USA TODAY International Edition
Celebs take back seat to top women’s golfers
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Brittany Lincicome stood off to the side on the second tee, driver in hand, and offered advice, quips and commentary during the Mixed-Gender Long Drive competition. It was a lighthearted affair, featuring three shots apiece from John Smoltz, Mark Rypien, Jeremy Roenick and the LPGA player known as “Bam Bam.”
“Are there prizes?” Lincicome asked before going off in the anchor position. “If I throw my back out, are there prizes?”
Roenick, a nine-time NHL All-Star who turns 49 on Thursday, suggested Lincicome hit 3-wood to keep ’em in it.
The LPGA season kicks off Thursday with the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, featuring 26 LPGA players and 49 celebrities.
Lincicome, winner of the last two season-opening events, came up short in the long drive contest, putting up a best effort of 255 yards into the wind. Smoltz, who backed off several times to “let the wind play through,” came up 3 yards short of winner Roenick at 279 yards.
“Into the wind is not my specialty,” Lincicome said. “I’m more of a downwind, hit it hard, let it fly, kind of girl.”
Players at the TOC stay at Four Seasons and are treated to a variety of concerts and carts for their practice rounds. Stacy Lewis said the week had a lowkey vibe to it, a nice way to ease into a new year, particularly for a player coming off of maternity leave.
She particularly enjoyed around being all-star athletes cutting it up on the range. Her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, had already asked Tom Glavine for an autograph. They might hit up Smoltz later in the week too.
“I feel like events like this are really going to help us get more eyeballs on us,” Lewis said, “get more people paying attention. We’re on network TV this weekend, so I feel like we’re trending, but we still haven’t reached our peak yet. So I always feel like there’s work to do.”
While the LPGA champions compete for a $1.2 million purse, the celebrities have their own 72-hole Stableford competition with $500,000 up for grabs.
When asked what’s more nerveracking, being on the mound or inside the ropes at Diamond Resorts, Mulder didn’t hesitate.
“It’s this for sure,” he said. “I’ve gotten used to it more over the years, but the first few times, I can’t begin to describe to people how the energy, the nervousness that was in me. I mean, with baseball, I was confident in what I was doing. It didn’t matter. I didn’t see the fans. I didn’t hear anything. But then when that happened, next thing you know, the cameras are showing up. And the thoughts that go through your head, I’d never had them before in my life, so that’s what made it a different animal.”
The celebrities here this week aren’t hacks on the golf course, and they understand that there’s a bigger tournament going on alongside their celebrity event.
“I don’t know how these guys feel,” Roenick said, “but I literally want to go out and try to beat them. … I’m not kidding. I have that kind of competitive mode in me. Even if I have no chance, at least in my mind, if I can go out there and try to compete with them and try to hit the ball in the fairway, hit greens and try not push them, to me, that’s going to be a great inspiration for me.”