Brittany Lincicome - Part 2 (Winning the 2009 Dinah Shore)

Outro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to Well, let's get you out on tour then.

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

Bruce, quite a record as you go through uh what Britney's been able to accomplish in her nearly 20 years on tour.

Bruce Devlin 0:23

That's true. As we said, turn turn pro in 2004. Only got to play in a couple of golf tournaments, a couple of LPGA tournaments, and then in 2005, we got to running a little bit here. Twenty, I think twenty tournaments you played in 2005. Yeah. One uh actually not too bad. One 127,000 odd dollars. So you know, at least you were paying the bill.

Brittany Lincicome 0:49

Yeah, not too bad for a 19-year-old kid who had nothing before.

Mike Gonzalez 0:53

So yeah. Eight professional wins, uh uh all on the LPGA tour. So uh you mentioned uh getting through Q school your first try, which was great. Uh before we start ticking through some of your wins on the tour, uh, you gotta help our listeners uh understand where the nickname Bam Bam came from.

Brittany Lincicome 1:18

That's a funny story, and it actually can go two different ways. So two different girls on the LPGA say that they gave me this nickname. Okay. So one of them swears it's because you know, pebbles and bam bam, I hit it far. Like when I hit it, it's like bam, you know. So and then the other girl, funny story, uh, shouldn't probably tell you this, but I'm going to. So we were in Vegas and we were playing craps, and I have no clue how to play craps. We're just playing before we go to dinner. And all I wanted to do was roll the dice. So every time I rolled the dice, they would say bam. Um, so it kind of became a joke, and I rolled for like 45 minutes, whatever that meant at that time. Like everybody was making money, they were loving me. It was like the most fun, uh fun night. Um, but I just wanted to roll the dice, and every time it was like bam, you know. So I want to go with that one because it's more, it's funnier, but uh it just depends on maybe who I'm talking to. If it's a kid, I go with the other story.

Mike Gonzalez 2:10

I'll tell you what, if you were holding the dice for 45 minutes, uh you had a lot of friends at that table.

Brittany Lincicome 2:15

I really did. And I mean, I still don't know how to play to this day, but I just wanted to roll the dice, and all my friends were making a lot of money, and I just had like five dollars on the pass line, I think it was called. And I'm like, I made like$10 and everyone else made hundreds of dollars. So, but I got to roll the dice.

Mike Gonzalez 2:30

Yeah. Well, we'll get to the first uh win in a minute, which uh which came fairly early, 2006. But before we do, you had alluded to this, and we've talked again to a lot of guests about this experience of waking up one day and saying, Oh, I'm a I'm on the professional tour. And uh I've got a tournament coming up in where? I've never been there before. Yeah. Where do I stay? How do I get to the golf course? Where do I eat? All that stuff you mentioned. Uh boy, talk about a culture shock. But as you said, you had a support system around you which had to really make a lot of difference.

Brittany Lincicome 3:06

It really did. And my parents always joked, but we should probably do it, and it'd probably make a lot of money. Just like make a how-to book, how like how to become a pro in the LPGA. Yeah. Um, because literally, like, again, two school teachers trying to take this 19-year-old kid on the LPGA tour, we have no idea what we're doing. Um, so obviously just kind of shacking up in the cheapest hotels we could find or eating, you know, the cheapest meals we could find, and then having to learn new golf courses and meeting new people and uh yardage books or dining, like all this stuff. So it's it's definitely a lot to take in. And that's why I had said that when you know players maybe from another country come over to America and they join the LPGA, it's it's hard if you're by yourself. It's a lonely game already. There's a lot of ups and downs. There's more downs than there are up normally. And um, if you don't have a friend out there, it can be very lonely and and quite sad.

Mike Gonzalez 3:59

Yeah. And how important was it at the early on to learn that boy, you really need to separate that life outside the robes from staying focused inside the robes?

