Lincicome set to defend title at KNC
March 31, 2010
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP)—Brittany Lincicome was thinking birdie and came upwith an eagle.
That’s how she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year, her first majorand just her third career win.
The ending was a blur, from sinking a 4-foot putt to seal the win, gettingthe trophy and then finding out just how cold the lake is that winners jumpinto.
Always, though, there will be the shot.
After hitting a 275-yard drive down the middle of the fairway on No. 18,Lincicome hit a hybrid from 210 yards that cleared the water and landed on theupper part of the green, with the ball curling down just above the hole.
“Everybody always comes up to me, and they’re like, ‘I saw your shot. Talkme through it,’ Lincicome said this week. “It was really funny, yeah, I wasthere. I remember doing it.
“It’s definitely a shot that I kind of reflect on just for confidence, justknowing that I can hit that shot under pressure will help me in the future,”Lincicome said.
She’ll defend her title beginning Thursday at Mission Hills against a fieldthat includes South Korean Hee Kyung Seo, who ran away with the Kia Classic lastweekend, and Michelle Wie, whose rules gaffe on Sunday at La Costa cost her$90,000.
In last year’s final round, Lincicome was never worse than three strokesbehind. She stayed close as her good friend Kristy McPherson and Cristie Kerrtraded the lead back and forth.
Trailing McPherson by one stroke, Lincicome broke through with her amazingsequence of shots on the par-5, 485-yard 18th.
“My No. 1 thought was just getting the ball on the fairway,” she recalled.“After I hit that tee shot, it was like, all right, I’ve got a chance, at leastget it on the green, two putt and get the birdie and try to get in the playoff,hopefully Kristy doesn’t birdie on top of mine and beat me by one. But after Ihit that hybrid, it was right in the middle of the green, right where we wereaiming. I wasn’t anticipating it taking that slope that well, but I’m notcomplaining.”
Lincicome missed the cut at the Kia Classic. She tied for 26th in bothThailand and Singapore, the first two stops on the LPGA Tour this year.
Seo, meanwhile, ran away with the inaugural Kia Classic for her first LPGATour title. She beat Inbee Park by six strokes.
It was during Sunday’s round that Wie was penalized two strokes forgrounding her club in a hazard after hitting out of the water near the 11thgreen. The penalty dropped her into a tie for fifth.
“I think it was very unfortunate, and I left that where it was last week,and now I’m here at Kraft Nabisco and I’m really excited to play this week,”Wie said. “So all I’m thinking about is how I’m going to try to play my bestthis week.”
Still, it wasn’t her first run-in with the rules book.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “It’s something that you never want to do,but it happens. People make mistakes, but you know what, that’s all in the past.You know, I really think that that’s what happened, and hopefully from now on itwon’t happen. But you know, I’m just trying now to think about this week.”
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