Brigitte Thibault was practising for a mini-tour occasion exterior Orlando, Fla., final December, when a leisure participant on an adjoining gap shanked her hybrid off the golf green, firing the ball into the again of the younger skilled golfer’s head.
Thibault’s fingers instinctively flew to the again of her head as she misplaced consciousness and sank to the bottom.
“I bear in mind the vibration as a result of it was so loud in my head,” recalled Thibault on Tuesday. “I bear in mind pondering, ‘what the hell simply hit me?’
“Then I opened my eyes and I used to be on the bottom. I bear in mind each of my fingers they usually had been simply filled with crimson blood.”
The 26-year-old from Rosemere, Que., was rushed to hospital the place she was recognized with a concussion. The docs additionally informed her that she was “fortunate” that the blood was flowing outwards and that there was no critical inside bleeding.
Certainly, she didn’t even want any stitches.
Thibault mentioned she mainly slept continuous for the following two weeks after which returned to the fitness center to construct her power again up. However the injury the accident did to her nervous system and the lingering post-traumatic stress dysfunction have been tougher to shake.
“For like per week and a half to 2 weeks, I used to be waking up as a result of I might re-feel the vibration or see the fingers (lined in blood),” mentioned Thibault. “It’s unusual to clarify.”
At the same time as she bodily recovered and the nightmares pale, PTSD episodes continued to shock Thibault for weeks after the incident.
“A canine barks or a child would cry, it might set off an entire panic assault, as if I used to be getting attacked,” mentioned Thibault, noting she hasn’t had any episodes because the first week of February. “I’ll really feel like there’s going to be a panic assault, however then I don’t begin crying or something extra.
“When the accident occurred, I used to be so caught off guard (…) that something that may catch me off guard, put up that occasion, would alarm my entire nervous system.”
Decided to return to her profession, Thibault resumed enjoying aggressive golf in March together with her first occasion of 2025 sponsored by the identical firm because the fateful mini-tour occasion, additionally within the Orlando space.
“I used to be driving to the course, and I began crying, as a result of I used to be similar to, ‘this feels an excessive amount of the identical,” she mentioned. “It’s unusual to clarify.
“I imply, I nonetheless don’t know if one thing’s gonna come out, however for now, I really feel just about again to my regular self.”
Thibault is now enjoying on the Epson Tour, the feeder circuit for the top-flight LPGA Tour, and has appeared in six occasions to date this yr. Though she hasn’t gotten the outcomes she’d like, lacking the reduce in her previous 5 tournaments, she looks like her recreation is shut.
“It’s been a little bit of a bummer,” mentioned Thibault. “I missed the final 4 cuts by one, so it’s been type of exhausting on that finish.
“However once more, my recreation is shifting in the appropriate path, and my stats are shifting the place I need them to maneuver to, so I’ve simply obtained to remain the course.”
Thibault is one among eight Canadians within the discipline at this week’s Hartford HealthCare Girls’s Championship.
She’ll be joined at Nice River Golf Membership in Milford, Conn., by Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., Vancouver’s Leah John, Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., Yeji Kwon of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Josee Doyon of Saint-Georges, Que., Brooke Rivers of Brampton, Ont., and Mary Parsons of Delta, B.C.
Thibault, who gained bronze within the combined staff occasion with Parsons, Joey Savoie and Austin Connelly on the 2019 Pan American Video games in Lima, Peru, mentioned that it’s one among her favorite stops on the Epson Tour.
“It’s all the time actually pure, I just like the course arrange,” she mentioned. “It makes me consider an LPGA Tour occasion, and there’s all the time lots of people that come out.
“It looks like house in a way.”
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Canadians on Tour:
LPGA TOUR — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., returns to the Amundi Evian Championship, the fourth main on the ladies’s golf calendar. She gained the event in 2022 however is presently ranked forty ninth within the Race to CME Globe standings.
PGA TOUR — Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is the top-ranked Canadian on the Genesis Scottish Open, an occasion co-hosted by the PGA Tour and the Europe-based DP World Tour. He’s ranked thirteenth within the FedEx Cup rankings. Conners will probably be joined by Nick Taylor (seventeenth) of Abbotsford, B.C., Taylor Pendrith (thirty fifth) of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Mackenzie Hughes (53d) of Dundas, Ont. Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., the one Canadian on the DP World Tour, can be within the discipline. He’s 98th on that circuit’s factors record.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian on this week’s DICK’S Open. He’s ranked thirty ninth on the Schwab Cup factors record heading into play at En-Joie Golf Membership in Endicott, N.Y.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., leads the Canadian contingent into The Ascendant introduced by Blue. He’s ranked seventeenth on the second-tier tour’s factors record. Creighton will probably be joined at TPC Colorado in Berthoud by Sudarshan Yellamaraju (twentieth) of Mississauga, Ont., Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald (thirty seventh), Matthew Anderson (53rd) of Mississauga, Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Etienne Papineau (143rd) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
PGA TOUR AMERICAS — A.J. Ewart of Port Coquitlam, B.C., is the very best ranked Canadian on the third-tier Americas Tour heading into this week’s event. He’s sixteenth on the factors record heading into the Bromont Open. There are 16 Canadians within the discipline at Golf Chateau-Bromont.