Brittany Lincicome 4:11

Yeah. Um, I actually felt like I did really well with that right away. You know, I I um I have so many hobbies now. You know, I I love to fish, I love to watch movies. Like I have always felt like my game was very balanced. You know, when I left the golf course, I wasn't gonna go home and talk about you know what I did wrong, what I did right. Like we didn't, it was almost like you kind of turned it off and then you just did, we did whatever after, um, which was probably great. So the way I needed, again, like being a field player, like I wasn't, oh my gosh, my swing wasn't this, this, and this today. Um, you know, it's just kind of whatever game you brought the next day, that's the game we had, and that's the game we played with. And um, but I think now, you know, I always tell the rookies, um, you have to take breaks, you have to take time off, you have to get away from the game. Or even young kids, you know, parents that try to make their kid practice seven days a week and they don't play other sports, you know, put them in other sports. You cannot focus on one sport for that long and not get burnt out. Um, the same with, you know, young rookies coming up. They play six or eight weeks in a row and they're fried at the end. And I'm like, guys, you can't do that. Like, I think I played six in a row in my rookie year and I thought I was gonna die. Um, it was just too many in a row. You can't focus that long. Even if you think you're playing your best and you feel like you have to play, you have to keep it rolling. Um, there is something about going home, sleeping in your own bed, having a home cooked meal, kind of shutting it down, taking time off. Like even if you go home, you know, I even now put the clubs away. I play with our pro on Friday mornings. Um, so I would take like four or five days off, play on a Friday, and then leave again on a Sunday. So um I was really good at kind of balancing my career. And so you don't get burnout, you don't get injuries. I had knock on wood, super lucky. I didn't have any injuries my 20 years of playing. You know, I was healthy the whole time. You know, maybe like a neck something that the massage people would cannot help me, PT people would help me with. But overall, like I had no injuries, no surgeries, um, knock on wood again.

Bruce Devlin 6:10

Yeah.

Brittany Lincicome 6:11

Um, that's helped me play for 20 years. You know, you there's a lot of girls that go and beat ball after ball after ball, and they have to have wrist surgery, hip surgery, knee surgeries, um, all these things. And um, it's just because they don't take time off. They don't take breaks, they don't let their body rest.

Mike Gonzalez 6:25

Yeah. I mean, I remember talking to Brandy Burton, and I think Brandy had every ailment under the sun. She had all kinds of stuff right over the years. Uh and and and some of you just get lucky. I mean, it's genes or whatever, but you stay healthy your whole career.

Brittany Lincicome 6:39

Yeah, for sure. Man, I haven't talked to Brandy Burton in forever. I loved her. Um yeah, I think it's just, you know, taking time off, listening to your body, and and you know, when your body says I've had enough and you need to take time off, you need to take time off.

Mike Gonzalez 6:52

Yeah, yeah. So before that first win, did you find yourself in position to win before that and didn't quite get it over the finish line? Or was that your first really good finish?

Brittany Lincicome 7:02

I think that was my first really good finish, and it was a match play event, which I have always loved, you know, being a long hitter. I love going for the par fives and two. I love being aggressive. And um I think, you know, match play, you could make a 10 on a hole and it doesn't matter, you're only one down. So uh you kind of go for broke, and then um I just I mean, I want to say I got lucky because I beat some really amazing women that week. Um, but it was just obviously my time. Everything was going my way. I mean, I ever went extra holes with some players and um kind of fell my way. So it was just uh a cool moment and to to win a match play event. I mean, it was it was really fun.

Mike Gonzalez 7:39

Yeah, this was the 2006 HSBC Women's Match Play Championship at Hamilton Farms Golf Club in New Jersey. And Bruce, uh, as Brittany mentioned, she she she beat some pretty fancy uh players in that season.

Bruce Devlin 7:54

And then when she got to the final, I know she's mentioned this lady's name before, but to beat Julie Inkster had to be a thrill, wasn't it?

