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If all goes well in her career, Brittany Lincicome won't be playing the LPGA tour 15 years from now.
If all goes well in her hobby, she might be playing in the World Series of Poker.
"I'm going to retire at 35," says Lincicome, 20. "I want to fish all day or gamble all day. My goal is to make enough money to retire at 35."
Lincicome took her first real step toward that goal July9 when her victory in the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, her first LPGA win, paid $500,000. It was the biggest payday of her career and boosted her up the money list and ahead of many of her young rivals.
Long-hitting Lincicome, who averages 280.3 yards off the tee, second on the tour, is one of the popular young players competing in the Weetabix Women's British Open, which begins Thursday at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire, England. It's the final LPGA major of the season.
The first three ended in playoffs, and veteran stars Karrie Webb (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Se Ri Pak (McDonald's LPGA Championship) and Annika Sorenstam (U.S. Women's Open) ended up on top. Webb and Sorenstam are in the Hall of Fame, and Pak will be inducted next year when she completes 10 years on tour.
Despite those wins by veterans, the spotlight has been focused to a large extent on a group of young stars: Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis, rookies Morgan Pressel and Ai Miyazato and 16-year-old Michelle Wie.
Lincicome was a dominant player in the American Junior Golf Association, where she entered 100 amateur events and won approximately 60 of them, and her victory in the match-play event re-established her credentials among the young stars.
"This is the same as junior golf, except it's a lot better," she says. "In junior golf, you didn't have to shoot 62, 63, 64. Now we have to go low all the time."
Lincicome's lowest score this year is a second-round 65 on the way to a third-place finish in the Takefuji Classic, one of four top-10s on the season. Her stroke average wasn't a factor in the match-play event, but she won six matches, beating Wie in the quarterfinals, Lorena Ochoa (second on the money list) in the semifinals and Hall of Famer Juli Inkster in the final.
"It's huge," she said of the victory. "Beating all those players means I actually did deserve to win."
Although she played on the boys team in high school in Florida, she has strong opinions about women playing golf against the men. She disagrees with Wie's tactic of developing skills while playing PGA Tour events.
"If you can't beat Annika (Sorenstam)," she says, "there's no reason to go to the men's tour."
Sorenstam failed to make the cut in The Colonial in 2003 and then said she wouldn't play another PGA Tour event.
At 16, Wie is too young to join the LPGA, so she's limited to six exemptions, plus the U.S. and British women's opens. She continues to accept exemptions to select PGA Tour events.
"We wish she'd play our tour," Lincicome says. "The guys don't need her help."
Lincicome doesn't mind challenging the guys when it comes to cards, especially Texas Hold'em poker.
"I'm getting' good," she says. "I take only $100 with me. When it's gone, I'm done."
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