THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to the 2021 season on the LPGA tour.
To kick things off for us this Tuesday morning, none other than eight-time LPGA champion Brittany Lincicome.
Brittany, welcome, welcome. How was the long deserved break and what did o you do, who did you see?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Well, it wasn't that long. Every time this event rolls around obviously one of my sponsors, like you had to have won to get in this event, like I want to play really well.
It always happen after the off-season where I take way too much time off, and this off-season was no different. We didn't finish until right before Christmas, and here we are third week of January.
So definitely took some time off and just hung out at home with husband and my family and Emery. Played a little bit. My in-laws are in town, so we he got me out on the golf course. My father in law got me out a few times, which was nice.
But just enjoy the few weeks that we had, and really excited to be here. The weather looks absolutely perfect this week, so looking forward to a great week.
Q. And mentioning baby Emery, she's getting a lot bigger last time I saw. How did she enjoy Christmas?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, my gosh. Last year she was super small so she didn't really understand. This year she was opening presents before Christmas day. I couldn't get her to stop touching the presents.
So it was cool to see her kind of rip them open and then she was so cute, she wanted to play with each one for 20 minutes and open the next present. So it was kind of pushing her along to open more presents and not trying to overwhelm her I guess.
But she did great. I bought one present. I think my husband bought like 25 presents for her, so our house is filled lots of toys right now.
Q. And you mentioned it's the third week in January and you ended the season last year really strong, top 15 finish at CME. What have you been working on, if anything, in your game, or have you just been keeping your game strong?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, it's just getting back in a rhythm. Obviously last year having Emery and then the COVID stuff I had to take almost a year off, which is something I've never done.
So trying to -- you know, it was more like the nerves of it and just getting back in a rhythm. Obviously a lot of weeks off. It was kind of two weeks, week off, two weeks, you know. It was just hard to get in a rhythm really.
So towards the end of the season you obviously had a few more tournaments under my belt. Kind of seemed to start coming together, and then unfortunately the season was over.
Hopefully we can pick up on that quickly again and get right back into it.
Q. How does it feel to start this season with a little bit more of a laid back tournament? Celebrities come and play with us, too. How does it feel to be able to start the season compared to some other players who are waiting to start again?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, it's so great. This event is much fun. When girls are like, Oooo, it's so early in the season. I don't know if I'm going to be ready. I'm like, It's not that kind of an event.
Obviously we want to do well, we want to get a lot of points, make a lot of money. But just to hang out with some of the celebrities. Like I'm playing with Colt Ford today, maybe Tim Wakefield. When do you ever get to do that? It's just so fun to come and hang out and hit golf balls on the range by these guys and just get to talk to them for two seconds about life or their career or anything really.
So it's just a really fun, laid back event, and obviously we want to do well, though.
Q. Is there anybody in particular you're hoping to play with this week?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: It be really cool to play and John Smoltz because he's so good and I've never got to play with him, or Cole Swindell would be really cool.
Q. What, if any, new resolutions have you put in place for this year, golf or nongolf related?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: You know, I actually haven't even talked to my caddie yet about goals for 2021. Obviously we have this week and then still have some time off to talk about it.
Obviously getting another win would be great. I would love to win the U.S. Open one of these years before I retire.
I'm not retiring soon. That came out wrong, I think.
Solheim obviously is this year. That would be great to be able to make the team. Obviously I have some work to do, but that would be cool.
So wins, win the majors, Solheim. Just want to be more consistent, too. It's always the top players, they're always around the top 10 every week, top 20 at worst every week. I just want to learn how to be more consistent.
Q. Before I pass it onto some questions, second time playing here at Four Seasons. Have you been able to get any practice time in, and how is the course playing right now?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I have not played it yet, but it's always in good shape. I talked to Mike Flaskey and he said the golf course is perfect, so I trust that if he's been already been out here and seen it and he thinks it's really nice.
It's just a fun golf course. It's a resort golf course, so pretty much straight in front of you. You can kind of hit some errant shots, if they happen to go offline, and still be okay most times. It's a great golf course for the first event of the season for sure.
Q. What's been your most memorable celebrity moment at this event? Who is the most fun to play with?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Gosh, last year I got a paired and Larry the Cable Guy and Michael Waltrip, and then they requested me to play the second day with them as well. So my stomach was hurting the whole entire time. He is always on. He never turns off. There is always a joke coming or something. It's just so entertaining. We were playing music the whole time.
It's just fun to hang out with people like that and have a fun round. It makes you think that you're just playing a round of golf with your buddies and it's not really a competitive round, and makes it more relaxed.
Q. Were you worried this event might not happen because the celebrity component? And there are actually concerts.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I know, it's crazy. I was so glad to see this event didn't have any hiccups, because it's just so much fun. We obviously look forward to it.
The way that they're keeping us separate from the celebrities and we're not allowed to go to the concerts unfortunately, which is a bummer, but it's still just them having it. Maybe I can sit in any car and roll down the window and hear the concerts, because it's obviously outside. So that is great.
Yeah, so they're still having it and doing the concerts, still have all their people here, so it's pretty awesome.
Q. This has always been kind of a laid back way to start the season. Almost feels like it's an extension of last season because we didn't really have much time off. How does it feel differently from a player's perspective?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: You're right. We had three-week breaks during last season, so it kind of feels almost the same. Feels like nothing has shifted, nothing has ended. Just feels like you're rolling into 2021 out of the other season.
We have four weeks off after this, so maybe that will be our official off-season and get back going again. But it is what it is, and we are just so happy and so blessed that we got to play so many tournaments last year. I mean, after the start I didn't think we were going to get to play nearly as much as we did.
We're grateful for the tournaments that still happened and still allowed us to play and do our jobs, and here we are in 2021.
Q. We did have a full schedule this year.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Very full.
Q. Have you looked ahead and picked out where you'll play and won't?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I have done it a little bit. It's obviously a lot in a row that it was just like, Oh, my gosh. I don't even know if I want to look that far yet.
Obviously playing all the Florida events, Kia, ANA; there might be a week off. I think I'm going to skip Hawaii, and then play the L.A., Thailand, Singapore, assuming those happen.
Skip China, play the next couple, and then it's just hit or miss after that. Seems like a week off, two or three weeks in a row, week off kind of a situation.
Q. One last question before we let you go back to practice. I know you talked about resolutions before. One thing you're most looking forward to this year, golf or nongolf related, what would it be?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: I mean, it has to be just having Emery out and having her watch me play. I mean, we have golf clubs at home now. She has no idea what to do with them.
Q. Oh, does she play now?
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Oh, no. I'm trying to get her to hold the club and whack the ball any direction. So we're still working on it.
But just having her out here. Any time we see golf on TV, whether it's men's or women's golf, she starts clapping immediately. Oh, are you trying to associate like mommy plays golf with golf on TV.
So it's really cool to see that, and he loves being out here. She'll walk all 18 holes and not make a peep the whole entire time, which is really cool.
Like I had her at a friend's soccer game the other day and they were like, How is she sitting there so quiet and not making nose and doesn't want out? I'm like, She watches me play five-hour rounds of golf all time, so I think that's awesome.
Q. Your bio for Diamond Resorts for the home page mentions that you're Bam-Bam because of your long hitting. Maybe Emery can get nickname, too.
BRITTANY LINCICOME: Yeah, I feel like with my husband being an ex-long drive player and myself being a long hitter, I feel like she's going to hit it pretty far.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much Brittany, and good luck this week.
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