Native American golfer Gabby Lemieux aims to inspire at Island Resort Championship

Posted by author June 21, 2024 Golf

HARRIS, Mich. (WLUC) – The Island Resort Championship tees off Friday at Sweetgrass Golf Course. The championship is part of the Epson Tour, and it holds a lot of power for female golfers, according to Island Resort and Casino General Manager Tony Mancilla.

“It’s a feeder tour to the LPGA,” Mancilla said. “It’s the highest level of golf in women’s golf. This is the tour where they can earn that card to play on the bigger tour.”

Most of the Island Resort Championship’s participants are playing on the Epson Tour this year, but some, like Idaho-native Gabby Lemieux, earned an exemption.

“As a sponsor of the tour, you get to choose two players at your discretion that you think will help the field,” Mancilla said. “She, for a technical reason last year, did not get her card, so this year she asked us for an exemption. We gave it to her.”

This weekend’s event presents a major opportunity for Lemieux’s career.

“If I happen to win this week, I will be a full-time 2024 Epson Tour member,” Lemieux said. “Then I’ll get to finish out the season here, so that would be something really cool to happen.”

While making it on the tour would be historic, Lemieux is already making history as the only Native American player in the tournament.

“I’m just super proud to be the first, and I’m hoping that I’m not the last,” she said. “I want to help the next young little girl, young little boy that wants to aspire to be a professional golfer, and hopefully one day I’ll get to help them out.”

Lemieux strives to be a role model for native golfers and native youth, sometimes just by doing the little things. She’ll have an opportunity to do that this weekend, given the local ties to the Hannahville Indian Community.

“I always find a way to either give a golf ball or talk to the young kids at the golf course because it’s very important just to go out there and make them feel like they’re welcomed on the golf course,” Lemieux said.

Lemieux wants the younger generation to know that they can achieve what she’s achieved.

“Anybody who pursues professional golf definitely wants to get on the LPGA,” she said. “For me personally besides that, it’s to make an impact in Indian country and just to make sure that people who are Native American can see that we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to.”