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SOLHEIM CUP

August 19, 2017

Des Moines, Iowa, USA

THE MODERATOR: What a match, a combined 12-under. Your opponents were 10-under. And you went to the 18th hole. Have either of you have been a part of a match quite like that?

BRITTANY LANG: Not that I can remember. I know I've played some with some good golf. But I do not think I've played with that many birdies. Brit, coming out of the gates, it was amazing to sit there and cheer and watch her. It was cool.

It was fun. Mel and Carlota, I know they'd like to get the point, but at the end of the day that was like unbelievable golf.

THE MODERATOR: Of course six straight birdies by Brittany Lincicome, and then, Lang, you came out with an eagle to hole out from the rough. Just take me through that shot and what you were thinking when it went in. It was a great reaction, too.

BRITTANY LANG: You know, every time I start a Solheim Cup, I always hope I have a really, like, memorable moment, like a hole-out or a chip-in or a long putt because it's the coolest -- it's the coolest atmosphere we ever experience, the most fun days you'll ever have.

And, yeah, I wasn't hitting it that great. But it was like a lob wedge and I was asking Luke, is that enough to carry? And he's, like, yeah, looks good. It was right at it, one-hopped in, and I just went nuts. And there's my cool moment I want to remember.

THE MODERATOR: Brittany Lincicome, I was asking you as you walked in if you had ever birdied six straight holes that you can remember. Can you remember that ever in your career?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I don't. You know, I feel like maybe four or five, but never six. Like six is a whole different category. It's really funny, we have an on-running joke with my husband that if I make three birdies in a row he has to send a picture with the shirt off, which, being married to him you'd think I would get that all the time. But it's kind of like an an incentive to keep birdying and making birdies. So, I'm not sure what six gets us. (Laughter). Is my face red? I'm wondering if that question will be in the paper later.

Q. It's one thing for one player to get hot. Today you had eight players that got so hot that -- we just ran the numbers. Europe had 35 birdies and an eagle and got trounced. How is this possible?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's a great question. I was telling her when we got done today, I had the six birdies in a row and I finally looked over at the leaderboard, and I think we were only two up at that point. And I kind of felt deflated.

I felt like we were doing so well to only have been two up. It was really strange feeling. Then she holed out and we kind of went on. But.

Both sides are playing phenomenal golf. It's not like one person hasn't carried their weight and done their part this week. Everyone is playing fantastic. And it's the Solheim. Especially Europe. Those girls, they bring their stuff every two years. It's never -- you guys always say it on paper that we're going to kill them -- but it's still a hard match every two years.

BRITTANY LANG: Yeah, no, I think this year's different. Juli -- I think we're focusing a lot on fun. Brittany, it's easy with Brittany. We're really good friends and our games are very similar. We think similarly. It's just easy.

And so I think Juli has made some really nice pairings. And just really focused on fun and aggressiveness this time. And it's felt very loose and relaxed. And probably the most fun being on the golf course ever for me yesterday. And today almost right up there with it.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: We did tell Juli to put us together, and nobody believes that the killer Bs are going to play amazing --

THE MODERATOR: You guys are now 4-0 in four-ball.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I know. It's incredible.

Q. Could you just run down the length of those six putts?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, I couldn't. I can't even --

BRITTANY LANG: I'll do it for her. So the first hole is about a left -- it was like a left-half eight-footer. The second hole was about an 18-footer, left to right. Next hole was about ten feet, pretty straight. The next hole, that was just the 2-putt birdie on that one. That was like a four-footer. The next hole was a four-footer as well. And then the next one, that was a great putt, right on the spine. That was like probably a 12- to 15-footer.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: That was a great putt.

Q. Brittany Lang, how long was your wedge shot that you holed?
BRITTANY LANG: That was 86 yards.

Q. Brittany Lincicome, what is it about Brittany Lang that brings out the best in you?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I'm drinking vodka-cranberry and she's drinking Pedialyte. We balance each other, if you can tell. She's hydrating and I'm doing the opposite. I think we just have a good time out there.

