KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 8, 2020

Brittany Lincicome

Aronimink Golf Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Brittany Lincicome, just shot a great round of 3-under 67, tied atop the leaderboard. You made it look kind of easy out there today, a bunch of birdies, just one bogey and a birdie on your final hole. A great way to finish your round. You've got to be pretty happy right now.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Very happy. You know, something finally in my mind kind of switched in Atlantic City after I missed the cut. Friday I finally was like aggressive and kind of got out of my own way and made a bunch of birdies on the back nine to miss the cut unfortunately by one, so going into this week it was kind of going back to my Vision 54 days, which I haven't unfortunately worked with them in a while, and it's showing, just because of my brain. I've had so much time off since having Emery and taking time off and COVID. Each week it's just kind of been let's make the cut, let's make the cut, and that's not a way an eight-time winner should play golf.

Today it was kind of trusting my process, fairways and greens, being aggressive, don't leave the putts short, and kind of just attack the golf course, and it kind of worked, which is really scary because this golf course was not easy. It was really windy, it was cold at times. But yeah, I just trusted my process, and actually Brittany Lang and I were driving back from Baltusrol and we were just kind of talking about, she does Vision 54, as well, so we were talking about just sticking to our process and being aggressive this week, so it worked.

THE MODERATOR: You only missed one green, and this is a course that we're hearing over and over is going to favor the longer hitters. That's certainly you. Was that a factor, as well, today?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, so I've learned recently that I'm not as long as I used to be, so when I play with Maria Fassi or Lexi I'm like the old person in the group nowadays. But yeah, definitely with my length it's definitely an advantage for sure because I have shorter clubs. But it was just kind of like playing Pinehurst a couple years ago for the Open, going into the green, hitting the fairway is great, but the greens are so big that you had to kind of hit it in little spots. At Pinehurst we kind of picked little areas and we didn't care where the pin was, we weren't going at the pin, we were just trying to get it to that spot. It seemed to work pretty well today, and we had wedges or short clubs we obviously took advantage, and those were the holes we were aggressive and tried to make birdie, and then when you had 9-wood into that par-3, 8, praying to God to just get it on the green and two-putt and get out of there. I think that strategy worked pretty well.

THE MODERATOR: I wanted to go through your birdies. You opened with a birdie on No. 11, on your second hole. Could you tell us about that one.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, so golf is obviously a game of luck and misses, and I felt kind of the momentum kind of started early for me. I kind of bladed a pitching wedge into that green and it released like 22. Like it barely covered that bunker. My divot was literally one foot on the green and it released 22 yards, so I got super lucky, hit it to like five feet and made a great putt.

THE MODERATOR: You had your next one at No. 17, the par-3.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Ooh, that was a good one. Yeah, same, just going kind of for the middle and then just made a really nice putt. Putter seemed to work really well, which was nice. The only one that I felt like I hit a great putt was the hole I made bogey, but I was a little too far from the hole.

THE MODERATOR: After you saw me puffing up the hill at No. 1, then you birdied the next hole, No. 2.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I actually hit a shot to like five or six feet on 1 and totally hit it way too hard. It was a left-to-right putt and I just gave it a little too much and blew it by by like three feet. But almost could have made birdie there, and then hit to three feet on 2, which was pretty stress-free, easy birdie.

THE MODERATOR: And then the capper here on No. 9.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, so again, just trying to be aggressive. We left a few putts short coming in. My goal there was literally just to get it to the hole, and it kind of snuck around and did a little 360 but fell in, which was great, and that was the first one actually in two rounds that I did cross-handed, which I haven't been doing a lot lately, so it worked pretty well. I hadn't made a few putts coming down the stretch, so I just felt like, hey, we're going to give it a try, and it worked.

Q. What's going on with your thumb?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, God. I really don't know to be honest. It just hurts. It started hurting at the start of the season when I got to the top of my backswing, especially with driver hitting it aggressively. They're telling me it just is something, a tendon and just when it bends back too far, so they made me this little plastic brace, so it's just kind of been a process of getting used to it. I hit some balls recently and it actually didn't hurt too bad, but I could feel if I had to play 18 holes without it, it would be like on fire by the end of the round, so we're just going to wear it.

