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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP


July 5, 2012


Brittany Lincicome


KOHLER, WISCONSIN

THE MODERATOR:  Brittany Lincicome is tied for the lead with a 3‑under par 69.  Wonderful playing out there.  Lots of birdies.  A few bogeys.  You must have been pleased.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  I was very pleased.  Coming into this week and playing the practice rounds, you're out there and you're like, oh, my gosh, 5, 6, 7‑over is going to win this event.  Obviously today shooting 3‑under I have to kind of rethink my strategy, and obviously under par is very doable.  If you can keep it in the fairway, hit it in the right spot on the green and I made a couple long putts today which was nice.
THE MODERATOR:  You said your round was a little over five hours.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yeah.
THE MODERATOR:  How did you deal with the pace of play and the heat?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  It was a bad combination.  I felt like we were out there waiting on every single hole.  You kind of have to take your mind on somewhere else and not focuson obviously what you're doing, because five‑and‑a‑half hours it's hard to concentrate that long.  When it was your turn to hit, you had to really focus 110% on every single shot.  The holes I bogeyed I thought they were easy wedge shots, they were easy shots and I didn't put as much energy into those.  And bad things happen.  U.S. Open is one of those weeks where you are mentally drained after each round you have to focus really hard on every shot.
THE MODERATOR:  You had a good putting round.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  Key for this week, don't you think?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Absolutely.  I just Judy Rankin on the interview she did said it's going to be the player who gets the ball up‑and‑down.  It's not necessarily a player that's going to hit it in the fairway every time or hit it in the green.  It's going to be the player who gets it up‑and‑down the most.  And I felt I did it really really good at that.  Putting, I had 25 putts today, which I haven't seen all year, pretty much, so it was nice to kind of see the putter kind of going my way, and I felt very confident today with it.
THE MODERATOR:  Take some questions.  I'll do her scorecard after the questions.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  This is going to be quick.  I like it.  It's already past my bedtime, anyway.

Q.  Brittany, could you just tell us what the story of your day was?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Can I tell you what?

Q.  The story of your day.  Sum everything up.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Story?
THE MODERATOR:  Your story.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  My story was easy.  It kind of felt like‑‑ I was very in control of everything today, which is a nice feeling, obviously.  I knew exactly where my tee shots were going.  I knew exactly where my irons were going.  The putts, even if I read them wrong, I still kind of got back on track, and I was making them.  It was one of those days where you were like, that was easy.  If golf could be this easy every single day, I might make a living out of it.

Q.  Brittany, by talked about how much fishing you've been doing this year.  How much did you practice coming into this week and how did you prepare in general?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  It's probably why my game has been like this all year.  Need to stay off that boat.  Didn't really practice any differently.  Obviously, last week we were in Arkansas, which was nice.  Kind of got a tune‑up for this week.
The week before that I went out and caught a 400 pound grouper, and still fished as much as I practiced.  It's kind of an easy balance.  Went down to a new golf course I've been practicing on.  Worked on putting a bit.  Other than that, it was a normal week.  Last week was great to get ready for this week.

Q.  Did you say a 400 pound grouper or 400‑pound groupers?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  400 pound one Goliath grouper.  One fish weighed 400 pounds.

Q.  Do they even come that big?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes, I have pictures.
THE MODERATOR:  Where did you catch the fish?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  In Florida, where I live.  In the St. Pete area.
THE MODERATOR:  In the Gulf?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  In the Gulf.  Yes.  You were as shocked as I was when it came up to the surface.

Q.  How long did it take to get it up?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  About 30 minutes.  My guy friend couldn't reel it in.  I had to physically help him hold the rod.  It was nice.
THE MODERATOR:  They get certificates for fish like that when they are past a certain tonnage.  Did you get one for that?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  No, that would have been fun.  I needed to submit it to the wildlife somebody.

Q.  Just wondering, you got one round under your belt.  How do you prepare for tomorrow?  Sort of what do you look for?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Really going to go to bed right now and try to get my ten hours of sleep in.  But, no, just go to bed.  Try not to think about it too much.  This is like the first time I've been in the Media Center in a long time.  So it's kind of a fun treat.
Just go home and do the same thing, have dinner, go to bed early, get up, and hopefully it keeps going.  And it's golf.  You never know what's going to happen.  I feel great.  I feel like I'm hitting it well, putting it well.  Keep doing that, and I'll be where I need to be.

Q.  Do you see this putting round coming‑‑
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Did I see my putting round coming?  I had changed something in my putting about a month ago right before Wegman's.  And it really was a disaster, and it didn't bode well for my stroke or anything.  So I kind of went back to what I had been doing all of last year and all of the beginning of this year and felt 100 times more confident.
Putting is all confidence.  You can shut it down, slice it, hook it, do whatever you want in the stroke.  But as long as you're confident in doing it, you can kind of trick your mind into thinking your the best putter ever, even if you have the worst stroke on tour.  But it doesn't matter, as long it gets in the hole.
There's no pictures.  Obviously we have cameras out there.  There's no pictures on the scorecard.  Whatever you have to do to get it in the hole in the fewest amount of strokes is obviously the goal.  I feel like I've been putting really well lately.  It's nice to see it turning around.  Even the short five‑footers I'm saving for par are no‑brainers any more.  I'm confident I'm going to make it.  It's a nice feeling.  It takes a lot of stress out of my life.

