U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 1, 2004

Brittany Lincicome

RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, Brittany Lincicome, 5-under par, 66, ties the Amateur record set by Carol Semple-Thompson who in 1994 shot a 66 at Indianwood. I believe that was a par-72 course, but we'll check that for you. But still the number is the same. You started out 1 over par after two holes. And then you just caught fire. Tell us your general impressions of the ground.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I 3-putted No. 2, because I was on short of the flag, and there's a severe uphill slope there. And the first hole I had like a 6-footer to save par. So after that I kind of was calmed down, but the next hole I 3-putted, so I was, "Great, here we go." The next hole I birdied. So after that I was calmed down a little bit. It takes me a couple of holes to get relaxed and figure out where I am and everything.

But then after I that I made the turn at even and I don't even know what happened after that.

RHONDA GLENN: Could we please go over your birdies, tell us the club you hit into the green and the length of your putts, if you will. On No. 3.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No. 3 I was 115, I had pitching wedge to four or five feet.

RHONDA GLENN: No. 8.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I don't even remember.

RHONDA GLENN: Let's proceed. No. 10, the par-3.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: 10, I was about 180, I hit 5-iron just over the flag, probably 8, 10 feet.

RHONDA GLENN: No. 11.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No. 11 I hit to about a half a foot, a foot, maybe, with a pitching wedge from 110.

RHONDA GLENN: No. 13.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: 13 I hit 5-wood just up on the side -- behind the bunker and hit a flop shot over the bunker to five feet and made it.

RHONDA GLENN: And then eagle on 15, how did that happen?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I hit the ball in the trees, and I was like 125, I punched out with a 7-iron, trying to run it up the front. And somehow made it, I don't even know.

RHONDA GLENN: Brittany is 18 years old. Last week she played in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship and shot 76/74 and missed the cut. So she had other things on her mind.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I don't think I was focused, getting ready to come here. And everything that was going on. I just wanted to come here and do a practice round and see what was going on.

RHONDA GLENN: Is this your first Open?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yes.

RHONDA GLENN: What do you think of it?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: It was awesome. Right when we got here, all the free stuff I'm getting. My practice rounds I played with Laura Diaz, Heather, and Rosie Jones. I played with Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins and Rachel Teske. I've had some awesome groups the last few days.

Q. I was curious about some of those practice rounds. Did you seek them out, arrange them, and how did that all come together?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, when I called to get my practice round I requested to play with some of the top players, and that's who the guy put me with. I really wanted to play with Annika, but that didn't happen.

RHONDA GLENN: It takes courage to stand up with that level of players.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I wanted to play with some of the top girls, even though the girls in my group are really nice.

Q. You said out there that you started to cry, when you made the eagle on 15?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I did, after I made it and it went in, I looked at my dad and starred bawling. I could not stop. I walked all the way to the green, my mom started crying, and then I started crying even more. Don't look at your mom when you're crying, you're going to start crying even more.

Q. Shocked or what?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Shocked and I couldn't believe it. I was 3-under and went to 5-under and I couldn't believe it I was that much under par.

Q. Is your dad on the bag?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Dad is on the bag.

Q. And your mom was walking?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Mom was a spectator.

Q. Was she inside the ropes?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No.

Q. She's allowed.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: We've got a friend here, too, and she's walking with them.

RHONDA GLENN: What's your dad's name?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Tom. Caddy dad.

Q. How have the goals changed now for the rest of the tournament?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: They don't, really. Tomorrow I'm just going to try to shoot even par like I tried to do today, and that worked, maybe it will work tomorrow. Trying to stay patient and calm, not trying to do anything crazy, anything big.

Q. Since this is your first Open and not really having a lot of expectations, did that help, do you think? You weren't really that goal oriented, perhaps?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, just coming in I just wanted to make the cut and now I'm going to try to be top three, maybe, try to win it, I don't know, might as well.

Q. Two questions, and one of them is fairly obvious, I mean, there's so much attention on youth, specifically Michelle and lately Paula and a little bit Jane Park and I'm not sure a lot of us know who you are, except for some people in Florida. Do you think this speaks to the number of teenagers, that it's not just a couple of them, by the way, there's the rest of us that are pretty good?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, there's a bunch -- Paula, especially, she's an awesome player. There's a lot of juniors that are coming up, there are going to be amazing players, whether they go to college or decide to turn pro, the LPGA players better look out, because we're coming, we're looking great on the Junior Tour.

Q. How does the decision to home school come along and I think I saw on your website -- website -- who started that?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: My uncle started that, my dad's brother started that for me. He's all into the computer thing and everything, he made up this whole website for the grandmothers, because they live in West Virginia for everyone to go on and find out what I was doing at the time and see how I was playing in tournament, to be able to follow. And the home school thing came, we were going to a Christian school, and we were missing too much school and they started not to be so lenient, because you could only miss ten days a semester, so we decided to home school.

Q. You played on the boy's team, that's the part I didn't figure out.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Boy's high school team. We didn't have a girl's high school team, and even if we did they wouldn't be very good. We had a girl's team my senior year, you have to play on a girl's team if you had one, I had to play on one.

Q. This was at the Christian school?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, the public school that I'm zoned for. It was better playing on the boys team, we played better yardages, better yardages, there was more competition playing against the boys. And this last year I had to play on the girl's team, because we had one, and we went to state as a team. It was fun, real fun.