Brittany Lincicome 8:04

Yeah, especially knowing her now. I swear um, again, back in the day I always try to spin it and that I just didn't play well, but I feel like Julie just got tired. You know, she was a little bit older. Uh I was obviously younger, and um, you know, playing 36 holes is a lot. So um, but yeah, to beat her, Lorena O'Cho, I think Michelle Wee was in there. Yeah. Um, it it's pretty, pretty amazing. It's it was a pretty cool week. My dad was caddying for me, so what cooler moment for us to have together for him to obviously sacrifice everything to get me where I am to get my first win. It was literally a dream come true.

Mike Gonzalez 8:38

Yeah. Uh we've got Lorena coming on the show as our next guest. And so we'll probably have to ask her about that, huh?

Brittany Lincicome 8:44

Yeah, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 8:45

Yeah.

Brittany Lincicome 8:46

She's had so many wins she probably won't even remember.

Mike Gonzalez 8:49

She probably does. She does. So before we leave 2006, after you're getting your first victory, you were able to play in your first team championship, uh, which was the Lexus Cup. For those of our listeners that aren't familiar with that competition, uh, tell us a little bit about what that's all about.

Brittany Lincicome 9:09

Yeah, Lexus Cup wasn't around very long. It was only a couple years, but um, I believe was that in Singapore?

Mike Gonzalez 9:14

Yes. Uh, I think so, yeah.

Brittany Lincicome 9:18

So long ago, I don't remember. Um, but again, just being a team competition. Um, hadn't played too many of those other than you know, junior Solheim Cup. So it was cool to kind of come together to go to Singapore. Um there, I remember there was monkeys all over the golf course. Um, it was it was a cool, it was a fun time.

Mike Gonzalez 9:37

Yeah, Annika Sorenston was uh the international side captain. And of course, this this was a competition that pitted internationals, including Americans, against Asian players, correct?

Brittany Lincicome 9:47

Correct, yeah. So it was different than anything we have the these days. But um, I don't know why that event didn't make it because obviously the Asian players are phenomenal, and for us to come together with Annika and other, you know, other countries, um, I thought it was a really cool event, so I'm not sure why it didn't make it, but um it was it was a very fun event, I remember.

Mike Gonzalez 10:07

Uh Grace Park was the uh the captain of the uh of the winning Asian team that year, uh as you played in uh yeah. Uh well, you know, you you you think back now, I I just kind of dawned on me looking back at at Annika's record as a captain. Uh two-time, I think, two-time losing captain in that event. She won. And I know she lost as the Solheim Cup captain. Might have been here. I'm not sure it was in Sweden, it might have been here, but uh she's the better player. We'll have to ask her about that next time we're with her. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Let's go on to let's go on now to 2007. Uh Bruce, uh, another victory, uh kind of validating that match play win.

Bruce Devlin 10:54

We had the gin open at the uh Gin Reunion Resort in Florida by uh well, we mentioned her name before, Lorena O'Choa again.

Brittany Lincicome 11:05

Yeah, just down the road here in Orlando. So it was cool to have like friends and family come over and watch me. Um we didn't really have much in Florida prior to that, so it was cool to to have my friends and family come over and and watch what I was doing. So that was really neat.

Bruce Devlin 11:22

You got a little entertainment too that week, right? Remember going to the Brooks and Dunn concert?

Brittany Lincicome 11:28

Oh yeah. Man, I actually forgot about that. Um I did win a car that week. That was that was probably the island. And the trophy for that event was that Chahuli um crystal or blown glass, I guess. Oh my gosh. It is one of my favorite trophies.

Mike Gonzalez 11:46

Have you ever uh been to his museum or seen any of the exhibitions that go around the country?

Brittany Lincicome 11:51

No, and there's one just down the road in St. Pete, and I really should go do it because um they had blown glass uh in one of the ponds, one of the lakes at the uh the golf tournament, and I mean that stuff is just so beautiful.

Mike Gonzalez 12:03

Yeah. It is. I remember uh when I lived in Milwaukee, the the orchestra did a whole concert with Chihuahua pieces in the background and featured as part of the the musical numbers they did. It was uh uh beautiful. Well, I I I can only imagine then you maybe not remembering the concert if you got the car. That would be something that would be probably stuck in my mind, I think.

