To say Seminole's Brittany Lincicome had a good February is an understatement. This is what the 18-year-old junior All-American accomplished:
She entered three professional Next Generation tournaments and won them all.
She posted the low score for the single amateur qualifying spot in the Futures Tour opener in Lakeland, which starts March 12.
Concurrently, she birdied the 18th hole in her last three tournaments to win by a single stroke.
She received a sponsor's exemption for the Future Tour's second match of the season, the Tampa Bay's Next Generation Classic at East Lake Woodlands.
Lincicome's victory in last week's Next Generation event at East Lake Woodlands may have been her finest achievement.
After a heavy rain Tuesday left the course almost unplayable, Lincicome proceeded to shoot a 5-under 67 to take a commanding lead over her closest rival among a field of 25 professionals.
But a pulled muscle in her shoulder, which ached up to her neck, almost forced her to skip the second round. Family friend and chiropractic physician Martin Marcus made a house call. His treatment helped enable her to tee off Thursday.
Lincicome struggled through the final round with a 78 but won by a stroke over Kris Tamulis of Naples.
"It hurt out there," Lincicome said. "I couldn't turn my head all the way to the right when I swung. I just tried to do the best I could under the circumstances."
Again, the Lincicomes passed up the $900 first-place purse, as the family did the other two times she won on the development tour circuit when winning meant $800.
Last weekend she put away her clubs, resting her injury, and started thinking about the Future Tour's opening match among a cast of 168 aspiring professional women from four continents.
"I'm just hoping to make the 36-hole cut," Lincicome said. "I'll probably have to shoot under par to do that. And if I do, I'll just go on from there."
Lincicome said she is encouraged by the friendly attention of Brooksville's Kelly Lagedrost.
She's an exempt player on the Futures Tour who plans to ask tournament officials to place them in the same foursome in the Lakeland Golf Classic. She finished third in last week's Next Generation match.
Lagedrost was an NCAA All-American at USF in 1999. She missed an exemption on the LPGA Tour by two strokes in last year's Q-School. She hones her skills on the Next Generation Tour. Last season, she won the tour's money title.
COLLEGE: Florida senior Amanda Dick (Countryside High) finished first for the Gators in last week's Lake Puerto Rico Classic. Top-ranked Duke won.
Dick carded 76-74-77-227 in her first tournament of the season due to a broken ankle suffered in June.
"I wasn't necessarily pleased with the scores I shot in Puerto Rico," Dick said. "There were some things I could have done better. As a whole, I was playing pretty well. I just have to get back into learning how to score. It may take a couple of tournaments to get back to scoring well after my surgery."
Dick said her goals for this year are to have a few top-10 finishes and even win an event.
"Hopefully, I would like to have a good final semester and get an SEC (conference) win and a team national championship," she said.
CLUB CHAMPIONS: Brittany Jones, an East Lake High senior, had a 2-under 70 en route to a 54-hole 224, winning the women's title at East Lake Woodlands. She finished 26 strokes ahead of runner-up Jan Redmond to become the club's youngest female winner.
Jones has been named to the Times Pinellas first team each of the past three years. She plans to take her 4.50 weighted grade-pointed average to Youngstown State University in Ohio next fall. In the meantime, she plans to play in area Future Collegiate tournaments, including this weekend at Airco Golf Club.
Former Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers pitcher John Cerutti carved out a 74-79-73-226, winning the men's title at East Lake Woodlands. John Stevens of Berkeley Prep finished second by a stroke.
Cerutti, the Blue Jays television color commentator, accomplished a rare feat last fall. At his home course, he had two holes-in-one within a two-week period.
JUNIORS: Dunedin's Lara Smilnak finished second in a Future Collegians match at Plantation Inn in Crystal River last week. Her 76-75 left her four strokes off the pace set by Liebelei Lawrence.
Smilnak, a Clearwater Catholic senior, also was second (79) in a recent Greater Tampa Junior match at Temple Terrace. Dolores White of Lakeland won with a 77, and Seminole's Rachel Edwards took third.
