Lincicome flops in PGA Tour start

(Reuters) - Brittany Lincicome, the first woman to compete in a PGA Tour event in a decade, found it hard going on Thursday as she slumped to a six-over 78 in the opening round of the Barbasol Championship.

Just the sixth woman to tee it up at a PGA Tour stop and the first since Michelle Wie in 2008, the big-hitting American got her day off to a confident start with three straight pars but then watched her round unravel mixing a triple bogey, a double bogey and two bogeys with a single birdie.

With the top players in the men's game competing in this week's British Open, Lincicome, an eight-time LPGA Tour winner with two major titles, entered the Barbasol with the goal of becoming the first woman to make a cut in a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias did it twice in 1945.

If the 32-year-old is to make the weekend she will have to produce some second-round magic as she currently sits at the bottom of the leaderboard, 13 shots adrift of early first round leader Argentine Andres Romero, who signed for a seven-under 65.

Playing the back nine first, Lincicome looked right at home as she stepped onto the 10th tee at the Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky and hammered her opening drive down the heart of the fairway to set up a routine par.

Following a steady start Lincicome's round began to unravel with bogeys at the par four 13th and 16th then wobbled into the turn with double bogey at par three 18th when her tee shot found the water.

Lincicome recovered with another solid start to her last nine rolling in a 30-foot putt at the par four third for her only birdie.

But all Lincicome's good work was undone with an ugly triple bogey on the par three seventh.

(Editing by Toby Davis)