Neither one of us is technical. So we're just feel players; we go out there, we feel our way around the course. She hits a cut; I cut a draw. But we go out there, I'm just trying to pump us both up, saying two balls in play, two balls on the green. Anytime you have two shots in play, two partners in play, your chances are obviously a lot better.

So just all day, just especially when the crowds kind of got loud, okay, deep breath, calm down. Let's take as much time as we need to kind of relax a little bit. And we just feed off of each other's energy so well.

And we finish each other's sentences and we ham-and-egg it really well. She said I carried her all day, but I couldn't have done it without the shot she hit on 18. That was amazing.

Q. If there's more of an emphasis on fun this year, what was it two years ago?
BRITTANY LANG: Well, I think the pod system was kind of new and we were kind of feeling that out a little bit. But usually, I don't know, I don't think the Solheim you're usually like, let's make sure we have fun. You're, like, let's make sure we win.

So this year Juli just wanted us to be a little bit more relaxed. She said something really cool. She said, I don't need you to play any better than you do all year in tournaments.

So that really hit home. It's like you don't. You don't really need to play any better. The minute you get out there, the juices are flowing and you start playing some amazing golf because you want to do it.

But, yeah, I think, I just think that should answer your question that it's not usually about fun, it's about keeping the cup and winning. But since we've started to have fun we've played some really good golf.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: The crowd really helps as well, just feeding off their energy. Even if we're not doing lick, we made the six birdies in a row, but then we kind of fell asleep fell asleep for a few holes. And just them, their energy, it just makes you want to do better and play better.

Q. To that end, you guys were the cause of a lot of roars early on, certainly, first match out in the afternoon and all that. But the U.S., the four of you groups were a collective 39-under par today out there. Have you guys ever heard such a sustained level of noise out there on the golf course before? Describe as a player what it was like, even in the middle of your round when you guys cooled off, by your standards, you were still hearing the cheers everywhere. Have you ever felt anything like that?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, Des Moines Golf & Country Club, just these people that have come out to this event, it's incredible. Even when we first went to the tee this morning we could already see the fairways were lined like two, three rows deep of people. The grandstands were full; they were obviously pumping music.

But once you got out there, there was still tens of thousands of people. It's incredible. Even if we make par or if we don't make -- it doesn't matter, they're still supporting us and still kind of getting loud. And any way we can feed off of that energy and even if we hear it a few holes over we're, like, oh, maybe somebody did something really well. Kind of feed off that energy. So the fans here are fantastic and we can't thank them enough.

Q. One other small thing that popped in my head. How much did Mel and Carlota push you guys as well? I mean, you got so hot, but you had no choice but to keep keeping the pedal down on the back nine whether you wanted to or not.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Like I said, when I looked at the leaderboard and we were only two up and I had made six birdies, I felt we should have been a few more ahead. But that just shows that they were playing some me fantastic golf as well. And when they made a putt, we made a putt and vice versa.

I felt like it was mentally a lot harder than it should have been. But both teams played fantastic today.

Q. You have a comfortable lead going into tomorrow. No one has ever come back from five points. What's your attitude? How do you keep your edge?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: We're going to keep the pedal down.

BRITTANY LANG: The girls are playing great. You just heard the numbers. U.S. girls playing fantastic golf. And, I mean, we're going to play like we're behind or like we're tied.

You can't get comfortable with anything with them in match play, because they're phenomenal players, and they rise to the occasion every single time. So you have to go out there and just take care of point. That's your job for tomorrow.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: That's all you can do.

Q. Mentally, the whole group of you, not just you two necessarily, but going into this weekend, going back to either the great comeback two years ago or the disappointment with losing at home in Colorado, any of that factor in for some of you that have played both of those prior to this year?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I don't think so. I think even having a small lead going into tomorrow, like Brit said, the gas pedal is down. We're going to try to get as many points as we possibly can, and just trying to close out our match day. I feel like that's the hardest part is closing it out.

We, all 12 of us, still have 18 holes to play tomorrow or another whole day tomorrow. We all need to do our job. And everyone has to fight to get their point. I feel if we all sit back and say it's going to be a breeze tomorrow, we could get beat, kind of how we did two years ago. Gas pedal down and we're just going to try to keep going and try to get as many points on the board as we can.

