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SOLHEIM CUP

August 17, 2017

Des Moines, Iowa, USA

THE MODERATOR: I'm joined now by Brittany Lang and Brittany Lincicome. Brittany Lang playing in her fifth Solheim Cup, with a record of 5-6-3. And Brittany Lincicome playing in her sixth Solheim Cup with a record of 5-11-2. We'll start here with Brittany Lang. We saw a big crowd pickup today, with the gala last night and the opening ceremonies tonight. How is it starting to feel out there at Des Moines Golf & Country Club?

BRITTANY LANG: Today it felt like the Solheim Cup with a ton of people on the first tee, starting to get a little butterflies and get nervous. But it's cool to have all that local support, all the U.S. support.

We had all of our families inside the ropes with us. So it was a really great day. It was nice to see everybody out there.

THE MODERATOR: It was nice to see everyone dressed up at the party last night, and saw you both taking pictures with your husbands. Both of you can answer this question. What does it mean to have that sort of family support as you go into a week like this.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I'll answer. I think it's awesome. It's a very special week. It's obviously a very stressful week and a very long week. But it's nice to have the comfort of your family there, your husband's there. Even extended family, brother and wife are coming into his town this week. I think he's only seen me play twice.

So it's nice to have a little extra support. Obviously we're going to have a lot of support from being on the home soil, but it's definitely nice to have the family support as well.

THE MODERATOR: Now that we're getting closer, it's starting to get more real. Do you guys have nerves starting to set in, or how are you feeling?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, totally went on the first tee today and felt like I was going to cry. My caddie is, like, what is wrong with you? I was like, I don't know -- something about representing your country, wearing the red, white and blue. And, like, I was getting tears in my eyes, everyone was cheering so hard. Obviously it just really means a lot.

BRITTANY LANG: For sure. Like I said, being on that tee today, this morning, I got a little bit nervous. So it was good practice, good preparation.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Brittany Lincicome, the fact that Lexi is apparently better and able to play, how much does that mean for the team's outlook?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Well, I have chronic dry eye, so I was going to start a whole other rumor that I was not feeling well, just to get it off of her. But everybody gets sick. We've played sick a bunch on tour before. She's such a strong competitor that a little cold of some sort is not going to keep her down.

And obviously she's got a lot of rest the last couple of days. We have an early night tonight, thank goodness, so we can get a lot of good sleep before tomorrow. And obviously once tomorrow starts, it could be 36-36-18. So it's going to be a lot of golf.

But it's nice to know that she's getting healthy and almost through her Z-Pak, like she just said, and almost 100 percent again. But even if she's not, she's sponsored by Red Bull. I think she should just have a Red Bull and she'll be good. She's a great competitor and it's nice to have her healthy.

Q. You guys talked about your nerves. Your nerves are very apparent now; you talked about them, but your rookies yesterday did not seem to be shining through at all. Does that worry you guys at all or is that just because who they are?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's because they're 12. I didn't remember if I had any nerves when I was that age. But I said it a couple of days ago, our rookies, they're not really rookies. I mean they've played in Junior Solheim Cups.

BRITTANY LANG: They've won professional golf tournaments.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Before they even turned pro I feel like they've played in more big tournaments than I ever got to play in.

So, I feel like our junior programs are getting so much better and so many big events. The AJGA is obviously fantastic, and all those big events. When they come out here it's second nature. Like it's not even a big deal anymore.

BRITTANY LANG: But anybody who tells you they're not nervous, they're lying to you very badly.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: This is my 13th year on tour and my sixth Solheim. That tee shot tomorrow, hopefully somebody else is hitting it.

BRITTANY LANG: You are nervous, but you've got to get back to the task at hand. But every single person out there will be nervous.

Q. What do you expect tomorrow morning when your name is called and you walk through that tunnel?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Man, I'm already getting goosebumps. There's really no feeling like it. We play an individual sport all year long, then you come together, now you're representing 11 other girls, your captains. And then you're wearing these red, white and blue colors. So obviously the whole world is watching you and doesn't want you to mess up.

It just adds so much more pressure, but obviously something that we're up to the challenge for and we live for this. Like this is our Super Bowl. This is our biggest week every two years.

It's a feeling that I wish I could let other people feel just one time, because it's really that amazing.

Q. The last couple of days, within your pods, you have all been very loose. You've been joking with each other, kind of having a good time out there. Is it better to know that you're sort of a team within a team? And how has that worked, not just in this week, but over in Germany as well?
BRITTANY LANG: It's been great. It's been nice to have your little group that you know you could potentially play with. And all the personalities fit and click together. So it's been really enjoyable.

And then you kind of know who you're playing with. You kind of know who you could play with and, yeah, it's been easy because the personalities click, so it's been very easy.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Agreed. It's just nice to -- there's obviously 12 of us, so it's not like there's a ton of us. We're all going to get to know each other more and become one. That's Juli's big thing is coming together as a team and not playing individual like we do all year. So I think we're doing a pretty good job of that. We have a ping-pong tournament coming up.

Q. What is the strategy on the first hole, the drivable par-4?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Good one.

