Golf Town athlete Augusta James has her eye on the big prize—a spot on the LPGA Tour and a successful stint at the top of the women’s game. This year she’s battling on the Symetra Tour, one step below the LPGA Tour, where Canadians like Alena Sharp and fellow Golf Town athlete Brooke Henderson play.
“My goals down the road include being full-time on the LPGA Tour and creating a career for myself out there,” she says. This year, the number one goal is to be in the top-5 on the Symetra Tour money list. I think that winning three events is the ultimate goal—they call it a battlefield promotion out here. That gets you an automatic move to the LPGA Tour.”
After an illustrious junior career, the 25-year-old from Bath, Ont. took her talents to North Carolina State University, where she was named to the All-ACC team in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and was an All-American honourable mention in 2014. Outside of collegiate golf, Augusta captured the 2014 Canadian Women’s Amateur by six shots, firing a tournament record 63 in the process.
Augusta left school to turn professional in autumn of 2014. In her first full season on the Symetra Tour, Augusta earned two second-place finishes and a victory at the 2015 Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial, leading her to a 12th-place finish on the money list. A year later, she rode seven top-10 finishes to a 13th-place finish on the money list.
Great day @PingTour. Thanks @davewaynewilson for setting it up & @WolpaGolf for your time, hard work and this surprise ! pic.twitter.com/7J8jmmv472
— Augusta James (@augusta_james) January 11, 2017
Now she’s focused on the LPGA Tour. To get there she’s concentrating on working on the small details of her game that will make her a better player in the long run.
“I’m working with a nutritionist and trying to take that more seriously this year,” she says. “And my physical fitness is going to be a bigger priority for me this year, and hopefully these things lead to me reaching some of those bigger goals.”
Augusta is just one of a number of up-and-coming young pros looking to find their foot on a top tour. She says that they all owe the Canadian women that came before them for paving the way, and that she has high hopes for Canadian women’s golf in the next few years.
“We were fortunate with the girls in front of me, like Jennifer Kirby, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Nicole Vandermade,” says Augusta. “They were great role models and showed us what we could achieve on an international level—and I think that’s why we are seeing some great golf being played right now. In five years we’re going to have a bunch of Canadians out there on the LPGA Tour. There are a good few out on Symetra, and more coming out of university, and I bet soon we have ten girls competing out there week in and week out.”
Augusta plans to play the remainder of the 2018 season on the Symetra Tour.