PTHS Alum Scores College Golf Success

 Class of 2008 alum Pamela K. Bonneau has made a name for herself in college-level sports by doing what she’s been doing for nearly 15 years.

Now a senior at Westminster College, Bonneau began golfing around the age of 7 or 8. She hit the greens for outdoor recreation and entertainment at first, but soon developed a strong passion for the game as it allowed her to keep not only her body in shape but also her mind.

“Golf isn’t a very (physically) strenuous sport,” Bonneau said, “but it really exercises your mind and teaches you things like dedication, focus, concentration and…how to control your emotions.”

Her involvement with golf continued throughout her preteen years, still mostly for the sake of personal enjoyment. Bonneau participated in summer youth league golf tournaments in her younger years and remembers fondly the good old days when the golf course was a great place to bond with her sisters in the sport.

When Bonneau got to high school, however, the game took on a whole new meaning. As the PTHS golf program has been recognized as one of the best in the region numerous times, its teams have long been considered the teams to beat. Thus, for the first time, Bonneau got a glimpse at the tooth-and-nail competitive nature of golf.

Rather than shying away from competition, Bonneau swung at it with full force and worked, practiced and played hard to further hone, and showcase, her golfing skills.

The PTHS girls’ golf team was a runner-up at WPIALs for each of the four years of Bonneau’s high school career, and Bonneau herself made it to the first round of WPIALs in her senior year.

Bonneau went on to compile even more athletic accomplishments as one of the lady Titans at Westminster College, where she majors in biology.

At the close of last year’s season, Bonneau placed third in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships (PACCs), which marked her third straight year showing at third in the conference. She was only the second player in Westminster College history to rein in such successive success at the PACCs.

Also for the third year in a row, Bonneau lead her team in scoring average last year, the first in her school’s history to pull off such a feat.

Though she is highly invested in her triumphs on the course, Bonneau is even more invested in her scholastic endeavors, which are what attracted her to Westminster in the first place. Like many diligent student-athletes, Bonneau said she weighed academics more heavily than athletics when selecting the institution for her higher education.

And it is on academics that Bonneau intends to focus after her upcoming college graduation next spring. She told us that she wants to go to graduate school for physical therapy and is currently applying to different graduate programs.

When asked if she sees golf in her future, Bonneau invariably said “yes” and clarified that she looks forward to playing it as a fun pastime for the rest of her life.

She also foresees that golfing will give her a competitive edge in the professional workforce: “Many businesses do a lot of work and events around the golf course. My ability to play, especially when a lot of girls can’t, will work to my advantage.”

As far as advice to young girls interested in the sport, Bonneau advises that practice is very important and that progress doesn’t just happen overnight.

“You have to put a lot of time and focus into it,” she said. “And if you do, it can really pay off.”