Canadian golf world mourns as legendary player Jocelyne Bourassa dies at 74

Inductee to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Jocelyne Bourassa, Golf Builder, speaks at a press conference in Toronto on Wednesday, October 21, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim)

Canadian golf legend Jocelyne Bourassa has died at the age of 74.

Golf Canada confirmed her passing late Tuesday evening.

The native of Shawinigan, Que., first distinguished herself as an amateur, winning three Quebec Junior Championships (1963, 1964 and 1965) and four Quebec Amateur Championships (1963, 1969, 1970 and 1971).

Bourassa also won the Canadian Women's Amateur in 1965 and again in 1971 and then turned pro the following year.

She joined the LPGA Tour in 1972 and won their Rookie of the Year award.

That helped her garner the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award that year as The Canadian Press's best female athlete.

She was also named to the Order of Canada in 1972.

Her biggest professional victory came the following year when she captured the inaugural La Canadienne at the Municipal Golf Club in Montreal.

No other Canadian was able to win the Canadian Women's Open until Brooke Henderson's victory 45 years later in Regina.

Bourassa's eight-year LPGA Tour career was cut short by injuries but she began a second career immediately by becoming the du Maurier Classic's executive director.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2021.