It might be unusual for a guy named Lemieux to hear “Get in the hole,” rather than “He shoots, he scores,” but that will be the case in Bermuda starting Thursday.
Austin Lemieux, son of hockey great Mario Lemieux, will tee it up in the Butterfield Bermuda Classic after making it through the Monday qualifier. It will mark the first PGA Tour event for the 30-year-old amateur.
“My game was good enough to get through the Monday qualifier,” he stated. ”I felt like it’s been trending in the right direction for some time now. It’s just going to be a great experience for me to come out here and compete with these guys and see if my game’s good enough for the time being.”
Although he doesn’t play for a living and is still an amateur, he does have some talent on the course. He played in a Korn Ferry Tour event two years ago, shooting rounds of 78-68 to miss the cut. He recently won on the Minor League Golf Tour, a mini-tour in Florida where some pretty talented golfers play for small purses made up mostly of their entry fees. And he made it into this week’s event on the strength of a 66.
“That was my second Monday qualifier,” stated Lemieux, “so I wasn’t too nervous going into that Monday. Tried to learn from my past experience of my first Monday being a little too nervous. Just went out there and things kind of started rolling for me, got a few under par early and just stuck with it.”
Lemieux grew up in Pittsburgh where his father, the legendary Mario Lemieux, played his entire career with the Penguins and later became the club’s owner. Austin played hockey and was talented enough to get a scholarship to Arizona State. But golf soon took over from hockey as the No. 1 sport.
“I think it’s extremely different, but some of the movements that I find, and my coach finds are very similar,” he said when asked to compare the slapshot to the tee shot. “There are certainly a few things that I took away from hockey. As of now, it’s been pretty different.”
The 6-foot-3 Lemieux said his game is built around strength off the tee and a decent middle-iron game. Over the years, he said, he’s learned a little bit more about shot-making around the greens.
“Certainly everyone can be better at that,” he said.
While his father is known as one of the greatest hockey players of all time, he’s also a very good golfer, who carries a handicap around scratch. In 1998, Mario Lemieux won the American Century Championship, the pinnacle of celebrity golf tournaments. There are also regular golf games among the Lemieux family.
“It wasn’t until I was about 21 or 22 that I managed to beat him. He shot a lot of 66s and 67s,” smiled Austin Lemieux, who was quick to point out that his mother is also a very talented player.
The parents will be in Bermuda to watch their son make his PGA Tour debut. Austin has no delusions of winning and said his goal this week is to take it all in and enjoy himself.