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HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 9, 2006

Brittany Lincicome

VIRGINIA WATERS, ENGLAND

DANA GROSS RHODE: Every winner on the LPGA Tour that wins a tournament gets a free stay for two at one of Canyon Ranch's all inclusive spas. Congratulations on that.

BRITTANY LINICOME: Awesome.

DANA GROSS RHODE: Congratulations, Brittany. You just became the second winner of the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship. Do you want to just talk about, what is it like to win your first tournament?

BRITTANY LINICOME: I'm so in shock. It's a huge accomplishment. It's what I've been trying to do since I was a little girl was play on the LPGA Tour and win a tournament. I'll probably wake up tomorrow and sink in because right now it's just like, okay, another interview, no big deal but I think tomorrow it will sink in, I actually won the tournament.

Q. When the LPGA season began, there was a lot of talk about all the young guns and you were not really part of the conversation, did that bother you and do you think you barged your way in there today?

BRITTANY LINICOME: A little bit. Morgan and Paula, all of us, we came up through the junior ranks together, so we were always the talk. And then when they came out and I came out, they definitely deserve it, don't get me wrong, they have been playing really, really well, and I haven't.

So now that I am playing well this year, you know, my name will get out there and I'm not worried.

Q. From a confidence point of view, how important was it in the afternoon to get out in front early? She's won 31 times and you haven't. When you took the lead early and made a couple of putts, what did that do for you confidence wise?

BRITTANY LINICOME: That was huge. I think if we would have been like the match this morning that went all the way through 18 and extra holes, I probably would have faltered a little bit and maybe not have won actually.

So it was good to get out to a good lead right away. I wasn't planning on 3 or 4 up, but I was hoping 1 or 2 up right away, and I did it. That was a huge confidence booster and got things going.

Q. How much confidence did you get from beating Michelle yesterday and then through this morning?

BRITTANY LINICOME: That was huge, also, because, you know, everybody I talked to basically was like, "Oh, you're not going to win" and all of that. I wasn't even thinking about winning. Just I was trying to play my own game, play the golf course and if I shot under par, 4 or 5 under like I had been doing Thursday and Friday, then I probably would be pretty good off. And if I didn't win but I shot 4 under par, then she obviously deserved to win because she out played me.

Q. How long did you have between matches?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Not very long. Today it was only like 30 minutes. By the time I changed clothes and sunscreen and all that, I only had time to putt for like five minutes.

Q. How much do you think length mattered in this match today?

BRITTANY LINICOME: I think that was my strong point all week. It kind of wears on you after a while, somebody outdriving you or somebody making putts on you all day like Lorena did this morning. I think if somebody is outdriving you by 60 yards all day, it kind of wears on you, so I think that definitely helped me. And having wedge into every green, that's always a good thing.

Q. How important was your experience in junior golf this week?

BRITTANY LINICOME: I would say it was huge just because I would have never this experience, you know, leading up to this, really, just playing junior golf, playing tournaments, the emotions, going down the stretch knowing that I'm going to have to make a couple birdies coming in, just I think that experience is going to help me.

Q. Following up on that, in the media guide, it said you played like 100 events and won like 60 percent of them. Do you have the exact numbers?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Not exact, no. You could probably do AJGA tournaments but other junior tournaments I played in, I have no idea.

Q. How much did you learn from last week?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Confidence you mean?

Q. Just learn from that, that you lept back last week and this week you're in the final and you managed to pull off the victory?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Last week was actually a good challenge for me leading up to this week. Normally if I played good one week, the next week I didn't play good or missed the cut or just couldn't get things going. And then playing good last week and then playing good this week is a confidence booster, also, knowing that I can play good and play good again next week. We'll see how next week goes.

Q. Have you talked to your mother and did she watch?

BRITTANY LINICOME: No, I haven't. I haven't talked to anybody yet.

Q. The idea that you came through Michelle, Lorena, and then Juli Inkster, I mean, that's almost a Mt. Rushmore of female golf right there, how much more special does that make a victory knowing that you did it that way?

