Youngster on the path to the PGA

Alexis Gemme-Piacente could become a top golfer is he continues on the current pace.

MONTREAL - Alexis Gemme-Piacente, 19, spent last winter launching golf balls rather than snow balls and the result is that the young Montrealer-area teen could be on his way to a professional golf career.

Gemme-Paciente, who started golfing at the Mirage golf course in Terrebonne eight years ago, is honing his craft on a golf scholarship at San Diego and the fruits of his hard efforts are finally being harvested: he recently qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship.

If he wins or comes in second at that tournament, he will automatically qualify for both the U.S. And British Opens, as well as the Masters.

The 6’3,” right-hitting Gemme-Piacente has improved his game under head coach Cory Scoggin, and it’s a game that shines from both the tees as the greens.

“The first time I heard about my coach in San Diego was in the early Summer 2011. I was so pumped, so excited to go there. My first year went incredibly well, I met some great guys and we’d just hang out a lot and we just had a lot of fun,” said Paciente.

But the journey hasn’t been without some challenges.

“It was difficult the first through months, I went to CEGEP in English at Champlain in Quebec City, over there we practice a lot in the morning and then it was school, school, school. It’s pretty much the same schedule in San Diego, we just have to deal with it, plan the study hours,” he said.

And teamwork is as important off the course as it is on.

“It was pretty easy to get together and do our reading and all our stuff for school, it really wasn’t that bad,” he said.

One pro who has supported his development said that Gemme-Piacente has put in the work.

“We’re extremely proud of him but Alexis deserves all the credit, he puts in all the time on the range, on the course, he’s doing all the right things to succeed. He’s making the sacrifices you have to make as a youth athlete to get to the levels you can go to,’ said Debbie Savoy-Morel, Head Pro and Golf Director at Le Mirage Golf Course in Terrebonne.

But she noted that his agreeable personality might be an obstacle.

“A golfer at that level has to be a bit selfish and think only of himself, it’s harder for Alexis because he’s such a great kid but he’s definitely on the way to the PGA, we hope,” she said.

She noted that several other youngsters who trained at the course are now playing on prestigious American college scholarships, and Louis-Pierre Godin will try once again to get on the tour this fall after missing by one sole stroke last year.

Savoy-Morel said that one of the biggest challenges as a coach is to allow the young talent to receive tips from a variety of places.

“We bring them to the first level and you must never be scared to let them go, to bring them to the next level. It’s important to allow your athletes to have a team around them, that’s what the Americans do well,” she said.