It’s been six weeks on the road for Gabby Lemieux (Caldwell, Idaho) but she isn’t showing any signs of travel-weariness through round one at the LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage II. The 25-year-old fired a 4-under 68 on the Bobcat Course at Plantation Golf & Country Club with 6 birdies and 2 bogeys on the card. A pressure-packed week like this one can put a strain on your game, but with a healthy amount of experience derived from playing both Q-School and on the Epson Tour and with husband Jared on the bag, Lemieux feels at ease so far.
“I felt like I just wanted to take one shot at a time,” said Lemieux of her mental strategy. “We ended up talking with a guy before the round even started. He even broke it down even further saying to take it one breath at a time, which that's the way you have to work with Q-school because it's a long four days, anything can happen. I felt really comfortable out there. Jared was trying to keep me light and happy. It was fun to see some putts go in. This is my sixth week out here not going home, so I had kind of a momentum builder coming into this. Started to make putts a few weeks ago, which was really, really nice to see coming into here. Making putts is what you need to do at Q-school.”
While making it to Q-Series is the end goal for everyone teeing it up this week in Venice, FL, having a chance at an LPGA Tour card would mean even more for Lemieux. She looks to become the first-ever Native American woman to compete on the LPGA and with the support of four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III, hopes to get the opportunity to inspire other women in her community to chase their dreams.
“It's amazing to have somebody who's already filled those shoes, somebody who's already been there. On top of (Notah) being Native American, it’s so helpful because he knows what to say and he knows already what I'm thinking. So when we're talking on the phone and I'm talking about my putting and I'll say I missed a few putts today, he'll say, ‘You've got it, go out and practice a few, roll them in and tomorrow you've got it. ’Golf was always there for me and I always played really well, but just to be the first Native American women's professional golfer on the LPGA speaks thousands of words. I just hope that maybe one girl, one Native American girl who's playing golf right now would see that and they'd want to do that too.”
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