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Seminole's Lincicome Ready To Come Out Of Slump

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Seminole's Brittany Lincicome got off to a good start with her showing at the first round of the U.S. Women's Open Thursday.

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By MICK ELLIOTT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 27, 2008

EDINA, Minn. - Brittany Lincicome's tee shot on her par-4 finishing hole of Thursday's first round of the U.S. Women's Open took off hot before bending left, not terribly unlike a fighter jet banking for final approach, and settling into three-inch rough under a thick cluster of trees.

Watching the ball in flight, Lincicome slapped the ground with her driver. "Sit," she demanded of the wayward shot. Failing to see the desired result, the 22-year-old, fourth-year pro from Seminole, reacted only with a deep exhale before striding down the fairway.

"If it was a bad shot, it was a neutral reaction," she would say later, repeating the mantra of her first sports psychology session one day earlier. "I was not allowed to be upset, or throw a club or say a bad word. Just be neutral."

From there, Lincicome is hopeful she can soon shift back into overdrive.

The fact Lincicome would finish opening day at Interlachen Country Club by punching her second shot out of the wilderness and stiffing a 90-yard sand wedge to two feet to save par for an opening 1-over-par 74 certainly is a start. Lincicome trails Pat Hurst and Ji Young Oh by seven shots after both players carded 67 in the opening round.

"It's starting to come back around," she said. "Hopefully I'm coming out of this very soon."

A year after claiming a second career title and working her way onto the short list of America's young up-and-coming, Lincicome is being tested with the first honest-to-goodness slump of a young career.

She finished last year 13th on the money list. Along with a win in Orlando's Ginn Open, she collected a second and four top 10s. She played on the U.S. Solheim Cup team.

This year? Not so good. In 12 events there have been six missed cuts, a DQ for failing to sign her scorecard and one top-20 finish. Other than a tie for 17th in the Corona Championship in Mexico, a 34th-place finish at the McDonald's LPGA Championship stands as the year's current highlight.

Along the way, veteran tour caddie Greg Johnson left for another player. Tom Lincicome, who carried his daughter's bag her rookie season, returned to the job but lasted only two rounds and six holes before collapsing from heat and breathing problems at the LPGA Championship. A spectator volunteered to come out of the stands to finish the third round and save Lincicome from disqualification. A fill-in has been recruited each week since as she searches for a full-time replacement.

And last week, soreness in the left wrist that she broke three times - roller skating (1992), trampoline ('94) and rollerblading ('96) - was diagnosed as repetitive stress syndrome.

"I don't know what I did," she said. "I didn't hit a root. I didn't punch anybody. I think it's just a little weak. I need to strengthen it."

So how did this strange chain of events begin their link?

Lincicome is honest.

"I took too much time off in the offseason," she said. "I wasn't ready when the season started in Hawaii. Then I'm out on the road for four weeks straight and didn't see my swing coach. When I got home to see him again, my grip was wrong, my takeaway was wrong, everything was wrong. So we've had to kind of redo the whole entire swing."

Showing a growing level of maturity, Lincicome admits the price could be that of writing off the season. She also knows there have been whispers about her lack of offseason work.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it's a good lesson.

"She's 22 years old, had a great season and wanted to experience some other things," swing coach Matt Mitchell said of his prize pupil from back at his Tampa Bay Downs teaching center. "She wanted to go fishing and do some social things. That's my defense of her.

"I'm not so sure that's such a bad thing. Now she's so tired of playing lousy. She may not have worked as hard as she could have in the offseason, but for the past weeks she has never worked harder."

The rework in progress showed all its faces Thursday. Lincicome hit only four fairways, the lack of accuracy resulting directly to her four bogeys. Yet, she still managed three birdies and had three more chances with putts from between 12 and 15 feet that rolled tantalizingly close.

"My confidence is starting to come back," she said. "I'm hitting it just as far. I've been working extremely hard on my putting and chipping to get those right. And I felt like I was putting and chipping phenomenally out there. I just couldn't hit the fairway. It's really close."

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