The golf career pathway for Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc has been a wild one, but days like today make you forget about the low times. Five years ago she retired from pro golf, followed by an eventual comeback that saw her have success on the Epson Tour, enough to earn her way back to the LPGA TOUR. But 2023 turned into a nightmare. Injuries hampered her play and rather than fight through them and waste her status, she chose to pack it in and make a return this season when she was healthy.
Even in a good place physically, her game has not quite shown form. In seven starts this season she has made it through to just two weekends with a t-58 as a peak finish. But today, she showed more of what she is capable of. The towering (6’1″) 35-year old from Sherbrooke, Quebec earned her way into the the 2024 United States Women’s Open through a qualifier in Haworth, New Jersey, not far from the site of this week’s LPGA tournament.
Leblanc posted a score of 132 for the 36-hole qualifier, an impressive -12 on the day. She was one of four players to advance, joining Carolina Masson, Nanna Koertz Madsen and Yan Liu.
Leblanc is the first Canadian to get through a Sectional Qualifiers this season with just a couple left on the schedule. Vanessa Zhang, Brooke Rivers, and Vanessa Borovilos have earned alternate status but it will be some time before they know if they have a spot in the championship.
Until then, Leblanc joins Brooke Henderson as the only Canadians who will tee it up at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on May 30 to June 2. Henderson was already exempt via her most recent major win at the Evian Championship (plus three other categories).
Leblanc last made an appearance at the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022 when she finished in 70th place, with a +18 weekend that tarnished the performance. She tied for 26th at the 2016 tournament and a t-50 showing in 2013, her first appearance at the event.
Today’s play just might be the spark she needs.
Keep an eye on her starting Thursday at the Mizuho Americas Open. She is in the tournament alongside fellow Canadian Brooke Henderson.