Q. What will you do?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I feel that's a game time decision. I've hit a 4-iron and I've hit a driver. It's literally --

Q. Is it easier when the nerves are cranking to wail on the driver?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's the next problem. I don't need to hit it that hard. I need to hit it not super hard, just like a little one. Which I don't know how to do, by the way.

But if you have a partner, obviously you could let them get it in the fairway first and then try to go for it. Or we could all birdie that hole from inside 100 yards. So it's kind of a Catch-22, to be honest. It's kind of a hard green to hold.

BRITTANY LANG: It depends on the wind. It's definitely a tricky green. But if it's downwind, driver's actually a little bit too much, definitely for her. She could hit 3-wood on to the green.

But, yeah, you want to get it up there. I hit a 4-hybrid, but like she said, in best ball, she could hit 3-wood or driver on the green; I could hit a 4-hybrid or something like that.

Q. Brittany Lincicome, your first Solheim Cup, what were the nerves like on the first tee? What's your biggest worst nerves experience of the Solheim?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Mine was over in Sweden. I wasn't even on home soil, so nobody was rooting for us then. And it was freezing cold. It was raining, it was just like playing in the British, which I had never done.

So it was totally different than our rookies coming this year playing on home soil. But actually Sherri Steinhauer told me I might get sick, and it was okay. You just get sick, you keep going; it's not a big deal.

Q. Did you?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, no, luckily. But, man, like I said earlier, I've been on TOUR for 13 years, and even the first tee shot in Toledo, Ohio, makes me nervous. So I think it's just me and I'm just weird.

And Juli Inkster told me when I was close to a rookie, if you don't have nerves you're not human, or it means that you just don't care. So, I still have that in me, so I feel like I still need to play a couple more years, I guess.

Q. Everybody's been talking about the first tee and what that experience is going to be like. We heard music out there to start the week, and obviously that's when the fans are going to be the loudest. But from both of your experiences, is there any other point in the three days that you get a rush of motion, anything that happens within the crowd, any specific cheers or chants you remember that really kind of brought back maybe a little bit of those tears?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Do we get to pick a walk-out song, because that would be amazing?

BRITTANY LANG: That would be cool.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: The first tee, when you're walking through the tunnel to get to the first tee, there's nothing like that. And then hearing all the fans with the face paint and everything chanting and coming up with their little songs, that's pretty incredible.

When the junior girls are doing their cheers and stuff, that's, again, something that hits at home. And there's really just nothing like it.

But when you're playing, too, and you hear roars obviously being on home soil, that's good. We want the louder it is the better we're playing, we're going to assume.

Q. We're expecting record crowds possibly this weekend. What's that mean to you guys to see that and the progress we're seeing in women's golf?
BRITTANY LANG: It's been great. Both the captains touched on that last night. It's great for women's golf. It's great for the U.S. team to get a lot of local support. I'm really excited about it.

My first Solheim was in Chicago and they had some pretty big crowds there. These are the biggest crowds that you experience in women's golf. Nothing compares to it because there's so few groups out there.

But it's fantastic, like you said, for women's golf. And just for all the girls to play in front of it and get the respect they deserve.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Agreed.

Q. You mentioned the roar of the crowds. How in tune to that are you during Solheim weekend? How much do you look at the leaderboard? How much do you kind of see how everyone else is doing?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I try not to look at the leaderboard ever. My eyes try to wander but we try to keep them focused. It will be hard this week because obviously with the crowd, if it's a big roar, obviously we're doing well, which will pump us up to make us want to keep going with our match as well.

So it's going to be harder to not know where you stand, I guess, in the event. But, yeah, I don't think either one of us look at the leaderboard, or we try not to look at the leaderboard. And then we'll just kind of hear the reaction of the crowd and then kind of judge that off of how we're doing, I guess.

Q. On that opening tee shot, do you want silence while you're hitting, or do you expect noise right through the whole swing?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Lexi did that, remember? She had the crowd chant the whole time, like, when she was teeing off.

BRITTANY LANG: That's pretty cool.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Really cool. I still prefer it to be silent because there's so much adrenalin already going through your body that to have like them chanting, I feel I would swing a thousand times harder than I already swing, which is really fast then. So probably quieter.

BRITTANY LANG: Probably quiet. But we're both pretty easy going, whatever.

THE MODERATOR: What does it mean to have these girls as the next generation and to see them out supporting you guys? And I know several of you were able to go out over the past couple of days and watch them play as well.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: We only got to go out for, like, an hour and a half the other day, but hopefully I'll be retired before half these girls turn pro and start kicking my butt.

But, yeah, for them to get the win, obviously inspires us to want to go out and do our part and get a win as well, just so we can keep up with them. But, way to go, ladies. We know how hard it is, and that's pretty amazing that you all came together as a team and you did it. So, good job.

BRITTANY LANG: We were these girls in Minneapolis, for the Interlaken, we were those girls. And you don't forget about how people treat you that were on the team. So you always try to be nice and be a role model, because you know we were those girls not too long ago to learn and to grow the U.S. team.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: It was actually a long time ago.

BRITTANY LANG: Don't tell those girls that. Wendy was there. (Laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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