Golf

Talk of the town

Seminole's Brittany Lincicome revels in long-awaited glory of her first LPGA win.

By ANDREA CHANG
Published July 11, 2006

	[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	Brittany Lincicome, at her parents' house in Seminole on Monday, talks with one of many well-wishers after her first LPGA victory.

SEMINOLE - Just hours before Brittany Lincicome teed off Sunday in the finals of the Women's World Match Play Championship, a well-wisher called and left a voice message.

It was Derek Jeter. That Derek Jeter, star shortstop with the New York Yankees. Calling in the middle of the night to wish her luck.

"It's just little me, coming from Seminole, Florida," Lincicome said. "So having someone like him call me was pretty awesome."

Later that day, the ponytailed Florida native, 20, took the golf world by storm. She defeated Hall of Famer Juli Inkster to win the championship, collected $500,000 and catapulted herself into the upper echelon of women's golf.

"It was huge," she said. "I can't believe I actually did it."

Now everybody wants to talk to Brittany, once overlooked by the media in favor of higher-profile young stars like Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel. Now television and newspaper reporters from around the world - including ABC, Fox and Japanese TV - want to learn more about the smiley Floridian who outgunned all the young guns on the LPGA Tour.

"People are like, 'You're a celebrity, too,' but I don't think like that," Lincicome said Monday after arriving home from the New Jersey event.

The youngest of three siblings, Lincicome grew up in a golfing family, with her father and both older brothers playing the sport. She joined them at age 10 and two years later was regularly beating her brothers, who are 13 and 15 years her senior.

"They were excited, but they were still mad," she said.

She became a prolific winner in junior events, though she never received as much attention as other girls her age.

"It's sad because I grew up playing with them and they're getting more attention than me," she said, "but it's okay because I just won."

In 2001 the family moved from Pinellas Park to Seminole so Brittany could play for Seminole High. But her childhood was hardly driven by golf.

Her parents, Tom and Angie, who run a day care center in Pinellas Park, decided early on not to raise their daughter to be a professional golf player but instead to aim for a college sports scholarship.

"We were not willing to sacrifice her," Angie, 53, said.

Two summers ago, after being offered scholarships from 50 universities and colleges, Lincicome told her parents she wanted to turn pro.

"We didn't care," Angie said. "It was her dream and we had to let her chase her dream."

Lincicome remains modest. Unlike golfers who travel with an entourage of coaches, agents and trainers, Lincicome, who was home-schooled starting in the sixth grade, golfs with just one instructor.

"We're not that kind of people," Angie said. "Brit's really low maintenance, so less is best."

And rather than paying for a highprofile caddie, Tom Lincicome, 55, carries his daughter's clubs.

"It's good when I'm playing good. It's not when I'm playing bad," she said.

Lincicome's natural talent has won her a number of admirers.

"She deserves it more than anything," said Rachel Edwards, 17, who golfed with Lincicome at Seminole High. "She's worked hard. She inspires all the rest of us - the ones that are still trying to do the same thing as she is."

Matt Mitchell, 48, Lincicome's instructor, said: "She's an incredible athlete. She's a high-speed, highpower athlete."

Mitchell, who began working with Lincicome almost five years ago, wasn't surprised by her victory.

"She's starting to see the fruits of her labor, that's for sure," he said. "She's just got a lot of talent and she's putting the work in. It doesn't come for free."

During the offseason, she lives at home with her parents. She enjoys comedies - especially Will Ferrell movies - Texas Hold 'Em and fishing with her brothers.

"If I don't catch anything, I get so upset," she said. "Even fishing we always try to catch more fish than the other person."

Friends and family described Lincicome as easygoing, laid-back and always smiling.

"I don't see her as a celebrity," said Nick Stanley, 19, her boyfriend of 2¹/₂ years.

When Lincicome is home, the two go out for meals and spend time with each other. Their dates have included trips to the miniature golf course where, according to Stanley, his girlfriend is ironically weak.

"I think she reads too much into it," he said.

Lincicome has earned $764,806 this year, sixth on the LPGA Tour money list. Her first big splurge was on a black Lincoln Mark LT truck. Last week, she picked up three Louis Vuitton items for $3,300.

"But this is a child who shops at the dollar store," Angie said.

Even as she has expanded her circle of friends to include high-profile names such as baseball stars Johnny Damon and Tim Wakefield, whom she met playing in their pro-am tournaments, not a lot has changed.

Except now, Angie said, "They want her autograph."

[Last modified July 11, 2006, 06:03:10]