Q. Seems like the entire U.S. team has really benefited from these team-oriented pairings. Is it going to be a hard transition tomorrow when you have to play singles?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It's going to be not as fun, that's for sure. Hopefully Brit is somewhere around me, so I can wave over to her in the crowd. But the pod system, I think, is fantastic. Even two years ago when we did it -- I mean, we're all friends, but to have a smaller group inside of a team competition, to have four of you to kind of get to know I think really makes a huge difference.

And a couple of years, maybe four or six years ago we didn't really play as a team. And now Juli doing this pod system -- I mean this year with me, Brit, Stacy and Gerina, I'm closer to all three of them than I definitely was months ago. So it'll be friendships that we've made that will last for a lifetime.

Q. If you had to try to describe the difference in mindset that the foursomes and four-ball brings out in a player, how would you try to describe the difference?
BRITTANY LANG: There's definitely a lot more pressure on alternate shot for sure. It's so much fun to play it. But you have to really show up for every shot because you only have the one ball in play.

But I think when you play four-ball, I think a lot of strategy comes into play -- making those pars, fairways and greens, your partner -- even if your partner is not making birdies, if they're hitting fairways and greens and making pars where you can be aggressive on birdies.

And I think Brit and I did a great job with that. It makes you really comfortable, but alternate shot, it's just like playing your own ball on a really big stage. So it's a blast, but it's definitely a lot more pressure.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I would agree. Alternate shot, it's a super fun format because we never get to play it, only every two years. But I feel like there's a lot more stress. I hit myself in the trees all the time, so it's totally fine for me. But I have a problem saying sorry to my partner because I'm sure she never hits it in the trees.

BRITTANY LANG: Yeah, never.

Q. Since we've never been in the situation of being behind by four or more, can you just talk about if it's overwhelming how difficult is it to deal with that situation as you did two years ago?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, gosh, that was no fun. And I hope we never do that again. I mean, like we're going to go out tomorrow, everyone has one job, and that's to get your point that's all you can do.

Two years ago, obviously being behind, we needed basically all of us to get that one point. And I'm glad it's a little bit different this time but definitely going to go out tomorrow and still try to get as many points as possible.

BRITTANY LANG: I think in Germany we kind of had a nothing-to-lose attitude because we were down by so much and the girls were playing so well that --

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Didn't we keep going as well? There was a rain delay and we kept going. I think that really helped as well.

BRITTANY LANG: We started in the morning.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah.

Q. Can't help noticing Juli's strong presence at the first tee. It's almost like she's taken possession of it. She's in between the tee boxes almost the whole time, between dancing, exhorting the crowd, being there. Has her presence there, does it -- I don't know, does it help you guys in any way?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I think seeing past captains, Hall of Famers, Juli, our other captains, other players, I think just seeing everybody on that tee kind of pumps you up and obviously the crowd as well.

But I think seeing all those kinds of people on that tee definitely helps. Juli out there dancing. I've seen it on Twitter. I haven't seen it live but on Twitter. She's amazing. Just having her presence on that tee box I think helps a lot, yes.

BRITTANY LANG: She doesn't try to do too much, which is cool. She doesn't try to overcoach. She just wants to be there and let you know she's proud of you and excited for you to play. So that's really cool.

Q. Obviously you want to play on every Solheim Cup team, but why is it so meaningful to play for Juli Inkster?
BRITTANY LANG: Because she's Juli Inkster.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I feel like there could have been another word in there but we're not going to use that word. What Brit said: It's Juli Inkster. She's a legend. It's an honor to play for her. And she keeps telling us do it for yourselves, not for me. But it's kind of hard not to do it for her because she's just so fantastic.

I barely made it on the team, so I'm just honored to be here and excited to be here and to play for her again is a win-win.

BRITTANY LANG: Yeah, and a lot of us, we're around the same age, the girls in our pod.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: You're older.

BRITTANY LANG: I'm like two weeks older. But we all grew up watching Juli. We grew up watching her dancing around the green, winning majors and playing in Solheim Cups. So she was our hero -- is our hero. And she has a great family, too, so that's something that we all look for as well. She's just fun to be around.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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