Brittany Lincicome 12:24

Yeah, it was a convertible. It was red convertible, maybe Chrysler. And yeah, that was really cool to be probably 20 years old at that point.

Mike Gonzalez 12:34

So did that really feel like validation to really uh uh validate that first win you had in match play, which was a different format?

Brittany Lincicome 12:40

Yeah, for sure. You know, um, you know, turning pro so young, you know, not knowing yet if I made the right decision, if I was gonna be able to keep my card, um, which I barely did my rookie year in 2005. Uh, and then to win 2006 was match play, so it wasn't a regular stroke play event. So I was like, okay, you know, again, maybe you got lucky. Like I said, Julie was tired, you know. And then to win again the next year, um, obviously it was very cool to be in my hometown in in Orlando and um having friends and family there, it was really cool.

Mike Gonzalez 13:11

Yeah, I bet. And then uh, of course, you get to compete in another Lexus Cup. Uh that was stateside, and then you got to compete in your first Solheim Cup.

Brittany Lincicome 13:21

Man, nothing uh is better. Like it's uh minus being out of the country and raining and cold and feeling like you're gonna throw up on the first hole, but other than that, it is the coolest thing ever.

Bruce Devlin 13:33

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 13:34

That's why I mean just just uh some of these names here. Uh non-playing captain Betsy King, non-playing assistant captain Beth Daniel. Uh, you had Creamer, Kerr, Prussell, Inkster, Hearst, Gulbus, Stanford, Steinhauer, among others.

Brittany Lincicome 13:54

Yeah. Luckily, I had a bunch of my buddies there that were that I grew up playing junior golf with. You know, Morgan and Paula and I have been friends since we were 12 or 13. So it was nice to have like familiar friends' faces uh over there with me, because it was obviously something crazy.

Mike Gonzalez 14:12

So did you throw up on the first two years too?

Brittany Lincicome 14:15

I didn't. I mean, I felt like I was pretty darn close, but um I didn't.

Mike Gonzalez 14:21

Yeah. But what an experience. And and it it just keeps building and building year after year, doesn't it?

Brittany Lincicome 14:27

Oh, for sure. It's it's literally, I mean, I can't even put it to words. It's just the coolest event, and if people listening have never been, you have to go. It is uh truly incredible. It's an awesome event.

Mike Gonzalez 14:40

Yeah, I mean, this was in Sweden, and uh uh we have to mention the US did win.

Brittany Lincicome 14:45

Yay!

Mike Gonzalez 14:46

Uh understandable that uh they had a Swede as a captain. That was Helen Alfredson on the other side, but uh Betsy King uh as as our captain prevailed. What's your favorite memory from that first Solheim Cup?

Brittany Lincicome 15:01

I think just being so young, being on a team, um, it's just so cool to be inside the ropes, to have a partner, to to be in the team room. Like, I mean, just everything, all the free stuff you get. Oh my gosh. Like every every day at Solheim, every night you come back and there's something new free in your room. It's like it's like Christmas for the whole week.

Mike Gonzalez 15:23

Yeah, yeah. Well, we've got a few more of them to talk about, but Bruce, uh Brittany goes from winning a tour match play event to winning a regular tour stroke play event. Well, what's missing?

Bruce Devlin 15:39

A major tell us about that, Bruce, in 2009. 2009? Craft Nabisco Championship, or as we all call it, the dinosaur. What a way, what a way to win your first major. Started off with a great 66 and then uh threw in a little 74, but uh came from two back after three rounds to win the tournament uh over Christy McPherson. Tell us about that. That had to be a big thrill.

Brittany Lincicome 16:14

Oh, for sure. Um, unfortunately, Christy McPherson was also in that group, and her and I were best buddies. So uh to play against your best friend in the final group of a major is not the most exciting, but um, it was cool for both of us. Obviously, you know, both of us were young at the same time and you know, trying to make it on the LPGA. So to be in the final group of a major together was really cool. But um coming from behind, you know, the the last hole, like I said earlier, you know, like I love par fives, I love being aggressive, I love going for them in two. Um unfortunately, though, this hole has is an island green, so there's a water all around it, but um had a perfect club, perfect number, um, was literally just trying to hit it in the middle of the green, like just trying to get it on the green, trying to two-putt, get into a playoff was all that was going through my mind. And um, you know, the man above obviously had different plans because that ball was inches from going over the green into the water to then rolling back to about five feet um and having an eagle putt to win my first major, which man, I can't even tell you the my heart was racing so fast.

