Big year reaps shot at the really big bucks
By BOB HARIG
Published November 16, 2006
The immediate goal is to get to Sunday. If Brittany Lincicome can do that, she will have a chance to play for $1-million in the LPGA Tour's season-ending ADT Championship.
But even if she fails to advance to the final round, or does not make the 36-hole cut, Lincicome will not let it get her down. Just getting to this event is big stuff for her, the result of winning her first LPGA Tour event in July.
"I never thought I'd get a win this early," said Lincicome, 21, who will complete her second season on the tour. "The memories and getting there ... the whole year has been a great experience. Everybody should do it."
Not everybody can, however.
Lincicome, who was home-schooled by her parents in Seminole and skipped college to turn pro at 19, won the HSBC Women's Match Play Championship, beating Michelle Wie and Lorena Ochoa, then LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster in the 18-hole final.
The victory was worth $500,000 and a spot in this week's ADT, a 32-player event that has a unique format, with $1-million going to the winner.
Lincicome had five top-10 finishes, including a tie for seventh at the U.S. Women's Open, and has earned $845,013 to rank 13th on the money list.
"To have this big of a year when most people have a sophomore slump I think really bodes well for her," said Matt Mitchell, Lincicome's coach. "She is not satisfied because she won the Match Play. She wants to win more for sure. She's hungry, and that's great to see. I think it would be easy for anybody who's made close to $1-million who comes from middle America to be satisfied. But now she knows she can win, and that's what you want her to think."
Lincicome benefited from the big purse at the Match Play - only the U.S. Women's Open paid its winner more - and can do so again in West Palm Beach.
The ADT Championship, which for the past 10 years was for the top 30 money winners, introduced a new formula, with players qualifying through various yearlong criteria. And instead of a 72-hole stroke-play event, it is designed to create a good bit of excitement Sunday.
The field will be cut to 16 after the second round and to eight after the third round. Those eight will start over Sunday, with the low scorer winning $1-million. The runnerup gets $100,000 and third place $20,500.
"The winner takes it all," said two-time defending champion Annika Sorenstam, who won $215,000 at Trump International last year. "It makes for a big change. Anything can really happen. It is obviously going to be very exciting for everyone."
Although she has a more than $400,000 edge over Karrie Webb, leading money winner Ochoa can still be overtaken. A victory by Sorenstam or Cristie Kerr would give either the title.
Lincicome's goals are more modest. She is hoping to finish among the top 10, but that would require at least second-place money.
Otherwise, she has her sights set on the offseason and improving.
"I got to play with Annika this year, and I really watched her," Lincicome said. "If a pin was tucked, she would go for the middle of the green, not trying to birdie those holes. You think that the best player in the world would fire at all the pins. But she's not comfortable with that. And her fitness is amazing. She's as fit as anyone you'll ever meet. Just to sit there and to talk to her, she is very cool."
Lincicome recently accompanied Sorenstam on a private jet to a California outing, one of the perks of her victory. Such outings can help pay a lot of bills, and they have become more prevalent since she signed with an agent, Sterling Sports Management, last summer.
She is also working on finding a full-time caddie for next year. This week, she is using Greg Johnston, formerly the caddie for Inkster and Wie.
Then she will go back to work.
"The one stat that jumps out is she is (35th) in birdies; that's way too far down for where she is on the money list," Mitchell said. "She needs more birdie putts, less chance at bogeys.
"But she is doing so many good things. She is getting fit. Whenever she is in town she is working with a trainer virtually every day of the week. Her course management, preparation ... in all of it, she has become more professional in her approach."
Bob Harig can be reached at (727) 893-8806 or harig@sptimes.com.