Lincicome: Remarks on Trump misread
Brittany Lincicome’s recent comments to the
Chicago Tribune have put her front and center in the Donald Trump controversy at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open.
Tuesday, Lincicome, who prefers talking about fish she caught rather than current events, spoke with GolfWeek about the backlash she has received and the context of her quotes.
“I don’t have anything against the president,” Lincicome said. “I’m not political. Him showing or not showing isn’t a big deal. I wanted it to be more about us and not flip the limelight to him. It’s our biggest week of the year.” This is the quote from the
Tribune that brought criticism to Lincicome’s Twitter feed: “Hopefully maybe he doesn’t show up, and it won’t be a big debacle and it will be about us and not him.”
Lincicome says she is not antiTrump. She’s pro-LPGA. The two-time major winner wanted the stage to belong to the 156 female athletes who have gathered on Trump’s property to compete for the biggest purse of the year ($5 million).
Lincicome said that even if someone wanted to sit out this week for political reasons, it would be difficult to do so considering the paycheck that’s on the line and the job security it brings.
Lincicome says she never considered boycotting. Fellow American Stacy Lewis said she hasn’t heard a single player bring up the possibility of boycotting.
Lincicome has more than 81,000 Twitter followers and is among the most active tweeters on tour. She does all of her own social media.
“People were like, ‘I’m deleting you and not following you anymore,’ ” said Lincicome, who noted that one fan said he planned to trash the hat she had signed for him.
At first, Lincicome responded individually to her fans, explaining that she was trying to take politics out of the U.S. Women’s Open rather than make it the focus. She managed to sway the guy with the hat but after a while felt the need to take herself off Twitter entirely during championship week so that she could focus.
“It’s all just a misunderstanding,” Lincicome said.