Brittany Lincicome Takes the Win and the Leap (Video)
Apr 5, 2015; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Brittany Lincicome (middle right) takes the leap into the pond with her father Tom Lincicome (right), fiance
The final hour of the ANA Inspiration was a cliffhanger. After three days of predictable golf I was treated to a Sunday Shootout by two of my favorite players — Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome — in a playoff that I don’t think anybody saw coming. Here’s how it all went.
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Stacy Lewis went into the ANA Inspiration final round at 7-under par and trailing leader, rookie Sei Young Kim, by three shots. By the numbers Lewis was the underdog and her only hope of taking another leap into Poppy’s Pond was to play her game, stay out of trouble, and wait for Kim to make mistakes. That’s exactly what she did.
Kim, who’d doubled the par-4 fourth hole after a stray drive into the nasty Rancho Mirage rough, was managing to hold on to a 1-shot lead as she and Lewis made the turn but with Kim at 10-under and Lewis at 9-under the gap was narrowing.
Lincicome started the final round at 6-under, one shot behind Lewis. Playing ahead of the final group, Lincicome stuck with her game plan as well and when she made the turn she’d also picked up a shot and was at 7-under, still trailing the leaders and running out of holes.
Lincicome played the back nine at even par, grinding it out and looking like she was set for a solid 3rd place finish, until the 72nd hole, the infamous finishing hole that demands either a gutsy 2nd shot over Poppy’s Pond to make the green in 2 or a safe layup and easy chip over the water to make the green in 3.
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BamBam had been owning that hole all week and her drive was simply magnificent. She took the gutsy route, eagled the hole, picked up 2 shots, and looked at the leaderboard. Behind her, Kim was struggling with the back nine and has fallen to 7-under. Lewis, who’d been trading birdies and bogeys, was at 9-under. A playoff was likely.
Morgan Pressel, who’d been in the lead earlier but had fallen back over the weekend, was paired with Lincicome Sunday. They were looking at the board together and Pressel told Lincicome to stop talking and go practice putting. So Lincicome rolled putts while Lewis and Kim finished the 17th and 18th holes and then the two friends and fishing buddies faced off for a playoff.
Lewis and Lincicome played 18 three times. Twice they both parred it. They were running out of daylight. Then the golf gods intervened. Lewis’s layup landed in a sand-filled divot and her 3rd was short, leaving her at the disadvantage. Lincicome finished the hole with an easy 2-putt and the victory — her first since the 2011 Canadian Women’s Open, the 6th of her career — was hers!
That was the win and in case you missed it, here’s the leap!
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