Wednesday 18 July 2018 12:02, UK
Brittany Lincicome admitted she will be a “nervous wreck” when she competes in this week’s Barbasol Championship, becoming only the sixth woman to compete on the PGA Tour.
Lincicome accepted a sponsor's invite to feature in the event in Kentucky and will follow Michelle Wie, Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley, Shirley Spork and Babe Didrikson Zaharias in participating alongside her male counterparts.
Lincicome could create history by becoming the first LPGA player to make the cut at a PGA Tour event in more than 70 years, after Zaharias, but the American is trying not to think too far ahead.
"I'm trying to block that all out and just go out and play and have fun and play my own game and not be too tense or uptight about it," Lincicome, who described the prospect of competing as a "once in a lifetime opportunity", said.
"I think if I can do that and take a few slow breaths and not pass out on the first hole, I'll be okay.
"Juli Inkster told me years ago that if I wasn't nervous I wasn't human. If I wasn't nervous that obviously I didn't care and I was just going through the motions and didn't want to be out here anymore.
"The first three or four holes I'll be a nervous wreck for sure."
The two-time major winner, who has won eight times on the LPGA Tour, comes into the tournament in good form after a second place finish at the Marathon LPGA Classic.
"I'm super excited," Lincicome said. "I always thought it'd be cool to play in a men's event, but never did I think I'd have the opportunity. I just can't stop smiling.
"It's just kind of a cool kind of week to be here, and I can't wait for Thursday."
Lincicome joked that she hadn't been offered much help ahead of the event from fellow LPGA player Wie - who featured in the last of her eight PGA Tour events a decade ago.
"She wasn't very helpful," Lincicome, who was paired with the Hawaiian in a LPGA competition last month, said. "(She) said she couldn't remember it was so long ago."
Lincicome, who has played in six Solheim Cups, is determined to use the opportunity to entice another generation of golfer into the sport.
"If I can inspire one child to pick up the game of golf and want to play, I feel like my job as a pro has been succeeded," she said.
"To influence any child is pretty cool. To be in the position we are, any time I see kids I always try to give them a ball or a glove or make sure I sign their autograph.
"That might be that one autograph that will bring them back next time, and that's a pretty cool feeling."
