An Interview with Brittany Lincicome

April 16, 2008

THE MODERATOR: Brittany, thanks for coming in. A little cold out there. How do you like this weather?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: A little cold? I am a true Floridian, so this morning I had five shirts, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, hand warmers, the whole nine. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. I definitely don't like the cold weather, but I think it was supposed to be better starting tomorrow, and then over the weekend is supposed to be 80 so I think I'll survive.

THE MODERATOR: Talk a little bit about being back here again. You got your second career win here on a day that was not too much further from this. It was pretty cold and pretty windy.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Exactly. I don't know what it is with this tournament. It brings bad weather. It was exactly like this, cold and really strong winds. It's good to get it out of the week early. It's easier to practice in it come Sunday than not have practiced in it at all.

The course is in all right shape, considering not being able to water as much as they needed to, so the greens are definitely fast, running pure, which is good. So I think it's going to be a good week.

Q. You've got a new world No. 1, I guess, since last spring at this time when you were here. I think she's won by 5, 7, 11 and 11 in her four wins this year. Is that as incomprehensible to you as it might be to some of us civilians?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Exactly. Everything that she's done this year has been phenomenal. Just being her as a person, she would give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it, just being so nice and be able to play so well and not being cocky about it, how she presents herself. She's definitely a role model to every kid, every adult, everybody out there that likes golf. So it's really great to have her out here. And then to be friends with her and see her at fellowship, and behind the scenes what she does, she's all-around a great girl.

Q. If I could just follow that up, are you guys paying attention to her and what she's doing and how she's gotten to that level and trying to incorporate anything?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: A little bit. Obviously at practice, she's phenomenal at doing it and getting it done the right way. I'm trying to learn how to do that better, course management when I go out and play. We do nine holes Monday, nine holes Tuesday to practice, more chipping, more putting. Course management, trying to learn how to do that better.

I've talked to her a little bit. I actually talked to her last night a little bit. You always pick her brain, see what she's doing differently than everybody else. Obviously exercise, she works out a lot. Even before she'll play she'll go into the gym and run and do cardio before she goes out. That's something I would never even think about doing.

Q. In that respect she's a little bit like Tiger in that she's forcing everyone to try to figure out how to catch her.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Exactly. Tiger started it with the working out and then Annika and then Lorena. It's definitely a big part of being out here and being able to -- especially with an afternoon tee time, just to be able to keep going and not getting tired or burned out by those last couple holes. If you get tired a little bit by the last couple holes you'll make a stupid swing and that'll cost you a shot, and you can't give up shots out here.

Q. What in particular last night were you guys chatting about?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Just really more silly stuff. It wasn't even necessarily golf stuff. We were at a small group. It's like fellowship on Tour so we were hanging out and talking about more her personal life and getting to know her better. She has a lot on her plate and she just likes to be able to relax and talk to people one-on-one, so it's nice to see her not so tense and doing media and everything. So it's good to see her happy.

Q. You obviously played with Lorena in the last group last year here, and she didn't play all that well down the stretch. What do you think has -- I know, good for you (laughter). Do you have any idea what has turned around to make her such a good closer on Sunday in the last nine holes? Can you see a difference at all?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's a great question. If I knew, I would do it. You know, it's focus and concentration, and obviously she's hitting it well and putting. She'll make 30-footers on you all day and not even think twice about it. It's a complete package deal I would think. I have no idea.

Q. Do you think she knows that you're picking her brain when you guys start talking?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's a good question. You could ask her anything and she would tell you. She's very genuine, very sweet.

Q. I'm sorry for one more on Lorena, but when she's not playing, does it change the nature of the tournament? Is everyone just more hungry to grab a spot because it's maybe more open?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I would think so. Obviously she's been on this great run so you can never count her out of a tournament, but if she's not there obviously you're like, okay. Not that we don't have a chance every week, but then, okay, you definitely have a really good chance because when she's there you know you're going to have to shoot so many under par, depending on the golf course, to win. It's weird that she's not playing next week because I think it's going to be a cool tournament.

Q. I think she's played four in a row. She's probably --
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Come on, next week will be five for me.

Q. Have we been talking about the wrong person winning the Grand Slam? She's got two of them in a row already. We've all been talking about the other guy, and it seems like maybe Lorena --
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Tiger?

Q. I thought you would kind of catch my drift there.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I'm blonde, come on.

