It was the hardest secret Brigitte Thibault ever had to keep. But with an historic women’s event at golf’s most iconic venue now just around the corner, she’s ready to open up about it.
Thibault, a native of Rosemère, Que. (about 35 minutes north of Montreal) will be Canada’s lone participant at the first-ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur, set to take place April 3-6. The 20-year-old is a member of Golf Canada’s national team, and as Canada’s highest-ranked female amateur, she was received an invitation to take part in the prestigious event.
“I had that hope of maybe I would get in,” she says. “But it was all just hopes and dreams.”
The event — which was first announced during the 2018 Masters by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley — will see the first two rounds of the 54-hole event take place at Champions Retreat Golf Club – about 30 minutes from Augusta National. The top 30 finishers after 36 holes will then move on to play the final 18 holes at Augusta National itself.
All competitors will get to play a practice round at Augusta National regardless of where they stand on the leaderboard.
And if you’re wondering, no, the winner won’t receive one of Augusta National’s green jackets.
“The green jacket certainly is an iconic part of the Masters,” Ridley told reporters at last year’s Masters. “We plan to have a very distinctive award for the winner of this event, and we think in time that will become iconic. I can assure you it will be very, very nice.”
Thibault says the morning of January 17 she was working out – she’s in her second year at Fresno State University – and didn’t check her phone for 90 minutes. After leaving the gym she got a call from an anonymous number, which, she says, she never usually answers.
“It was the chairman inviting me to Augusta National,” she says with a laugh. “It was pretty crazy. If missed the phone call, I didn’t have the number show so I couldn’t even call back. It was all about the timing.”
She admits she started crying right after she found out the news that she would be in the field, and, still in shock, she called her family. She spoke to her dad first – her parents got her into golf as a young teenager – and her family started a group text-message thread to send her good vibes, since she wasn’t able to tell anyone for another week.
“It was a moment I’ll remember forever,” she says.
At 15 she began competing and immediately began to attract the attention of coaches.
“You can definitely see that she’s an athlete with her own move, but you wouldn’t initially guess that she hasn’t played very much,” says Tristan Mullally, the women’s head coach for Golf Canada’s national team.
“I don’t think I’d ever doubt her ability. Just because you’re new to the game you don’t have the background of what to do, when. I see all those things as positive though, because you look at how good she is, in such a short period of time, and how much she’s moved the needle, it’s a great sign for her in terms of moving forward.”
This is Thibault’s first year as part of the national team, but she had been making big strides long before she rose to the top of the squad. Last summer she Monday Qualified for the CP Women’s Open in just her second year of playing competitively.
“From that, that’s when I knew I could get there and dominate at some point. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever worked on,” she says of golf. “I’m the kind of person that if I try something, I acquire things fast. The fact that the conditions always change with golf, it’s a nice challenge to go through.”
Augusta National may be the hardest golf-course challenge she’ll have faced.
Thibault says when she first started to play she didn’t watch much golf, except for the Masters. Playing the course has been on her bucket list, she says.
She’ll be using a local caddie for the week and has picked the brain of Canadian Alan Palmer, who was a former professional at Augusta and is now a professional at Champions Retreat.
Thibault will have the support of Canada’s top-ranked golfer in Brooke Henderson, who recently told Sportsnet that it’s great to see Augusta National open up their course to some of the best amateurs in the world, and how it’s a “pretty cool” opportunity for the girls to tee it up at such a unique event.
But between the Canadian support, the extra time in the gym and on the course to prepare, and the pinch-me moments to come at the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, Thibault says she’ll try to treat the week as normal as possible.
It’s a surreal opportunity, she concedes. But it’s one she’s going to take full advantage of.
“My status of being a woman at first, it was always a dream to go there,” she explains. “It wouldn’t have been possible in the past. The fact they took the first step as a platform for golf, and they took that first step to include women, it’s a pretty amazing step. I feel like it’s an honour to be the first Canadian woman, and the only one to be there to represent my country.”
FACTS: AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN’S AMATEUR
WHAT:
Announced at the 2018 Masters, the first-ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur sees 72 women amateurs compete in a 54-hole event.
WHEN:
Round 1 and 2 (Champions Retreat Golf Club – April 3/4), Practice round (Augusta National – April 5), Round 3 (Augusta National – April 6)
FORMAT:
54 holes of stroke play. The top-30 golfers after the 36-hole cut will play the final round at Augusta National. Winner gets to play the next five Augusta National Women’s Amateurs (as long as she remains an amateur) and gets exemptions into the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open, Women’s British Open, and any USGA, R&A, and PGA of America amateur championships for one year.
NOTABLES:
Jennifer Kupcho – World No.1-ranked female amateur. Reigning NCAA individual champion and NCAA Player of the Year. Played Augusta National with her Wake Forest team and shot 1-under from the member tees.
Alexa Pano – At 14, Pano is the youngest competitor in the field. Has won over 100 events already in her young career. Nearly won on the Symetra Tour this spring.
Lucy Li – Made history in 2014 by becoming the youngest person to qualify for a U.S. Open at age 11. Played the Junior Ryder Cup in 2018 and, now 16, is ranked No. 7 in the world.