LPGA's Lincicome misses cut despite eagle in sub-par round
American Brittany Lincicome holed out an eagle on the penultimate hole and shot a 1-under-par 71 but failed to become only the second woman to make the cut in a men’s event at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky on Saturday.
A 6-over 78 in her first round on Thursday proved too big a handicap to overcome as the LPGA player finished 36 holes at 5-over, on 149, well off the projected cut of 4-under, according to PGATour.com. Only one woman has made the 36-hole cut in a men’s event — Babe Zaharias in 1945.
“I felt a lot calmer today,” Lincicome told Golf Digest.
“This is obviously a much bigger stage or different stage than I’m used to,” said the sixth woman to compete against the men — and the first since Michelle Wie in 2008. “With a (LPGA) major (Women’s British Open) coming up, hopefully that first tee shot I won’t be as nervous. I’ve learned to kind of play through the nerves this week, which is great. Just in the future I think that’ll really help me.”
Despite finishing 23 strokes behind second-round leaders Troy Merritt, Robert Streb, Hunter Mahan, and Tom Lovelady in the weather-hit tournament, the long-hitting Lincicome had some delightful moments in her delayed second round at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
None was bigger than the eagle, which she holed out from 116 yards at the par-5 17th hole.
“A great little grip gap wedge,” she said. “Right when I hit it I thought I hit it a little short. I thought it was going to spin back a little bit on me. Then when it landed I was like, okay, it’s on top, and then it rolled back and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I mean, the highlight of my week. So cool.”
Along with the eagle, Lincicome, an 8-time LPGA Tour winner, delivered five birdies and six bogeys after waiting a day to play her second round because of rain.
“It was a pleasure, a treat,” said Conrad Shindler, who was paired with Lincicome for the round. “She’s really consistent. She does the same thing every shot. She just knows where it’s going to go.”
There were even words of encouragement from the British Open in Scotland where top US men are playing this weekend.
“Amazing to see @Brittany1golf shoot under par in a @PGATOUR event,” tweeted twice US Masters winner Bubba Watson.