Brittany Lincicome just wants to be happy. In order to achieve her goal, the two-time major champion tries to live a normal life, and her Instagram give you a glimpse of that philosophy. There’s the the occasional golf post, but it’s mostly filled with pictures of her husband, friends from the tour, videos of her hedgehog, and the occasional photo of her perfect manicure.
It’s her love of the quiet life that means Lincicome doesn’t try to bring unwanted attention to herself. So when she was invited to play on a sponsor’s exemption at the PGA Barbasol Championship this week, she was reluctant. “I actually called my agent, my husband, and dad to get their input,” she said.
While many players would have jumped at the opportunity, Lincicome thought about some of the pushback that may come as a woman competing on the men’s tour – particularly after the negative reaction to comments she made last year before the Women’s US Open. The tournament was at Donald Trump’s course in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Lincicome said she hoped the president wouldn’t make an appearance because she felt it would divert attention away from the golf. It’s fair to say that not everyone agreed with her thoughts, and she took a break from Twitter afterwards.
Now though, Lincicome is focused on the Barbasol Championship. She isn’t the first woman to play against the men. Babe Didrikson Zaharias first played on the PGA tour in 1934. Later the world No 1, Annika Sorenstam, competed at Colonial in 2003, where she experienced serious pushback (Vijay Singh, for example, threatened to withdraw if he was paired with her). Most recently there’s Michelle Wie, who played in a handful of PGA tour events, her first being the 2004 Sony Open when she was only 14.
None of the women before Lincicome made the cut in a PGA tour event. She is aware of that fact, but is not letting it faze her as she gets ready to tee off this Thursday. “I’m focusing on enjoying the experience, and having fun and not putting extra pressure on myself.”
Known as “Bam Bam” on the circuit, Lincicome is ranked 10th for driving distance on the LPGA tour, averaging 269.5 yards. This figure is impacted by the fact that she often has to hit a three-wood or hybrid off the tee since LPGA courses aren’t always driver-friendly. That suggests that she may hit it almost as far as some of the guys on the PGA tour, and she may have enough power in the tank to handle the 7,300 yard course at the Barbasol Championship.
Lincicome doesn’t want to pile on unnecessary stress before the event, but she believes female golfers are held to a higher level of scrutiny, particularly if they’re playing alongside men. “A lot of people equate the quality of golf to how far someone hits it, and distance is such a huge part of the men’s game. But there isn’t a lot of conversation about the women’s side of the game and how accurate we are. I’m hoping that me playing in this tournament will expose more people to women’s golf and that golf is much bigger than just distance,” she says.
Some people believe Lincicome’s invitation is a grab for attention by a tournament that is up against the Open in the schedule. Lincicome doesn’t see her participation as a gimmick though. “Listen, I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone. The par fives are like my bread and butter on the LPGA because I can go for most of them in two. I’m going to be playing the par fives as three-shot holes at this PGA event,” Lincicome says. “Also, I am putting myself out there in a different kind of spotlight.”
That’s a place that Lincicome isn’t particularly drawn to because she doesn’t want the focus to be on her gender: just on her golf. With that in mind, she sees the benefit of bringing more attention to the LPGA and perhaps inspiring girls to take up the game.
“I had a dad tell me that this his daughter had no interest in going to the [Barbasol Championship], but when she found out that I was playing she began crying and now wants to go,” she says. “I think that’s pretty cool. So hopefully I’ll get to meet her there, and who knows, maybe she’ll want to start playing golf.”
