping the Stars beat Phoenix 3-2 Tuesday night for their second straight comeback victory over the Coyotes. "We always talk about in our locker room that its a process to win and you have to work to put yourselves in a position to have some level of success to get a desired result," Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "As long as were in a strong position, then youre going to get points like tonight." Dallas rallied to beat Phoenix in a shootout after scoring with 27 seconds left on Oct. 10 and forced another on Burishs one-timer past Mike Smith. Sheldon Souray scored for Dallas and Kari Lehtonen kept the Stars in it, turning away 33 shots in regulation. The two teams scored just one goal each in the shootout -- in the fifth round -- and Lehtonen turned away three shots while forcing the Coyotes to hold the puck too long, setting up Daleys final chance. Gliding in on his first career shootout attempt, the Dallas defenceman used a deke to move Smith, then slipped a backhander past him to give the Stars another comeback victory against the Coyotes. "I was happy that Kari got the save before, so it kind of took a little pressure (off)," Daley said. "But it was enjoyable. It was my first one, so I was excited." The Coyotes werent after blowing another late lead to Dallas. Raffi Torres got his first goal for Phoenix in the first period and Smith was superb all the way through, turning away 34 shots, then six more in the shootout. Shane Doan provided what looked like the perfect ending with his 300th career, swatting in a one-timer from Ray Whitney as he fell to put the Coyotes up 2-1 midway through the third period. It all went wrong in a matter of minutes. Burish scored his goal on a pass from Mike Ribeiro, then Phoenix missed on one chance after another in regulation and the shootout -- four of eight shots missed the goal -- to suffer another disheartening loss to the Stars. "They found a way to get way to get one late," Doan said. "It was kind of a scrambly play and weve got to be better." The two teams without owneers have had vastly different starts to the season.dddddddddddd Dallas is still awaiting league approval for its new potential owner, Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi, the only person to submit a bid to buy the team. On the ice, the Stars havent wasted any time getting things rolling. Relying on sturdy goaltending and depth it didnt have a year ago, Dallas won six of its first eight games for just the third time in franchise history after missing the playoffs the previous three seasons. Lehtonen has been the key to the Stars season-opening surge to the top of the Pacific Division, going 6-0-0 with a 1.48 goals against average a .957 save percentage his first six games. The Coyotes are in still-without-an-owner mode. They were run by the NHL the previous two seasons and stuck around the desert for a third season when the City of Glendale forked over US$25 million to keep the team in Arizona after a deal to sell the team fell through. The Coyotes were able to shake off the uncertain ownership situation the previous two years, making the playoffs in both, but are off to an indifferent start this season. Sporadic on offence and giving up too many chances in its own end, Phoenix came into Tuesdays game just 3-3 after holding on to beat the Ducks 5-4 on Saturday. Phoenix was crisp against Dallas back at home despite a tiny crowd, getting some big stops by Smith in the first period and creating momentum on offence over the next two. Torres scored his first goal with Phoenix, firing a tough-angle shot that caromed off Lehtonen and into the net early in the first period. Dallas answered late in the period with its first power-play goal in four games, a slap shot from the left circle by Sheldon Souray that sailed through traffic and over Smiths glove shoulder. Phoenix picked up the pressure in the second period and went ahead 2-1 at 11:47 of the third, when Doan reached his milestone on a power play. But, just like they did the last time around, the Coyotes couldnt finish Dallas off, leading to another spirit-killing loss to the Pacific Division leaders. "It stinks," Smith said. "I can deal with giving up a lead one time to a divisional team, but twice in a few weeks stings pretty bad." Notes: This was the sixth straight one-goal game between the teams. ... Doan had gone four games without a goal after getting No. 299. ... Dallas has 499 goals as a franchise against Phoenix. ... Vernon Fiddler took two shots his first game for the Stars in Phoenix after spending two seasons with the Coyotes. ' ' '