Jolie Brochu Is 15-and-under Junior GAM Player Of The Year

Jolie Brochu Is 15-and-under Junior GAM Player Of The Year

Jolie Brochu of Goodrich Tops 15-and-under Junior Girl’s Honor Roll

  FARMINGTON HILLS – Jolie Brochu said as a golfer in 2018 she kind of came out of nowhere.

  “It was the year I emerged, and I’m super excited about it,” she said. “I was improving, learning, getting better and had a great season with my school team. Then in the summer my game just took off and I kept getting better and better.”

  Brochu, 15 and a sophomore at Powers Catholic High School in Flint, is the 2018 Golf Association of Michigan 15-and-under Junior Girl’s Player of the Year, Kyle Wolfe, director of handicap and competitions, announced today.

  “She has a lot of talent and this was really her first year playing GAM tournaments and she kind of took it by storm,” Wolfe said. “She played well in every event she played in and won some, too. Her high school team won a state championship, and she was one of the top players on the team as well.”

  GAM Players of the Year are determined by the GAM Honor Roll points system. Point totals can be found under the Championships tab at gam.org.

   The GAM has named nine 2018 Players of the Year in gender and age categories including Brochu. They are Alex Scott of Traverse City as Men’s Player of the Year, Kerri Parks of Flushing as Women’s Player of the Year, Mitch Wilson of Portage as Senior Men’s Player of the Year, Julie Massa of Holt Senior Women’s Player of the Year, Mike Fedewa of Canton as Super Senior Player of the Year, Bradley Smithson of Grand Rapids as Junior Boy’s Player of the Year, Mikaela Schulz of West Bloomfield as Junior Girl’s Player of the Year and Landon Wanless of Caledonia as 15-and-under Junior Boy’s Player of the Year.

  Brochu, a GAM member through Flint Golf Club, topped the Honor Roll with 885 points.

  She won the GAM 14-and-under Match Play title and finished second to Lilia Henkel of Grand Rapids in the GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship to key her points scoring. That came after a high school season in which her team won the state title in Division 3 and she was runner-up for the individual state title after falling in a playoff with Danielle Staskowski of Notre Dame Prep.

  Bridget Boczar of Canton and Pheasant Run Golf Club was second in Honor Roll points with 700 points, and Shannon Kennedy of Beverly Hills and Oakland Hills Country Club was third with 628. Sophie Stevens of Novi and Northville Hills Golf Club, the 14-and-under winner at the GAM Junior Invitational, and Grace Boczar of Canton and Pheasant Run who won the 15-and-under bracket at the Michigan Junior State Amateur, rounded out the top five.

  Wolfe said Brochu has great potential for success in golf.

  “She hits the ball really close to the hole often,” he said. “I know she holed out a few time for eagle. It’s clear she already has a good iron game, and that she is putting in the work on the game.”

  Brochu, who is right-handed but swings her golf clubs from the left side, said playing in the Big “I” Championship in South Carolina last summer was a turning point in her golf development.

  “I had never played on that type of grass before and the competition was really good,” she said. “I realized I could play with them, but that there was a lot to work on, too. I’m getting better and getting over bad shots right away and getting on to the next shot, and I’m learning the kind of things I need to work on. I can get better in all the parts of my game.”

  She said the golf season of the past year has helped her set a goal to be a collegiate golfer.

  “I’m going to play in more tournaments against better competition,” she said. “That helped me this last summer.”

via Greg Johnson