Mike Gonzalez 17:21

Pretty cool to go from seven under to nine under on the final hole to win by one. And uh, you know, as you go through the as you go through the days, Brittany, uh you were the first round leader with that with that 66 uh uh by one over among others, Brittany Lang, Angela Stanford. You had Christie in there with a 68 after that first round, and then um the second round, uh well, okay, 74, but you're still only two back.

Brittany Lincicome 17:50

Yeah. Back off course is hard, and every year since from 2009 to till we played it um a couple years ago before they moved it, I swear it, like the rough is so thick. They always grew the rough really thick, and like every year we went back, the fairways were getting more and more narrow. Um, so if you missed the fairway at that course, you were done. You were gonna barely advance the ball, you weren't gonna be able to get it to the green. Um, so that was probably that day. I didn't drive it as well and uh got stuck in the rough a few times. But um, you know, luckily the golf course is hard for everybody, so 74 wasn't too bad. I obviously played great the day before, so it kind of equaled it out.

Mike Gonzalez 18:26

Yeah. Well, interesting symmetry as you compare your two wins. We'll get to your later one. Uh, but uh uh you shot 140 for the first two days in both wins, and then you shot the identical Saturday-Sunday scores in both wins.

Brittany Lincicome 18:39

I didn't even realize that. That's cute.

Mike Gonzalez 18:41

Yeah, so sort of sort of an interesting how you did nine under both both times.

Brittany Lincicome 18:45

And two eagles pardon me, and two eagles on the last toll.

Mike Gonzalez 18:50

That's crazy. There you go. So uh but you were so you were you were fourth place, uh two back after that 74. Uh Christina was tied with Christina Kim for uh for uh uh first at six under. And then uh that third round 70 still still kept you two back because uh uh Christy played well, Christy Kerr had a had a good third round, so they're they're first and second. You're you're two back going in. But you say you played with uh McPherson in the in the last round, huh?

Brittany Lincicome 19:23

Yeah, and again, we were buddies, and um you know it's tricky, you know, coming down the stretch against your friend. Obviously, we're both trying to win. It is what it is, but um, it was kind of cool to have her there by my side with me.

Mike Gonzalez 19:35

Yeah, I mean she got it to nine through fourteen and then doubled 15, I guess, right?

Brittany Lincicome 19:40

Yeah, I think uh Christy Kerr also maybe hit it out of bounds on uh the 15th hole or something. So yeah, it's um oh that I'm sorry, that's right.

Mike Gonzalez 19:49

That's that was Christy Kerr. That that's right. That's right.

Brittany Lincicome 19:51

Yeah, um, just unfortunate, you know, just uh one bad swing coming down the stretch and um one great swing by myself to set up the eagle.

Mike Gonzalez 20:01

So how did that feel? Major champion at such a young age.

Brittany Lincicome 20:06

Yeah, so to even make the putt before I made my caddy bring me my water so I could try to drink some water to slow down my heart rate because it was going a mile a minute. Um, and just there's so many fans. The grandstand kind of wraps around like the side of it and the back of it, and um, just so many people there. So just trying to slow my heart rate down to try to make a good stroke on this little putt. Um it was the coolest moment to win. I mean, to to win any tournament on the LPGA is a cool moment, but to win a major being so young, you know, it just kind of solidified, you know, my parents, you know, sacrificing everything, turning pro when I did, and um that was such a cool moment. Jumping in the pond huge highlight. Oh my gosh. Greatest tradition on the LPGA.

