"There’s more to life than chasing a dream"- 2x major champion Brittany Lincicome announces retirement from full-time LPGA schedule
Two-time major champion Brittany Lincicome announced Friday, Nov. 1, that she will retire as a full-time LPGA Tour player at the end of the current season. Lincicome announced her decision when accepting a sponsor's exemption for the Annika Driven, which will be played Nov. 13-17 at Pelican Golf Club in Florida.
Lincicome told Golfweek that she made the decision last summer when her oldest daughter started kindergarten.
“Kindergarten came around and I was like, you know what," Brittany Lincicome said to Golfweek, "there’s more to life than chasing a dream."
In accepting her sponsor's exemption for the Annika Driven, Lincicome officially announced her decision via a press release. This is part of what she said (via LPGA Tour News Service):
"I’ve had a tremendous career on and off the golf course on the LPGA Tour, and I’m incredibly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to finish my final full-time season where everything started for me here in the Tampa Bay region."
"Thank you to Pelican Golf Club, Gainbridge and Annika for giving me the opportunity to compete in front of my family, friends and fans."
Lincicome joins other professional players who will be completing key stages of their careers in 2024. They include major champions Lexi Thompson, Angela Stanford, Catriona Matthew, So Yeon Ryu, I.K. Kim, and Laura Davies.
Brittany Lincicome's career at a glance
Brittany Lincicome had an outstanding amateur golf career, playing in more than 100 tournaments and winning the American Junior Golf Association Chateu Elan (2001 and 2003) and the Avilla Junior Classic (2003), among others.
At the end of 2004, she attended the LPGA Tour's Q-School and earned her card for the 2005 season. She immediately began her professional career at the age of 19.
Since then, Lincicome has played on the world's leading tour. The first of her eight victories came in 2006 at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, where she defeated now LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster.
Lincicome's most important career result came in 2009 when she won the major championship now called the Chevron Championship. She repeated her triumph in 2015, beating Stacy Lewis in a playoff.
In 2018, Lincicome became the fifth woman to play in a PGA Tour event, the Barbasol Championship. She missed the cut by nine shots, but shot under par in the second round to become only the second woman in history to do so.
Lincicome represented the United States in six editions of the Solheim Cup, winning four times. Her record includes eight points in 21 matches, thanks to seven wins, 12 losses, and two draws.
She posted her best performance in the 2017 edition, when she won two points out of a possible three. In that edition, she lost her singles match against Carlota Ciganda, but won her two fourball matches teaming up with Brittany Lang.
In addition, Lincicome served as assistant to captain Stacy Lewis at the 2024 edition of the Solheim Cup, which the United States won 15.5 to Team Europe's 12.5.