Brittany Lincicome figures she already has a leg up on the rest of the field for the U.S. Women's Open that will be coming to Oakmont Country Club in early July. And not just because she played a practice round there on Mother's Day, less than 24 hours after she threw out the first pitch at a Pirates game.

Lincicome, who is 24, is one of the longest players on the LPGA Tour, ranking second in driving distance in 2009 (272.1 yards) and second so far this season (272.3). But, while Oakmont's deep bunkers and Draculian grass ditches put a premium on driving accuracy, she thinks she will need her length at the wondrous beast if she wants to win another major championship.

"Just being able to hit it farther than all the other girls separates me from them, especially in majors because they are [set up] so long," Lincicome said during her three-day visit last weekend in which she also served as co-chairperson with decorated amateur Carol Semple Thompson for the Race For The Cure. "At Oakmont, you have to keep it in the fairway and you have to hit it in the right spot on the greens. ... There are certain pins you can't aim at.

"It's something you know coming in, so you got to get your mind ready for it. But, being one of the longer hitters, even if I'm in the rough, I should have a mid- to short iron and I normally can get it out pretty easy. Being a longer hitter is going to help me all over the golf course."

It was Lincicome's length that helped her win the Kraft Nabisco Championship, her first major, last year. At the 72nd hole, trailing by one, Lincicome delivered one of the most dramatic shots in LPGA Tour history -- hitting a hybrid from 210 yards over water to 4 feet for eagle at the par-5, 485-yard finishing hole. That gave her a one-shot victory over playing partners Christie Kerr and Kristy McPherson.

Lincicome's victory remains something of a watershed moment for American players. Since Kerr won the 2007 U.S. Women's Open, it is the only time in the past 11 majors that a U.S. player has won the championship.

"It helped a lot with my confidence, just being in that position and hitting all those shots that I did on Sunday coming down the stretch to win my first major," Lincicome said. "It's something they can never take away from me. It's something I can reflect back on if I'm in that situation again. It's just a great confidence booster."