Mike Gonzalez 20:49

Yeah, so uh, and of course, uh Amy Alcott kind of got that started way back when it wasn't the first uh dinosaur, but she got that going back in the probably the later 70s, I would guess. And uh so was Poppy's pond a little bit more sanitary by the time you were able to jump in.

Brittany Lincicome 21:09

It was it was clean. Um, you know, I remember you past players talking about it, or even when girls go to Q school back in the day there, or when they didn't clean it out, it's not so pretty. But uh it was definitely clean when I jumped in. But what I wasn't expecting, you know, being in the desert, it's a hundred outside, it's really hot. The water was actually really cold, um, which was a little shocking to me. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 21:32

Yeah. So did you take anybody in the water with you?

Brittany Lincicome 21:35

Uh yeah, I took my caddy and my dad. So it's a pretty cool moment, pretty special.

Mike Gonzalez 21:40

Yeah, hell bad.

Brittany Lincicome 21:41

Unfortunately, my mom wasn't there, she was at home, so um, she didn't get to jump. But um, yeah, dad and caddy, it was a cool moment.

Mike Gonzalez 21:48

Oh, that's neat. That's neat. So so did life change for you much, uh, being a major champion winner in terms of you know, demands on your time or your schedule or what have you?

Brittany Lincicome 21:58

Good, good demands, you know. Um, you know, extra media here and there and uh got a few new sponsors, which was great. Um, but yeah, just overall just building my confidence of telling myself like I deserve to be out there and I'm a great player and um helped me, you know, grow my career from there for sure.

Mike Gonzalez 22:18

So you come out of that Kraft Nabisco win in 2009 course, that probably helped you get on your second Solheim Cup team. This one at Rich Harvest Farms, and and Bruce, I might have mentioned this to you before for a year or two. When I was working in Chicago, I was uh one of maybe 30 members at uh at uh Jerry Rich's place. Yeah. Uh Beth Daniel and Allison Nicholas were the captains. And uh what did you think of that venue first of all?

Brittany Lincicome 22:46

I loved it. I thought it was awesome. I love playing there. I thought uh Mr. Rich did a great job. Uh he was there every day. Such a wonderful gentleman, and I love playing there. I thought it was beautiful.

Mike Gonzalez 22:59

Did you like his car collection?

Brittany Lincicome 23:01

Oh my gosh. How incredible! Yes, I loved his car collection. It was man, I can't I can't even it's in it's I can't even put it into words.

Mike Gonzalez 23:10

Yeah. Interesting golf course, Bruce, because this is something that Jerry Rich pretty much designed himself after I think he couldn't uh get in as a member at Augusta National, so he wanted to show them. And he built a built a beautiful golf course, but there there's a T on the on the uh par four T, I believe, on the back side that's uh was an artificial T. Did it did you play that?

Brittany Lincicome 23:30

Um I don't think we played it for the tournament, but I know exactly what you're talking about, yes.

Mike Gonzalez 23:35

Yeah, yeah. Well anyway, yeah. But that was a that was a that was a fun as a fan, that was a fun Solheim Cup to watch.

Brittany Lincicome 23:44

Awesome. Yeah. Uh it's always great when the the holes are kind of all together and they kind of go back and forth and it's really loud in in certain sections, and uh that definitely makes it more fun for the fans and for us players, because then we know exactly what each group is doing. You can listen for the roars and uh you know how we're doing.

Bruce Devlin 24:02

Well then in 2010, no victories on the tour, but uh uh a second and six top ten. So you were you were still playing pretty good, even though you didn't win a golf tournament. Have a lot of chances.

Brittany Lincicome 24:19

Yes, I probably around this time I'm trying to be more consistent. You know, I always wanted to be like Lorena Ocho or Annika. They were always in the top ten every week, um, always knocking down the door, which I have no idea like how they were always so consistent. And I just every year I was trying to become more consistent, you know, s instead of just you know playing well and then taking a few off and then playing well, taking it, you know. Um, it's hard to do. I don't still don't think I ever figured it out really, but that was a good year.

Mike Gonzalez 24:49

Yeah, yeah. So Bruce, uh another multi-year win in 2011.

