Marchand's win comes with big benefits

Brittany Marchand certainly has a good sense of timing.

The Orangeville, Ont., product captured her first professional win taking a three-stroke victory at the PHC Championship in Milwaukee, Wisc., on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA Tour’s development circuit. The first-place cheque of $15,000 moves her from 41st on the money list to inside the top 20. The top 10 at the end of the season earn cards for the LPGA Tour.

But this win comes with an added bonus – a spot in the Evian Masters, one of the LPGA Tour’s five major championships.

“This is definitely fulfilling for sure,” said Marchand. “I feel like my game has been there. I feel like this has been hiding within me.”

Marchand made only two bogeys through the tournament’s 54 holes and posted a career-low 64 on Saturday.

“Today and yesterday I hit the ball great and yesterday I just made every putt I looked at which was awesome,” she said of her weekend rounds. “Today [I didn’t make] as much. I hit the ball great but missed a lot of opportunities, but I just had a lot of patience with myself and just tried to stay positive.”

Marchand, who played for North Carolina State and was a member of Team Canada, said there were a few nerves before she teed off as she tried to avoid thinking about what was on the line. She admitted to being a bit tentative on the first few holes, leaving a couple of putts short. But she gradually eased into her game and finished off in style with a birdie on 18 for a 68.

“It’s awesome,” she said of the victory and the spot in the Evian Championship. “To have a win and to have a double bonus, that’s awesome. Any opportunity I have to play out there [on the LPGA Tour] is awesome and I get to play a major in France which is pretty cool.”

Marchand has also received an exemption into the CP Women’s Open in Ottawa in two weeks. She played in the other LPGA stop in Canada, the Manulife LPGA Classic, in June and went into the final round inside the top 10 before ending up tied for 46th.

There are six more events on the Symetra Tour schedule and that gives Marchand a chance to climb up the rankings and possibly crack the top 10 to get a promotion to next year’s LPGA Tour. The win in Milwaukee has told her she has the game to compete at the highest level.

“I think that I confirmed to myself that I can do this, that it’s in me,” she stated. “It’s just nice to know that it’s there and that if believe in myself and just let it happen that, it will happen. This year has been a little up and down for me and my mind has gone all over the place. It’s just really cool to have this happen now.”