BRITTANY LINICOME: It's huge. I wish I would have played a little bit better against Juli because I didn't play as good as I played on Thursday or Friday. But coming through all those players and beating all of them, it means I actually did deserve to win this tournament. And I didn't just, you know, come through playing low ranked players. That makes it more special I think.

Q. You said you love Monday money, so what are you going to spend it on?

BRITTANY LINICOME: I'm not going to spend any of this money. Invest it or pay my car off or help my parents out or anything but I'm not buying myself anything. I'm saving. Spent enough last year.

Q. On 6, Juli made a long bomb and you followed up on that and she wins 9 and 10 and you hit to less than a foot.

BRITTANY LINICOME: That was huge, draining that putt on top of hers. That was an awesome putt. But I don't even know, I was trying to lag it up there and pray that it went in and hit it, and I couldn't believe it. So that got things going, too.

And then 10, I thought that was going to go in, that I hit it exactly where I wanted to hit it and that got things going again, too.

Q. I guess it goes without saying you're a fan of the event and the format. I just wondered if you had an extra thanks for the sponsors and tournament organizers for having this on the schedule?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Match play is something I always wanted to do. In junior golf we did it, Canon Cup and all of that. So I knew I was pretty good at it. I wanted to get in last year and I didn't get in last year. This year I finally got in and proved that I can do it.

Like I said, I want to thank HSBC for giving us this tournament. I wish they would do like a mixed team or something, do a couple different things instead of just match play. That would be great.

But yes, having this on the schedule is awesome because you play the same stroke play every single week, and having this in there, it's a great change.

Q. You said people told you that you were not going to beat Michelle; who were they, other players?

BRITTANY LINICOME: More so like the fans. Like you kind of walk by them and overhear them. One guy was like, "Go guts, no glory," because I left a putt short and I was like, okay.

So, yeah, they have their favorites. I try not to listen.

Q. Can you talk about the difficulty of closing it out today? You seemed to get a little shaky on the back nine.

BRITTANY LINICOME: Thank God I was up by a lot, because as I said, you know, I've never dealt with this pressure situation. I've almost never won a tournament except no, just I was happy that I was up going into these last couple of holes. Like I said, I don't know, I was failing a little bit to close out the match which I have done almost every day this week. I get into 15, 16, those holes and they hit it to like two feet and make their birdie and I'd have to go to the next hole.

Yeah, I was thankful I was up by a couple. She was going to have to make birdie.

Q. Making Solheim Cup, what would that mean to you?

BRITTANY LINICOME: That would be awesome. Junior golf has a junior Solheim Cup and I played on that twice. So that just the junior part of it was an awesome experience, just all the free stuff we got, the matching clothes, all of us girls coming together as a team and not like fighting against each other.

So I'm sure like the actual Solheim Cup is ten times bigger than that. We got to see them play but we didn't get to go in the locker room and get to see all their free stuff. But, yeah, that would be awesome if I could play on the Solheim Cup.

Q. I don't think there's been a decision yet as to where this tournament will be held next year, as next year's defending champion would you like to come back to Hamilton Farm?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Oh, I would love to. This golf course, if it didn't snow here in the winter, I would probably move here. Where we're staying, it's out in the middle of nowhere, nobody to bother you, just country land, golf course out in the middle of nowhere, it's beautiful out here. If it didn't snow, I would move here.

Q. And live in a house like on the 16th?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Yeah, that would be nice, I'd like to sleep in their garage.

Q. What is this going to do for your confidence now, do you expect to go into tournaments now just feeling a lot differently about yourself?

BRITTANY LINICOME: Possibly. I think going in knowing I actually can win now, now that I've got the they say the first one is your hardest one to get, so, yeah, I'm not going to go into every tournament thinking, okay, I need to win this or I can win this. Just go in and play good, and if I play good, that's all that matters.

End of FastScripts.

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