That would be really cool. PGA and LPGA I think is two different things, unfortunately. But us personally, that would be cool if Lorena did it before Tiger. Maybe we'd get more attention than they would, which is better for us.
But I think it would be really cool if she could pull it off, not to add any added pressure to her.

Q. So last year your picture wasn't up anywhere. Your picture is up. Do you feel a difference at all this year, more people recognizing you?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It definitely is because you see it even on like the cups that you're drinking out of. I'm drinking my picture. It's definitely cool to see. It means that you made it. To see your picture on the cover of the program even, I'm just goofy in that sense. It's just nice to see my picture out there, the hard work that I put in, it makes me feel like it's actually paying off. It makes me want to practice and be better just to get my picture up there and to have people recognize me. Little kids come up to you and they still have no idea who you are, even if you're Lorena or whatever. But just the adults to come up to you and be like, yeah, good job last year, whatever. It means it paid off, the hard work, and I like it.

Q. You just mentioned that the Grand Slam, that if Lorena pulled something like that off it would be good for the Tour. It brings up the argument, the PGA TOUR has seen the benefits of Tiger and his dominance at times, but yet other people talk about they wish there was more competition in certain areas. What do you think is better for the Tour, a player making a historic run like that or there being just a bunch of great players, which there are, but everybody in the mix and you don't know who's going to win at different times, that kind of thing?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's a tough one. I think it could go either way. I think it's both. If she were to do that, the LPGA's name and her would get recognized, and if we have different players winning every week, then we could say the LPGA Tour has different players winning every week. The PGA only has one person winning every week, so that gets kind of boring. I think either way it's good for our Tour, it's good for Lorena, it's good for whoever is winning. I think it's good for both.

Q. On the men's Tour power has become such a factor, a bomb-and-gouge game. In your time, and you're a power player, has it become more of a factor? Do you see it out there more?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Hitting it farther? Of course. The farther you hit it, obviously the shorter the golf courses get. That's why, knock on wood, I normally do good at like the U.S. Opens when they lengthen them because obviously length helps out. I think that's why everyone works out, so they can hit it farther and be able to play five-hour rounds of golf and be able to start like they finish. It's definitely a huge part of it, to be able to hit it far and obviously straight, but definitely far.

Q. I heard you were making maybe some changes in your swing. I don't know where that's at. Where is your game right now? I know you had a good finish the other week.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It's coming around. It started off really slow in the off-season. I don't think I prepared as much as I should have. I tried to take as many days off as I possibly could have and bought a boat and went fishing too many days, I think.

My coach was just out the last two days and he was out today when I played the Pro-Am. It's always been takeaway and getting it set at the top, getting it right at the top. It's not really anything different than what we've worked on in the past, but it's half a degree off, and if it gets on under pressure and down the long run it's going to be a lot better for me.

I'm going to play bad a few weeks and then hopefully the rest of the year finish strong. This year definitely unfortunately has not gone the way I would like, but it's going to turn around, I promise.

Q. Do you like the re-emphasis on slow play this year? I guess they've tweaked a couple rules, they can time players individually instead of everybody in the group getting whacked for the slow play of one. Is that a step in the right direction and something that you would embrace?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Definitely. I mean, slow play out here is -- myself, I'm a really fast walker. I'm the first one to get to my ball but last one to hit because I hit it so far. Five-hour rounds of golf are not fun for anybody, for media, for TV, for us, for anybody. It's good and it's kind of bad because, I mean, any time you get on the clock you only get eight-plus timings, I believe, or timings, which I don't feel I'm a slower player, but even though I'm in that group and that group gets timed, that's one on me, and if you get eight, it's X amount of dollar fine.

It speeds you up but it kind of penalizes people like me who walk fast. But definitely it's going in the right direction. We definitely need to play faster and all the girls know it. We're trying, but we'd maybe like them to try harder.

Q. I know you're still so young. Have you ever even seen a persimmon wood?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Persimmon wood, no.

Q. You never even hit one, did you?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No.

Q. Can you imagine what technology has done for your distance, the right ball combination, just how many yards you get just from that?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yards I'm not sure. It's definitely going farther obviously with the newer technology and the ball and actually getting properly fit. This is my second year, I guess, with Adams, and they properly fit me last year for the first time and I had never done it before, and just having the right equipment in your hand and the right ball and everything working together, it makes a huge difference.

But technology with the bigger heads and the golf balls now, it's a world of difference than what it was back in the day.

Q. Do you think you're 20 yards longer because of that combination?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I have no idea. I'm definitely farther.

THE MODERATOR: Brittany, thanks for coming in.
 

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