Just before COVID-19 began shutting down sports across the globe, Native American pro golfer Gabby Lemieux (Shoshone-Paiute Tribes in Idaho) missed making the cut by one shot at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening tournament in Winter Haven. Lemieux shot 73-78 for a 151 total, which was one shot shy of the cut at the 12th annual Florida Natural’s Charity Classic held March 6-8 at the Country Club of Winter Haven.

“Today [husband and caddy Jared] and I are back to the drawing board,” Lemieux, 23, posted on Twitter a few days after the tournament.

“We had a little step back last week in Winter Haven. Honestly, if it wasn’t for all the stroke penalties…we would have made the cut by a long shot! We didn’t think we had the best ball striking that week but we fought hard and wheeled it back. Besides having to take three strokes and struggle a little bit and still ‘make the cut’ (in our heads) the future for us this year feels like it’s going in the right direction.”

Lemieux’s opening round on the par-72 layout featured two birdies, five bogeys and an eagle on the par-5 18th hole. Her rollercoaster second round included five birdies, five bogeys, one double bogey and a quadruple bogey 8 on the par-4 10th hole.

The field featured 132 players with the low 60 and ties making the cut. It was a 54-hole event.
The Symetra Tour is the minor league tour of the LPGA. The purse was $125,000. Winner Janie Jackson, of Alabama, took home $18,750.

The Symetra Tour has postponed tournaments through mid-June due to COVID-19.

Lemieux’s season debut came a month after she played with 4-time PGA Tour champion Notah Begay and Seminole Tribe Chairman Marcellus W. Osceola Jr. in the Chairman of the Greens Charity Golf Tournament in Plantation.