Q. The ball-striking today was so good, even your bogey was a shot you hit solidly. Best ball-striking since?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Since a long time. Again, it's just trusting the process of good tempo. I never tried to swing hard with the driver off the tee today. I was just literally get it in the fairway and then worry about the next shot, and then on the green aiming in very specific spots. Sometimes we could go at the pin, sometimes we had to go away from the pin, just depending on what the wind was doing, so it was just swinging slower, not getting quick. My quick is left on left, which is not good, so it was just tempo today and trying to swing slow.

Q. You had some adorable pictures when you brought Emery out here early, but she's not with you now, right?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No.

Q. What are your evenings like? A little different.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, they are. My caddie made pizzas for us on Tuesday so that was great, and last night my housing made us panko chicken, which was fantastic, so we've been eating really well. We're going to eat at the club tonight. The food here is fantastic. But yeah, I have more time to mess around maybe on social media and do kind of my own thing, which is kind of weird, but I definitely miss her, but my husband, he misses her just as much as I do, so to go two weeks selfishly to take her out with me, she had to go home.

Q. Are you staying with a local family?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yes, mm-hmm.

Q. How much inspiration did you take from Stacy winning?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, gosh. That's like -- I mean, I say this, but if I could do that, like that would be the icing on my career and I could probably retire. That would be just a dream come true, to have her, like you said, we came out Saturday and played and she just learned to walk, so she hasn't been able to go to a golf course yet because Florida it's so hot so I don't want to be out in the sun. So she got to kind of run around on the greens and she found it so fascinating to put the ball in the hole. She thought that was the cutest thing. So we kind of did that a little bit. She kind of ran down the fairway a little bit. Just really enjoyed the process with her, having her out on the golf course with me.

Q. So it's the first time she's done that --

BRITTANY LINCICOME: That was the first time, yep. I would putt balls and she would kind of go after them, and then the downhills she would fall. She's so clumsy; it's so funny.

Q. Was that here Saturday?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Saturday, yes.

Q. How did you manage to keep your patience and select the right clubs given the way the wind was gusting?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, it was -- the driving range is so hidden so you think when you're over there, oh, it's so warm, there's no wind, and then I came over to the tee and I was like oh, my gosh, it's completely different. But yeah, it's just one shot at a time and playing in the wind, obviously I'm a draw hitter so anytime the wind was right to left I really had to focus hitting more of a straight shot even in my mind even a cut which I don't do, I don't know how to do. So just trying to hit a straight shot and not let it go left on left with the wind, and when it was left to right just kind of hit the straight ball and let it go from there.

So it was definitely -- you had to be very careful. There was a couple holes where even girls in my group, it was into the wind for me on one hole and then they hit it and it was downwind and they flew the green, so it was very challenging.

Q. When you played that second round in Atlantic City last week, when did it click that something was happening here?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Kind of towards the back nine, the start of the back nine. Maybe on the 9th hole or the 10th hole. I had no clue what I shot the first day, so that wasn't super helpful. I don't look at the leaderboards so I really didn't know what the cut was, either. Just knew I needed to make a bunch of birdies and I kind of made a few and I was like, okay, let's go, we're not leaving it short, we're going to be aggressive. So it was definitely on the back nine, and when I birdied my last hole, I looked at my caddie, and I was like, did we do it, and she's like, no, you missed it by one, and I was like, gosh. But it was still great. I played well, I couldn't have played better, and it was good momentum going into this week.

Q. Did you play in a pro-am at Baltusrol?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I did, mm-hmm.

Q. How did you find that course?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, my gosh, so fun, so beautiful -- just like this. It's such a treat to go play these nice golf courses. We played the upper. I guess they're redoing the lower. That would have been awesome to play a little sneak peek practice round. What is it, 2023 we're going there? But just to be on property there, it's something spectacular.

Q. What day was that?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Monday. I think there was 22 of us that went.

Q. You have a very special reason to be home now with this daughter. Did you wrestle at all with how much I really want to do this, or does the fire just --

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, I still would miss it I feel like if I did retire. I know when I was younger I always said, I'll have two kids and then retire, but just being out here and the competition and the money and everything, it's too hard to walk away from. So definitely while she's super young. When she starts school obviously that will be a little bit more challenging to figure out what we do. But it's cool just to have her out here and to watch what I do and I think my husband was actually watching TV when I was making some birdies and was showing her. That's pretty cool.

Q. Do you FaceTime with her when you're gone?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, yeah, every night. We FaceTimed on the car ride over because we have about a 45-minute drive FaceTimed here and then she took a nap. I think she was napping when I teed off. She's a good napper. That's so silly. You knew that was going to happen.

Q. She's related to you.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Exactly.