Brittany Lincicome made a birdie on the first playoff hole to best fellow countrywoman Lexi Thompson on the first playoff hole at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.
“It was pretty incredible,” Lincicome said. “Just the leaderboard all week has been amazing, obviously a lot of Americans up at the top, obviously friends of mine, so to come down to the final stretch, I played with Lexi yesterday, and it was an awesome day. We had so much fun, and to obviously have the playoff today is a bummer, but it’s just incredible.”
Lincicome found her way into the playoff thanks to a clutch birdie on the 18th to close out her final round in 5-under, 68, and to post 26-under for the week. The win improves Lincicome to 2-4 all-time in playoffs with wins in her last two.
“Going into this week we talked about confidence, I wanted to work on my confidence, I wanted to be more confident out there,” Lincicome said. “I’m a good player. There is no reason why we’re not in contention more, so we had this whole long talk and she (Lincicome’s caddie Missy Pederson) told me, “Get out of your own way. We’re going to hit one shot at a time,” and that was the par 5, and I parred the par 5, which was kind of disappointing, but still she was, “One shot at a time, and we’ll see what happens,” but, no, I was shaking like a leaf and super uncomfortable for the last four or five holes. “
The win is the seventh of Lincicome’s career and first since the 2015 ANA Inspiration.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Lincicome admitted. “My husband (Dewald Gouws) doesn’t get to come to many events, so it’s pretty special that he was here this week and taking it in with me and enjoying all the festivities, and then obviously Pure Silk, Tom Murray mentioned before I was his first LPGA player that he signed, and now there’s 15 of us, so it’s just incredible so see how he’s grown and how many players he represents now and just how wonderful of a person him and his family are. “
While Thompson was disappointed with the finish she was able to take some positives from the week in the Bahamas.
“You know, I played well all week, and my putter definitely saved me, and I made a lot of birdies out there, just a lot of positives to take from the week,” Thompson said. “Brittany played amazing, amongst a lot of other players out there and it just got tough out there today, especially with three or four holes to go. That’s the hard stretch.”
Stacy Lewis finished third while Gerina Piller rounded out the top-4.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m going to the casino tonight, hopefully try not to lose all of our money that we won today. No, I haven’t been to the casino since Wednesday night, so I’m itching to go play.” -Brittany Lincicome on what she plans to do to celebrate her victory
RED, WHITE AND BLUE LEADERBOARD
The top-5 players on the leaderboard at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic hailed from the United States including champion Brittany Lincicome. It was the first time that five Americas were in the top-5 on the leaderboard since the 2011 Canadian Women’s Open.
“I mean, the only thing I can think of is that it’s a Solheim Cup year, and everyone is fighting for points, myself included. I think it’s great,” Lincicome said. “Obviously I love seeing the Americans playing well, being an American, and it’s not like we don’t try to play well. We obviously all work very hard on our game, and it just shows how many wonderful players are out on the LPGA and how deep the field goes.”
RACE TO CME GLOBE UPDATE
With her win at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic Brittany Lincicome took the early lead in the Race to CME Globe.
Heading into the fourth year of the Race to CME Globe, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan announced some exciting changes to the 2017 Race to the CME Globe via a Twitter video from Daytona International Speedway. The video kicked off a new social media campaign #CMERaceReady where players, sponsors, tournaments and fans are encouraged to show how they are getting ready for the 2017 LPGA Tour season and the Race to CME Globe.
In 2017, the reset points for the Race to the CME Globe will be modified slightly. As a result of these modifications:
- The Top Five (5) Finishers entering Naples will control their own destiny at the CME Group Tour Championship - meaning if they win in Naples, they will also win the $1M CME Globe.
- The top twelve (12) finishers entering Naples will have a mathematical chance to win the $1M CME Globe.
- Please note that previously, the Top 3 controlled their destiny and Top 9 had a mathematical chance