By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Osoyoos youth golfer Tim Hachey has added another trophy to what is surely a burgeoning collection, in what is the biggest win of his career after taking the top position at the BC Golf Provincial Juvenile (U17) Championship held last week in Sechelt.
Although the title is a significant one and the competition steady through 17 holes of golf ultimately coming down to a tie on the 18th and final hole, it was nonetheless a friendly battle not just between two good golfers, but two good friends as well.
“It was a good match, my good friend is from Kelowna, me and him, were kind of battling it out for most of well, for the entire day, pretty much,” he said of his key competitor and good friend Finley Dober.
He agrees it’s a bit unique playing for the title against your friend, adding “Obviously if I’m playing against someone that I don’t really know, it’s a whole different ball game.”
Describing the championship-winning hole Hachey relates that the 18th hole was around 390 yards with a bit of a dog leg slightly to the left. “I just hit a good drive, I think I hit around 300 so I had, like 90-91 yards. I hit with my wedge and it almost bounced in, but it ran out to about three feet,” he said.
“And the other kid, that’s my good friend who I was battling out against, it was about 10 feet for birdie, and I had mine for about three feet, and he just left his a little bit on the low side so he ended up making par, and I tapped in my three footer to win.”
While this may not be the biggest title in the province for youth, the BC Junior Championship is bigger he notes, he’s still rightfully pleased at taking home the trophy for the BC Juvenile Championship. The main difference is that the Juvenile Championship is a U17 event, meaning it’s the last year the Osoyoos Secondary School Grade 12 student will be able to play in it, while the BC Junior Golf Tour and Championship include up to age 18.
The Juniors took place on Canada Day weekend and Hachey says “not great” when asked how the tournament went. “I hurt my back during it, so I was kind of injured while playing.” Even with the injury he still placed a respectable tie for 23rd place.
“I’ve been pretty busy this summer,” he laughs, adding that a week after the BC Juniors he played at the BC Amateur Championship. That particular tournament is open to anyone regardless of age, the only stipulation being you must be an amateur.
He placed 48th in that tournament which was enough to qualify him for the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in Saskatoon which he says is a big tournament drawing international golfers along with a lot of top-tier golfers from American colleges and universities.
And before that, he kicked off the summer with the started with a tie for fourth at the Notah Begay National Championship in Montreal, “so I’ve been on the go,” he laughs.
Hachey is pretty much on golf courses from the moment they open in the spring to the fall. Things will slow down a bit for him now as there are no more tournaments for the rest of the season for him and of course, school is starting up in less than a week.
This upcoming school year he’s thinking about playing basketball, saying “I’m not very good, but it’s just something like a team sport to be a part of and then I’m going to probably do some winter fitness training,” he said. And there is skiing up at Mount Baldi as well, he adds.
He notes that while golf is growing in popularity it’s not a “super popular one” compared to something like hockey,” he notes. He does have a couple of buddies from school that golf, just not to the same level of seriousness that he does.
When asked how he got into the sport, the answer is simple. His dad and coach, Wayne Hachey is the PGA Professional Golf Coach with the Desert Golf Academy at the Osoyoos Golf Club.
This along with the fact he picked up a golf club at about three or four years of age, started playing tournaments when he was eight and has eight years of tournament experience under his belt at only 16 years of age, make his championship successes quite understandable.
He hopes to parlay his ever-improving skill set into a professional golf career, but only after his post-secondary education which will of course revolve around a school that has a good golf program.
He’s working on that currently with some discussions with one particular school, but it’s too early to let that cat out of the bag just yet.
“I want to try to go pro, try to make a living out of golf, that’s the main goal – trying to make it in the big league,” he chuckles.
He also expressed his thanks for the support and encouragement he’s received over his young career. “I’m very appreciative of all the support that’s been shown to me,” he says.