Bruce Devlin 24:55

Shopright L PGA classic at uh at the uh Dulcie Sea View Resort uh by winning one over Christy Kerr and GA Shin. Did I pronounce that correctly, G.A. Shin?

Brittany Lincicome 25:11

You did. Nailed it.

Bruce Devlin 25:13

What do you remember about that win?

Brittany Lincicome 25:16

Um I think I finished the group before uh Christy, so I had to wait for her to finish the last toll, which was a par five, um, which was kind of nail biting. You know, obviously anything can happen on a par five. So um, did she make do you have it there? Did she make a par? I know I won by one and I hit the most amazing shot. I went for it in two. I thought my ball was just gonna be in the bunker, no big deal. And I get up there and it is in the tallest fescue grass you have ever seen. It is the worst lie. I felt like I was at the British Open. It was the worst lie you've ever seen in your life. Um, so I get up there and I'm like, oh my gosh, like how is this possible? How did my ball get here? What did I do to deserve this? Um, and then, you know, kind of obviously collected my thoughts, got myself together, and hit this most amazing flop shot to maybe seven, eight feet, give or take, and then made birdie. So um again, maybe it was just my time to hit that that amazing shot again. Um, I've done that a few times in my career, pulled off this amazing shot on the last hole. Um, yeah, to to win by one over Kerr, which was really cool.

Mike Gonzalez 26:21

Yeah, and then uh I think later that year you you played and won in the CN Canadian Women's Open at Hillsdale Golf and Country Club, and this time it was by one over Stacy Lewis and Michelle Wee, a couple of big time players.

Brittany Lincicome 26:36

Yeah, Stacy and I uh we'll get into another one later where we had another duel. But um, so Canada, um, you know, being a Florida girl, I've dealt with a lot of hurricanes, obviously been very lucky over the years, no big deal. We go to Canada and we played through a hurricane, like the 18th hole, like the sky boxes were blowing away. Like it was, I can't even describe how bad this weather was. Um, I hit my ball actually into um like the tents. You know how like if you're going for a par five and two, you're always like, oh, hit it in the grandstand because you get a free drop, no big deal. So I I didn't mean to hit it in the tents, but that's where the ball ended. I just got a free drop, obviously, and I don't remember what happened after that. But um, I just remember the weather being so bad and thinking, I man, I went all the way to Canada to play golf in a hurricane.

Mike Gonzalez 27:25

Yeah, yeah. So how much of that bad weather did you actually have to play in?

Brittany Lincicome 27:29

I think it was just a couple holes. So it wasn't too bad, but it was more the wind that um that was whipping the ball around like crazy. It was it was awful.

Mike Gonzalez 27:40

Well, let's uh let's uh talk then about uh at the end of that year playing in Solheim Cup number three. So this would have been going back across the pond. You're now going to Colleen Castle, and Rosie Jones is your captain. She she and uh I guess uh probably Jane Blaylock are two of the winningest LPG players to never to have won a major.

Brittany Lincicome 28:05

Well, that's crazy. Uh Rosie is is wonderful, she is the sweetest thing, and um I feel like Ireland was the first time I had ever um did the tourist thing. So we took the double decker bus. Uh I went to the Guinness factory, I poured my own Guinness. I didn't like it. Sorry. Um, but I did try it. I I poured it. Um it was so cool. It was the first, like I said, first time that I ever like kind of did something because you we go to I've been to so many different countries, so many different places, but most times you see the hotel and the golf course, golf course hotel, and um you don't get to do too much. But that week, you know, we allowed time to to do a little extra and um it was super fun.

Mike Gonzalez 28:50

Yeah. I mean, after that experience then, did you change kind of your uh MO in terms of trying to smell the roses?

Brittany Lincicome 28:57

Uh yeah, uh you know, I feel like I got better, um, especially places that had like famous attractions to go, you know, try to be better at getting out, because even to this day I still take a two-hour nap every day of my life. Um so I normally is like, ooh, do I want to go see the world or do I want to go take my nap? So um yeah, try to try to get out of that.

