She may have been seven strokes behind after round one, but Ottawa’s Grace St-Germain was leading when it mattered – at the end of the Quebec Provincial Women’s Championship. The 19 year-old Camelot Golf & Country Club member charged to victory on Friday in the third and final round of the championship at Château-Bromont.
Bromont is a course where she has played well in the past in both Junior and Amateur events and that comfort level played into her hands this week.
“It was a lot of fun. It was fun being back at that course,” she told Flagstick.com as she made the journey back home to Ottawa.
Rounds of 76 (+3) and 70 (-3) had tied the National Team Member for the lead after 36 holes with Noémie Paré at even par, but Grace quickly separated herself from the field in the final stanza with an opening side of three under par.
Playing in the final group of the day, St-Germain found herself playing with two pros competing for the Bromont Invitational title, an event run concurrently with the amateur championship. As a result she was not fully aware of where she stood on the amateur leaderboard for most of the day, but her own play was her focus. “I got off to a very good start. Other than my bogey on two I played a clean round. I was hitting it fairly close to the hole and then the putts were dropping so I got off to an easy rhythm on the front nine, then kind of held steady for the back nine.”
She added a back nine of one under par to close with a round of 69 to win by six strokes over the nearest amateur competitor, Paré. That was a bit of news to Grace who only heard from her mother during a hug behind the 18th green that she had officially won.
“I knew I was in a pretty comfortable position after the front nine but I did want to keep going and see how low I could go.”
Grace’s score of -4 in the final round put her at -4 overall for the 54 hole event.
This marks the second time St-Germain has won the provincial crown. She also managed the feat in 2014 when she was just 15 years-old, becoming the youngest player to ever win the title. She added second place finishes in 2015 and 2016 but did not play in the tournament last year due to a scheduling conflict.
Asked what being a two-time champion meant to her, St-Germain was clearly honoured. “It means a lot. I really like playing the Quebec Am and I love playing at Chateau Bromont so being able to play the Am at Chateau Bromont was just a lot of fun. I feel really comfortable at that course because it’s my third time winning an event there. I played pretty well when I won (the provincial amateur) at Milby; it’s a pretty tough golf course, but I think my game is a little more refined now. I’m still me though. I’m just playing my game,” she added with a laugh.
The win is also a good sign for the champion who is coming off a win at her NJCAA Regional Championship and a playoff loss in the National Junior College Individual Championship. She did so on the way to leading her Daytona State College team to a second consecutive National Title. She will head to vaunted University of Arkansas to begin her NCAA Division 1 college golf this Fall.
“I feel like my game is coming together really well. I’ve been putting a lot of hard work in, on and off the course and I feel like things are starting to pay off. It does give me a boost of confidence to keep this up throughout the rest of the summer.”
In addition to the Quebec Provincial Women’s title, Grace also won the pro-included Bromont Invitational held concurrently and conducted by Golf Quebec. She won’t get the $10,000 won by the leading pro, Brooke Baker, but she does have the satisfaction that she topped her by two strokes.
She will now turn her immediate attention to travelling with Team Canada to England for the British Women’s Amateur Championship at Hillside beginning June 26. She will fly there Saturday afternoon.
Having played in England before, St-Germain has a full head of steam going into the championship and is eager to play.
“I really like playing links golf and I feel like I am playing well right now, so I feel like I can do something really great over there.”
Final Leaderboard
| Pos | Player | Today | Thru | Total | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grace St-Germain Camelot G & CC | -4 | F | -4 | 76 | 70 | 69 | 215 | |
| 2 | Noémie Paré Victoriaville | +2 | F | +2 | 74 | 72 | 75 | 221 | |
| 3 | Emily Zhu National Pines Golf Club | +1 | F | +4 | 74 | 75 | 74 | 223 | |
| 4 | Brigitte Thibault Laval-sur-le-Lac Club | -2 | F | +5 | 69 | 84 | 71 | 224 | |
| 5 | Audrey Paradis Mirage GC | +2 | F | +11 | 77 | 78 | 75 | 230 | |
| 6 | Katherine Gravel-Coursol BlainvillierGC | +4 | F | +13 | 76 | 79 | 77 | 232 | |
| 7 | Annie Lacombe BlainvillierGC | +2 | F | +14 | 76 | 82 | 75 | 233 | |
| 8 | Mathilde Denicourt Pinegrove | +6 | F | +18 | 78 | 80 | 79 | 237 | |
| 9 | Camille Lapierre-Ouellet Cèdres (Les) GC | +7 | F | +19 | 84 | 74 | 80 | 238 | |
| 10 | Évelyne Lussier Mirage GC | +3 | F | +21 | 85 | 79 | 76 | 240 | |
| 11 | Rose Morissette BlainvillierGC | +10 | F | +22 | 78 | 80 | 83 | 241 | |
| 12 | Emily Romancew Elm Ridge CC | +7 | F | +23 | 79 | 83 | 80 | 242 | |
| 13 | Maggie Hong Fontainebleau | +12 | F | +26 | 84 | 76 | 85 | 245 | |
| 14 | Jany Martin Rivermead GC | +10 | F | +28 | 82 | 82 | 83 | 247 | |
| 15 | Mylène Limoges Boucherville | +7 | F | +32 | 87 | 84 | 80 | 251 | |
| 16 | Béatrice Grisé Pinegrove | +8 | F | +33 | 83 | 88 | 81 | 252 | |
| T17 | Julia Malone Rideau View GC | +12 | F | +39 | 93 | 80 | 85 | 258 | |
| T17 | Sasha Laoun Vallée du Richelieu | +11 | F | +39 | 85 | 89 | 84 | 258 | |
| 19 | Yasmine Daoud Elm Ridge CC | +10 | F | +41 | 84 | 93 | 83 | 260 | |
| 20 | Megan MacGregor-Coste The Royal Ottawa GC | +16 | F | +50 | 85 | 95 | 89 | 269 | |
| 21 | Nicole Tieman Public Player | +19 | F | +55 | 91 | 91 | 92 | 274 | |
| 22 | Andréanne Martin Laval-sur-le-Lac Club | +31 | F | +95 | 101 | 109 | 104 | 314 |
