Lincicome Faces Big Crowd at Canadian Women’s Open

When you’re competing against 48 of the top 50 people in your field, you can be forgiven for feeling a little nervous. If she’s feeling butterflies, Brittany Lincicome isn’t letting anyone know at the Vancouver Golf and Country Club in the suburb of Coquitlam for the CN Canadian Women’s Open, which runs from Thursday to Sunday.

Lincicome is the defending champion of the event. She captured the title last year at the Hillside Golf and Country Club near Mirabel, Quebec, beating Michelle Wie and Stacey Lewis by one shot.

While the 26-year-old from Seminole, Florida hasn’t won yet this year, she did finish tied for second with Inbee Park last week at the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge’s Ghost Creek course near Portland, Oregon. Mika Miyazato won the event by two strokes, the first professional victory for the 22-year-old golfer from Japan.

With a total purse of $2 million and the winner’s take of $300,000, this week is not among the most lucrative stops on the LPGA Tour. Lincicome doesn’t mind — the more, the merrier. “I still wish all 50 could be here,” she said after a practice round on Tuesday. “It’s such a wonderful event, and an event that I look forward to defending or not defending. I would never miss this event unless I broke a leg.”

The affable Lincicome also has a rather unusual way of knowing whether she’s doing well: if she’s talking a lot, things are going fine. “I’m a chatty player, and I love interacting with the fans — especially if I’m playing well. … I like to be out there signing autographs. I’m talking to the little girls and boys watching us and to the person who’s holding the (score) sign out there.”

Also featured in the field is Paula Creamer, I.K. Kim, Ai Miyazato, Ontario’s Lorie Kane, and Yani Tseng, the world’s top-rated women’s golfer who has won more than $8.5 million in her six-year career. Tseng got off to a quick start in 2012, winning three of the first five tournaments, but just as suddenly hit a rut; she finished tied for 11th in Oregon last week, and that was after missing the cut in three recent events. Perhaps she can find her game this week: her first professional victory occurred at the Vancouver course in 2007.

“I have been struggling a lot,” said Tseng in an interview. “I’ve been on the top, and maybe this will be good to start a good year again, because we still have a lot of tournaments to go. I’m very excited and very much looking forward to this tournament and the future.”