Editor's Note: Bob Harig with the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) recently sat down with 19-year-old Brittany Lincicome who will make her LPGA Tour debut at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. The Wednesday afternoon scene at St. Petersburg Country Club is filled with a smattering of doctors, lawyers and retirees who throw their 20 bucks into a pot and fight it out over 18 holes in a weekly skins game. Then there is the teenage girl with the ponytail attempting to whip them all. If Brittany Lincicome (left), 19, seems out of place among country club members playing golf on a winter afternoon, it really is nothing new. She competed at the highest levels of junior golf and never attended some fancy academy. She qualified for the LPGA Tour without the aid of a high-priced swing guru or caddie. And unlike some other players, she'll embark on her pro career next week with mom and dad by her side, not an entourage of agents, sports psychologists or teachers. "We're all going to the same place," Lincicome said. The Seminole golfer who was homeschooled by her parents, Tom and Angie, begins her LPGA Tour career at next week's SBS Open at Turtle Bay in Hawaii, the season-opening event on the 2005 LPGA schedule. It is her first LPGA tournament as a card-carrying member of the tour, but hardly the beginning of her journey to professional golf. Lincicome toiled in the junior ranks, blasting drives past competitors and piling up victories. Tom Lincicome, who along with his wife runs a day care in Pinellas Park called A Child's Choice, drove Brittany around the country to various events while trying to keep an eye on the ever-growing expense of doing so. "I think Tom and I just have belief," Angie Lincicome said. "She's never been to IMG (golf academy), never had any backing, never had a sports psychologist. She's flown by the seat of her pants. I think she just believes. If you believe in yourself, all things are possible." Lincicome(above) with caddie/father Tom at the 2004 U.S. Women's Open. "It's been a total family commitment," said Tom Lincicome, who will caddie for his daughter in Hawaii. "We had to change our lifestyle. We didn't have the finances to do everything we wanted to do plus the golf. So golf took center stage. It was the main focus of anything we did. If we didn't have the money to do both, golf got the money. We sold our house and rented. "This was just an opportunity for her to have a better life than we had. The extra steps ... we took to make sure she was going to be better off." Despite the sacrifices, Brittany couldn't help but notice some of her peers and some of the advantages they were offered. Take, for example, Paula Creamer, 18, who also makes her LPGA Tour debut as a pro next week. Creamer, from Pleasonton, Calif., relocated to Bradenton four years ago to attend the David Leadbetter Golf Academy - which can cost $40,000 a year. Armed with Annika Sorenstam's former caddie, Colin Cann, a sports psychologist and her instructor from the academy, David Whelan, Creamer showed up at the qualifying tournament and won by five strokes. She has since signed to be represented by IMG and heads into her first LPGA event as a pro having already competed in 10 events over the past two years, with five top-10 finishes. Last year, in seven tries, she didn't miss a cut and finished second at the ShopRite LPGA. Meanwhile, Lincicome played in just two LPGA events, finishing 55th at the Women's Open and 66th at the State Farm Classic. It was at the Open where she led after a first-round 65. And it was at both tournaments where Lincicome learned she belonged, even if with limited experience. "I didn't play with Annika or any big-name people, but I learned I fit in, my game was as good as theirs," Lincicome said. "I hit the ball 30 yards past them. My putting is as good as theirs, my chipping is as good as theirs. It felt good to know I would fit in when I get out there. "It is going to be different, though. My mom has said, "When were you not in the top 15 in a tournament?' In junior tournaments, I was always in the top three, top five. Now playing against all these players ... it's going to be something I'll have to deal with for a while. It's a whole new thing. I might fall flat on my face the first few events. It'll be a learning experience. I'll try to grow from it, work with my pro." That would be Matt Mitchell, an instructor at the Tampa Bay Downs practice facility in Oldsmar who has worked with Lincicome for two years. Lincicome praises Mitchell for his role in her significant development. "Her swing has improved dramatically," Mitchell said. "She's gone from aiming 50 yards right (because of a hook) to hitting it straight. Her golf swing has changed, her short game. She's longer, she's straighter, she's more mature. She 's grown up as a person. She's going from being a big fish in a small pond to learning she belongs. "I'm sure she will continue to improve. If the next two years she improves as much as the last two years, she'll definitely win a golf tournament out there. She's come miles. But she has miles yet to go." That is certainly true at the beginning of the season. Lincicome has never been to Hawaii, and the second tournament is in Mexico. After a week home, it's on to a tournament in Arizona. Lincicome decided against hiring an agent at this time because of the expense, and will keep her father on as a caddie for the same reason. Her only endorsements so far are with Titleist, which signed her to a modest, shoe, glove and ball deal, and St. Petersburg Country Club, which is allowing her access to the course and all its facilities. She hopes to get a clothing contract and other endorsements, but first needs to "learn the ropes." Next week, she'll be inside them, playing for pay.