Q.  What were the keys for to you beat the heat?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Well, I drank about a bottle of water almost every single hole.  I had my umbrella out today.  That was nice.  But I guess that and trying to make sure I ate every couple of holes, whether a banana or a granola bar.  Trying to eat every couple of holes and drink as much water as I could.  And carry my umbrella.

Q.  You've had a couple of top 10 finishes in the Women's Open.  How have those experiences tended to help you?  Maybe you can take us forward from what you learned from those experiences for the next three days.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Those are huge.  Even winning Kraft Nabisco in '09.  I know it was a long time ago.  You can still pull from past experiences like that and get yourself through this.  I've been sitting in this chair before on the first round.  And I finished top 10 before.  So just kind of pull from those and be confident and know I can do it and know I'm a winner on this LPGA Tour, this tour, and just try to stay confident and go out there and do my thing.

Q.  Can you tell us exactly what it was you had changed in your putting stroke?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Just changed my grip a little bit.  It's kind of hard to‑‑ my hands were more on the top of it.  I tried to move them to the sides a little bit.  Speed control was horrible.  I would have even ten feet and I would either blow it by five feet or leave it five feet short.
So I just kind of went back to‑‑ my stroke originally my grip was more on top.  I was shutting my putter down but I always got it back to square when I brought it through.  I basically went back to doing that, I guess.
I don't see my swing on video.  Somebody mentioned it to me, and I had listened to them, and it was downhill.
THE MODERATOR:  I recall that in the 2004 Women's Open, you were an amateur.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  You eagled one of the par‑4 holes.  You hit this fabulous iron shot out from the trees, holed it, and your dad I think was caddying for you.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  And you burst into tears.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  I was going to say that.
THE MODERATOR:  You were leading after the first round.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  It was like it's a whole new world out there.  Do you ever look at how far you've come since then in this championship?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Oh, yeah.  Absolutely.  My dad is sitting in here with us right now.  He follows every single round I ever play.  It's crazy.  I see pictures of that shot and I remember busting into tears.  I remember talking to my dad and saying he was crying.  He was like why are we crying?  What does this mean?  What are we doing?  It's great.  He was always telling me you can never win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it on the first day.  I think we're sitting in a good spot for the next three days.
THE MODERATOR:  You have come a long way.  You were kind of shy at that time.  Now you're‑‑
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Now look at me.
THE MODERATOR:  Let's go over your card if we can.  You started on the back 9.  You birdied No. 10.  Your very first hole.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yeah.
THE MODERATOR:  What club did you hit and how long was your put?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  I really wish I had my yardage book.  I had 250 to the pin.  I tried to hit a 3‑wood.  Left it short just in the rough and hit a lob wedge up to about 5 feet and made it.
THE MODERATOR:  And then 17, the par‑3 you birdied?
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  I don't know.  Hit it to like ‑‑ that was that one.  I hit I think it was about 155.  I hit an 8‑iron.  Was trying to hit it 145 to the front and hit it to five inches.  I think I almost made it.
THE MODERATOR:  We had a couple of bogeys here.  No. 1 you bogeyed.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Bogeyed.  Yes I hit a 3‑wood off the tee.  I was hitting a sand wedge out of the fairway and didn't commit to it or didn't put all my energy into it and left it out to the right a little bit where you didn't want to be.  Basically 3‑putted.  I was off the green.
THE MODERATOR:  So 3‑putt.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes.
THE MODERATOR:  And No. 2 you birdied.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  2 par‑5, birdie.  I don't remember how far.  15 feet, maybe.  I don't remember.
THE MODERATOR:  And then a bogey on No. 5.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  That was another brain fart, if you will.  Hit a 3‑wood right in the middle of the fairway sitting perfect.  Wasn't committed to my second shot.  I was kind of on a side hill lie.  I tried to grip a 9‑iron and didn't want to come out of it like I did the wedge a couple of holes prior, and I pulled it into the water.  Basically got it up‑and‑down from the hazard.
THE MODERATOR:  Pretty good bogey.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Yes, very good bogey out of the rough.
THE MODERATOR:  No. 7 was your last birdie of the day.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  No. 7.  Long par‑5.  Thank goodness it was downwind.  I hit a great drive.  And then I had about 250 I think to the pin again.  Was trying to hit on the front.  Hit a 5‑wood up to like the front of the green.  Chipped it up and made about a 12‑footer.
THE MODERATOR:  Brittany, wonderful round.  69.  Tied for the lead.  Get some rest.  And good luck tomorrow.
BRITTANY LINCICOME:  Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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