Mike Gonzalez 29:21

Yeah. So Bruce typically is gonna ask you, you know, what happened between the wins in 2011, 2014. But you played in two Solheim Cups, so you must have been playing okay, just not getting across the finish line, huh?

Brittany Lincicome 29:35

Yeah. Um, that probably was one of those years when I was trying to learn how to hit a cut. So one of those was just the silly year. Um, not sure what happened the next year, but again, just trying to figure out how to be more consistent, how to be more like Lorraine Ocho or Annika Sornstam, and just stop having the ups and downs. You know, you have one good week and then have a bunch of bad weeks, and then one good week, and then but obviously, like you said, playing well enough to get enough points to be on another Solheim, which is the goal every two years. Um but yeah, it's just it's golf is such a crazy game.

Mike Gonzalez 30:09

It's hard. It's hard to win out there. We've talked uh with many a guest about how difficult it is. Of course, uh you play then in your fourth Solheim in 2013. This is back home again in Colorado, and Meg is your captain, Meg Mallon, who had to be a blast to play for as well.

Brittany Lincicome 30:24

Yeah, yeah, she is just the most upbeat positive person you're ever gonna meet. Um, it was such a treat, such a pleasure to play for her. I mean, all the captains I got to play for are obviously incredible, but uh Meg is she gives the best hugs of any person I know.

Bruce Devlin 30:40

Meg Mallon gives the best hugs.

Brittany Lincicome 30:42

If you ever go to give her a hug, it is a bear hug. It is not a oh, like pat on the back. Like it is a full bear hug and it's amazing.

Mike Gonzalez 30:49

Yeah, big Irish family, fun-loving. You know, I just can imagine what it would have been like growing up in the Mallon household.

Brittany Lincicome 30:57

Yeah, I mean, I bet it was a lot of good hugs, but um, just a lot of fun for sure. She's such a wonderful lady.

Mike Gonzalez 31:05

So you almost won a third major. Tell us a little bit about the your 2014 experience at the LPGA Championship, where uh uh you had a close call, just didn't quite get it done.

Brittany Lincicome 31:18

Yeah, um, was that that was against NB Park? Did we go in a playoff, or was that just coming down the stretch at the end?

Mike Gonzalez 31:24

No, that was playoff. It was just a blur. It's just a blur, isn't it?

Brittany Lincicome 31:29

No.

Mike Gonzalez 31:30

I didn't win. I don't remember the details.

Brittany Lincicome 31:32

It's hard to remember. No, I kind of remember. I remember I thought it we went to a playoff and I had a chip shot. It was really bad. It wasn't my best, and NB and her is just phenomenal all the time, always on her A game, and uh just didn't quite finish it. But it was nice to be back in contention again. I remember feeling super nervous. I remember doing interviews after, just being excited to be back in contention again, to feel the blood pumping through your veins, to be in contention on a Sunday again, um, because it had been so long since the last time. So it was cool to feel those emotions again, and um, it was great.

Mike Gonzalez 32:09

Well, you you can relate to this because I've heard you mention it a couple times, but we had Hale Irwin on the program a couple weeks ago for the second time, and we're still not done with him for such a remarkable career. And he remembers a win where he gets over a putt, short putt, and his heart starts pounding and pounding, and it never happened to him before. And he had to literally step away, get a drink of water, kind of calm himself, and he gets back over the ball, and here it comes again. He finally said, You know what? You've done it a million times, you just gotta trust it.

Brittany Lincicome 32:42

Yeah, yeah. It's crazy how those creep in, and um yeah, you you you know, if you haven't been there in a while and the nerves kind of creep back in and it's your hands start shaking, and it's like, oh my gosh, like again, we've done this a million times. I've been playing golf since I was nine. It's not a big deal. You can do this. And funny how you have to like kind of talk to yourself while you're trying to hit a golf ball all at the same time.

Mike Gonzalez 33:05

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Outro Music 33:26

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway, and it started to slice just smitch off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Yes, it went straight down the middle, quite away.