Q. You don't have a relative who's a sports writer?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No.

Q. Can you talk about how you started playing, when you started playing?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: My dad actually started me. I have two older brothers, we have a par-3 course that's lit at night. They would go after dinner and play at the par-3 course, and they started dragging me out there. Come to find out I was a natural and started playing with them. We started playing on weekends and stuff as a family. And it got too expensive for all of us to play and dad stopped playing so I got to play.

Q. How old were you?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I was ten.

Q. Pretty much every golfer has dreams of leading the U.S. Open, winning the U.S. Open, you've had those?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I thought it would be further down the road. I'm excited, it hasn't set in, maybe it will after I go home. I'm still in shock.

Q. You started playing when you were ten?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yes.

RHONDA GLENN: She said she's going to turn professional at the end of the year.

Q. One of the reasons you were happy about playing in this is you're going to get a car?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: That was the only reason I wanted to come.

RHONDA GLENN: How did that happen, tell the story.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: We got our player's packet, and I was reading through it about housing and where you could stay and everything, and it said a free car for the week if you're over 18. I said, "Hey, I'm over 18, I can get a car for the week." I've been driving this car everywhere (laughter.)

RHONDA GLENN: What kind of car is it?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: It's a Honda Element, it looks like a Hummer, but more boxy.

Q. How did you qualify for the Open?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I qualified in Heathrow, which is just outside Orlando.

Q. How many years have you tried to qualify?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: My first year.

Q. First year to try?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: First year.

Q. Why not last year?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I wanted to wait and make sure I was ready. I didn't want to make the cut and come in and not be at the top of my game. And I would say I'm ready.

RHONDA GLENN: What group were you paired with today?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Allison Hanna and then Ji Yeon Lee.

Q. You played a couple of Futures Tour events earlier this year in April. How did that -- what did that show you about where your game was in terms of playing alongside professionals?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: That definitely helped, showed me where I was, where I measured up to all the other girls. The first tournament I came in 10th. I played really good. The next time the course was a little bit harder, but I definitely -- it definitely showed me where I compared to the other girls that were turning pro or were already pro.

Q. Do you remember your finish in the second tournament?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: 54th or 50th, something around there. Not very good.

RHONDA GLENN: Is this your lowest professional round?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: 65 at the Chateau Elan and the Rolex Girls, two weeks ago in Daytona.

Q. So many talented young players go to the golf academies, a lot of the girls here, did you guys ever think about it and why didn't you, if not?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: No, didn't really think about it. All the process that I've ever had, I've always measured up to the other girls, like Paula and the other girls, my game has always been about the same with them. Couldn't really afford it, if we needed to, we could have, but we were basically equal, we go back and forth, and there wasn't really a need for me to go there. I have a great pro now.

RHONDA GLENN: Who is that.

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Matt Mitchell. He was going to fly in today, but his wife was expecting any day now.

RHONDA GLENN: Where is he located?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oldsmar, Florida. He is at Tampa Bay Downs Driving Range.

Q. You said you might have been happy to shoot even par today, you had even par at the tournament, were you satisfied at that point?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: At the turn I was happy. I birdied 10, and it went from there. I don't know what happened. But, yeah, when I made the turn I figured if I finished even par that I would be happy. I would have been happy with even par.

Q. It sounds like you've done a really good job staying within your environment of the home schooling, the local schooling, a regular circuit, and yet there's been so much attention heaped on Morgan Pressel when she qualified at age 12, and Michelle and Paula, and as much as you've competed within your own setting was there a part of you that was kind of itching to say, "Don't forget about me."?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I would have -- I figured that one of these days if I proved myself then people would notice who I was. I wasn't really worried. But, yeah, especially like Michelle Wie and everyone who gets way more press. But I figured if you play good here then you'll get what you need or it will come to me.

Q. I think you set the course record for women here today?

RHONDA GLENN: We can check that out.

Q. You played with Karrie Webb, a six time Major winner. Did you talk to her very much?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Not really, she's pretty focused in the practice round. I talked to her a little bit. I talked to Kelly Robbins way more, but she's pretty focused in her practice round. I didn't really talk to her too much.

Q. What did Kelly say?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: I was asking her about her clubs, about playing on Tour a little bit. Just basic stuff, nothing really big. I really tried to stay out of their way all day.

Q. I was curious when you made the decision to skip college, and go pro, is that fairly recent, did it come a couple of months ago?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Probably within the last two months or so. Me and my father have watched like the junior players that have gone to college and seen what they have done like Aree and Naree, they dropped out and turned pro, a couple of other players, either their play has gotten worse, then they lost interest in playing golf. So I figured turning pro is best for me.

Q. Why not turn pro at the start of the summer, is there a U.S. Amateur that you're waiting for?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: There's the Canon Cup and the Women's Am. The Canon Cup is my favorite, it's a team competition, I wanted to play in that one more year, and the Women's Am, and then I'll turn pro.

Q. You said earlier you've reset your goals and something to the effect, I might as well go try and win it now. What does that say to the state of women's golf now, and that all -- a lot of people as yourself really think they can win the U.S. Open before they turn 20?

BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, actually it was talking to a friend and I was telling him I wanted to make the cut, if I made the cut I was playing good. He said, "Why would you ever go into a tournament thinking you can't win it?" I thought, well, okay, maybe I'll just try to win it, which realistically is not even thinkable. I haven't called anybody or any friends or anything. Junior golf, it's going to be big for them saying, "A junior can do it, I can do it." It will be good.

RHONDA GLENN: Brittany, what a wonderful round, congratulations, good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.