Lincicome 10 shots off Hooters lead

It’s unlike Brittany Lincicome to enter a tournament and not have her eyes set on a trophy. It’s also unusual for the three-time LPGA winner to exit an 18th green without a crowd of fans and autograph-seekers standing nearby. But then again, until the 2011 LPGA season kicks off in Thailand Feb. 17, anything is possible.

Lincicome became the first LPGA player to enter a Hooters Tour Winter Series event this week at Deer Island Golf Club. Looking simply for some tournament reps to break up a long winter hiatus from the LPGA, Lincicome threw her giant pink staff bag on a golf cart – probably one of the best perks of a starter-tour event – and played the first round under overcast skies and in relative obscurity. But for a few carts that caught her group at the turn, and a pickup truck parked off the 10th fairway that displayed a homemade sign in her favor, Lincicome’s round was a quiet one.

Playing on the 7,029-yard Deer Island layout – 500 yards longer than what she would encounter in an LPGA event – Lincicome shot a 2-over 74 that left her 10 strokes back. Her goal at the beginning of the week was to make the cut (top 38 players and ties), but after Tuesday’s round she admits it might need some adjusting.

“I should have just gone in today wanting to win and not even caring, just kind of be aggressive on every shot,” she said.

For the long-hitting Lincicome, length was not the problem Tuesday, but rather a few nerves at being in an unfamiliar setting as well as several close calls on the putting green. Lincicome hung back-to-back birdie putts on the lip coming in that could have gotten her to even par for the round.

“On my tour, I’m really aggressive, if I blow it by 4 or 5 feet, it’s not a big deal,” Lincicome said of her putting. “I can make it coming back. I think there was a little more nerves today.”

While the Hooters Tour may be unfamiliar, Lincicome isn’t a stranger to teeing it up in men’s events, as she has also played on the Moonlight Tour. Lincicome worried about how well she would be received. She need not worry, as Zack Sucher, who played for Alabama-Birmingham and turned professional a year and half ago, was singing her praises after standing up from the scorer’s table.

“I didn’t see that she was in the tournament. I noticed later they had something written up on the website; I didn’t notice that,” Sucher said of being paired with the LPGA star. “So I’m kind of going down the pairings sheet and I was like, ‘That can’t be right. Maybe there’s a guy with the same name.’ ”

For more on this story, go to Golfweek.com.