Golfer Sarah-Ève Rhéaume could have enjoyed her final months of NCAA eligibility. However, she chose to make the leap to the professionals earlier than expected. After two consecutive victories, she has no regrets about her decision.
When joined by The Press on the phone, Rhéaume was enjoying a period of rest and training in Florida, accompanied by her parents.
There, she was able to take advantage of her two victories acquired at Club Morongo, in Beaumont, California, on the Cactus Tour.
“We celebrated a bit after the tournament, but I had an overnight flight, so it wasn’t very long,” she says.
These two victories are in addition to her two triumphs from last summer, the Glencoe Invitational and the Ororo Women’s PGA Championship of Canada. At 22, the player from the Royal Quebec club, in the Capitale-Nationale region, already has four professional titles to her credit.
“At least now I can leave with the check,” she jokes.
She is referring here to the limitations placed on NCAA college athletes. Circuit which she decided to leave in favor of the professional circuit, although she was still eligible to return to Furman University in South Carolina, where she earned a business degree. She only has one class left before she can also earn a degree in economics.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SARAH-ÈVE RHEAUME
Sarah-Ève Rhéaume won two victories on the Cactus Tour in California.
I wanted to prepare for life and the professional circuit. […] After four and a half years at university, yes, I kind of did the trick, even if it was something for me to leave everything. I found that I had gone for everything I had to go for.
Sarah-Eve Rheaume
With the way she has behaved since and with the performances offered over the past few weeks, she knows she “really made the right decision and it was really the right choice to make”. “I’m glad I made the transition. »
With her two wins in California, she obtained a right to play for the next tournament of the Epson circuit, the last circuit before reaching that of the LPGA. Luckily, the tournament will take place at Club Morongo, on the ground on which she won her first tournament recently. “It gives me good motivation. I was going to have access to it later in the season, but to start right away, hope to make some money and get close to the LPGA, it gives my season a good boost. »
The new generation
Rhéaume, along with Brigitte Thibault and Céleste Dao, is part of a new generation of Quebec golfers who shone at university and are now trying to make a name for themselves among professionals.
This cuvée gives hope, because the fleur-de-lys is very little represented on the LPGA circuit and even less on the PGA Tour.
Moreover, the three players already have a great bond, as Rhéaume points out.
We have a good core. Céleste, Brigitte and I often played in the same junior, amateur and university tournaments. We’ve been following each other for a while, we support each other a lot. Celeste and I are super close. She came to stay with us during the holidays.
Sarah-Eve Rheaume
Women’s golf is experiencing strong growth overall. The best players in the world are more and more put forward, especially on television. Big companies also make the best female golfers their headliners.
For example, earlier this year, TaylorMade teamed up with Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson, arguably the two hottest female golfers of their generation.
“I dare to hope that things are going in the right direction. It’s sure to see TaylorMade signing girls like Brooke and Nelly, especially since they’ve always had the big players on the guys’ side like Rory [McIlroy]Tiger [Woods] and Scottie Scheffler, it helps. Having two girls like that is big. Hoping that companies sign more and more girls. »
If the future of golf is feminine, that of Sarah-Ève Rhéaume is promising. The next challenge will be to go through the different stages to the best women’s circuit in the world, because her ultimate goal is “to have [sa] card to play full-time in the LPGA”.