Sunday, October 21, 2018
Getting to the Top-Hannah Hellyer
Hannah Hellyer
There are
two main routes to be followed if a man or a woman wants to play golf
on the PGA or the LPGA tour. Route # 1 starts after you finish
college or university.
Route # 2
starts whenever you think you are ready.
Canada's
premier female golfer today, Brooke Henderson, followed the second
route. She became a full time professional golfer while still in her
teens, without ever cracking a text book at an institution of higher
learning.
Hannah
Hellyer followed the first route which naturally takes a little
longer. The Stirling, Ontario, native honed her skills on the rolling
terrain of the Oak Hills Golf Club, under the watchful eye of
long-time pro Ralph Kuster. She earned a scholarship to play four
years at Gardner Webb University in North Carolina, where she studied
international business.
In her
youth, she spent several years as a centre on the Stirling Blues
hockey team, occasionally adding her talents to teams from Madoc and
Napanee. While working on her MBA at McKendry University in Lebanon,
Illinois, she helped coach hockey and golf.
Work began
at Windermere Lodge in the Muskokas. As a young golf pro at a golf
course, she was responsible for a variety of functions: preparing
clubs for the guests and members, assisting at the pro shop,
arranging carts for the guests. She moved on to a similar position at
St. George's in Toronto. Last year, she qualified to play in the
Canadian Open in Ottawa. The experience helped kindle the flame in
her to become a touring pro. In her second year in Toronto this year,
she decided to pursue that dream.
She knew
there was a long and expensive road ahead of her. She completed the
first stage of qualification in California, successfully, and is in
the early stages of the second round. The main group of professional
female golfers is currently on the “Asian Swing”. Those that
played on the secondary tour, called the Symetra Tour, and were in
the top group, have already qualified to play on the LPGA Tour next
year.
Hannah
played her first round of the Stage II qualifying tournament on
Monday. She scored 77. She was joined by 192 other hopefuls on the
Panther Course and the Bobcat Course of the Plantation Golf and
Country Club in Venice, Florida. Each competitor plays 72 holes of
stroke play, with no cut. The top 25 players advance to the next
stage, taking place in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in late October.
With
newcomers like Hannah, and veterans from other tours, it is not an
easy way to get to the top. Csiesi Rozsa hails from Budapest,
Hungary, and just finished her second year on the Symetra Tour. She
knows what she faces. “It is going to be a tougher field because
there is going to be fewer spots making it through”.
Each of
these “schools” costs in the range of $ 3 000. A “go fund me”
page has been set up to help Hannah along the way. Understandably so.
Not for the feint of heart.
James Hurst
October 15,
2018.
# posted by James Hurst @ 2:44 PM 
