Championships - Weetabix Women's British Open 2006
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21.07.2006
America’s Young Guns Hone in on 2006 Weetabix Women’s British Open Title
Golf fans will be able to watch one of the biggest hitters in women’s golf in action when the new HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship winner, Brittany Lincicome, tees up in the Weetabix Women’s British Open, to be staged at Royal Lytham and St Annes on August 3rd to 6th.Lincicome, 20, from Seminole, Florida, is currently averaging over 280 yards from the tee on this year’s US LPGA Tour and she used that enormous power to defeat veteran, Juli Inkster, 3 & 2 in the final of the recent HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey.
The talented 5’ 10” blonde American will be making her debut at this year’s Weetabix Women’s British Open but has no doubt that her power will gives her a great advantage over many of the other golfers in the field.
“I think that is always going to be one of my strong points,” Lincicome said after completing her first LPGA Tour victory at Hamilton Farm. “It kind of wears on you (the opposition) when somebody is out-driving you by 60 yards all day.
“It has definitely helped me … having a wedge into most greens has got to be a good thing.”
Lincicome (pronounced Lin-ci-cum) is just one of the new breed of exciting young Americans golfers who will be crossing the Atlantic determined to wrest the Weetabix Women’s British Open title from last year’s winner, Jeong Jang of South Korea. She will be joined by Michelle Wie, Paul Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Morgan Pressel who between them have transformed the profile of women’s professional golf over the last 12-18 months.
Wie has enjoyed most of the headlines with her much-publicised sorties onto the men’s Tour but Creamer, Gulbis and Pressel have also illustrated their not inconsiderable talent with a string of strong finishes, both in America and elsewhere, and now Lincicome has qualified for that select group by winning one of the most prestigious titles in the women’s game.
“I’m so in shock. It’s a huge accomplishment,” Lincicome said after collecting a winner’s cheque of $500,000. “Ever since I was a little girl all I’ve wanted to do was win a tournament on the LPGA Tour and it means even more that I managed to beat golfers like Michelle (Wie), Lorena (Ochoa) and Juli (Inkster) along the way.
“It’s huge for me,” she added. “There’s no other way of looking at it.”
Lincicome and the other young Americans are part of a stellar 2006 Weetabix Women’s British Open field that also includes all three of this year’s Major Championship winners, Karrie Webb (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Si Re Pak (McDonald’s LPGA Championship), Annika Sorenstam (US Women’s Open Championship), plus no fewer than 25 of the top-30 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking.
Sorenstam, whose win in last month’s US Women’s Open gave her a tenth Major title, won the Weetabix Women’s British Open the last time it was held at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2003. On that occasion, the Swede closed with a two under par 70 to record a two stroke victory over Si Re Pak and is looking forward to an emotional return to the Lancashire course.
“I was delighted to hear the Weetabix Women’s British Open is returning to Royal Lytham and St Annes,” said the world’s No. 1. “It’s a good test of golf and a great venue for a Major championship, Hopefully, the experiences I had when I won there in 2003 will set me up for a successful week.”
Last year, when the Championship was held at Royal Birkdale, one of the strong South Korean contingent, Jeong Jang, completed a rare wire-to-wire victory to claim her first professional title. She defeated Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson and another Korean, Young Kim, by a four stroke margin with a four round 16-under par aggregate of 272.
Organisers are anticipating that the 2006 Weetabix Women’s British Open Championship will attract well in excess of the 75,000 spectators who turned out at Lytham in 2003.
A range of tickets are currently available both from the Ladies Golf Union’s web site at www.LGU.org or from the NEC box office on 08700 109021
Adult season tickets are available at £50 with a Senior Citizen’s season ticket priced at £40. Adult daily tickets start at £5 for the official pro-am day on August 2nd and rise to £20 for the four days of the Championship itself (Senior Citizens £16). Juniors under the age of 16 are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult.
Additionally, organisers are also offering two free tickets for every ten adult tickets purchased.
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