Brittany Lincicome held her own at the Ginn Classic yesterday while those around her melted down. As a result, she won her second LPGA event.
You’ve got to like Lincicome — after all, she hits the ball farther on average than most good male players. As well, she’s approachable and friendly. PGA Tour pros often sulk after a mediocre round; last year in London for the Canadian Women’s Open, Lincicome came off the course and I asked her for an interview.
“Go ahead,” she replied.
“Right here?” I asked, noting we were standing paces away from the 9th hole and in the midst of the crowd.
“Sure. Why not?”
With that, we had a good conversation. She was friendly, confident and smart. I enjoyed the interview.
Here’s the result:
Lincicome playing with rod and reel in mind: Emerging LPGA star has big plans for life after golf
[photopress:lincicome.jpg,full,alignleft]LONDON, ONT. – She may hit the golf ball as long as many PGA
Tour professionals and she might be coming off the biggest win of
her life, but Brittany Lincicome is already looking to a time when
golf is not her focus.
Her aim is to make enough money playing golf that she no longer
needs to play the game.
“I love the game, but I want to do other things with my life,” said
Lincicome, 20, after finishing her round at the CN Canadian Women’s Open yesterday at even par. “I want to get married and I want to have a family. There’s more out there than golf.”
In fact, Lincicome recently told the USA Today that her goal was to
win enough money to spend her days fishing and playing poker. Her
comments are not that surprising considering the past decade of her
life has been entirely focused around the game of golf.
Lincicome started playing when she was nine years old and she won
60% of the tournaments she played as a junior. She broke onto the
LPGA Tour last year, making 12 of 20 cuts and largely flying below
the media focus on the Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Michelle
Wie.
That changed a month ago when Lincicome finished seventh at the
U.S. Women’s Open, then won the HSBC Women’s World Match Play
Championship. The victory brought Lincicome US$500,000 and pushed her into the Top 10 on the Tour’s money list and ahead of many of her youthful peers.
But even prior to winning, Lincicome had become known for her
massive drives. She averaged 270 yards off the tee last year, and is
hitting the ball 280.3 yards this year. Yesterday, she regularly
outdrove playing partner Lorie Kane by more than 30 yards and,
occasionally, she was more than 60 yards past the group’s third
player, Seon-Hwa Lee. The difference in length meant that Lee was
hitting woods into greens while Lincicome was using short irons and
wedges.
“It is fun to play with these girls that bomb the ball,” Kane said.
“[Brittany] hits it a ton.”
Lincicome does not possess what most would describe as a perfect
technical swing. She drives at the ball with a long, looping swing
that creates tremendous lag, meaning the hands lead the clubhead
through the hitting zone.
Despite her length off the tee — her average drive is longer than
Canadian Mike Weir, for example — *Lincicome* has no plans on
following Michelle Wie onto the PGA Tour. Until she can regularly
beat Annika Sorenstam, there is no point in trying her hand against
the men.
“Maybe one day,” she said. “But not any time soon.”
Yesterday, with her round over, there were other things to think
about, like a fly-fishing lesson in the Thames River that runs
behind the 10th hole.
“Today’s the last day they are giving lessons and I’ve never done
it, so I’m going to take advantage of it,” she said.
For Brittany Lincicome, there’s more to life than golf.
