Golfer Keenan Flemming from Davis Bay will be heading to the Western Canada Games running from Aug. 7 to 16 in Fort McMurray, Alta.
“My dad played golf and he took me out a couple times and I really loved it,” Keenan said. “I’ve continued to play for four years now.”
Keenan, 16, started golfing in tournaments just over two years ago.
“He’s kind of a late bloomer, but he’s just gotten better each year,” Keenan’s father James Flemming said.
“Because of his performance last year, he was invited to a high performance golf camp for a weekend at North U in Surrey,” Flemming said. “That really helped him and, I guess, brought him to the attention of the Team BC coach.”
Keenan has competed in a number of tournaments, including the Pacific edition of Golf Canada CN Future Links at Pheasant Glen on Vancouver Island.
“He played really strongly there, he finished 15 out of 70. Which doesn’t sound that impressive but this is the strongest possible field of juniors in the country,” Flemming said.
“As a result of that, he was approached – literally on the course, during his third round – and invited by the coach of Team BC to join Team BC for the Western Canada Games,” Flemming said.
“[The coach] said if I continue to play well, I would have a spot on the team,” Keenan said.
Keenan went on to play at the BC Junior Golf Championship where he did well against 155 other players, scoring seven over par for four rounds.
“He works really hard, he may be not great at the old family chores, doing the dishes, cleaning his room,” Flemming said. “But he is incredibly disciplined in terms of golf, hockey and school.”
Track and field athlete Cale Hernandez from Powell River will also be among the 334 athletes on Team BC competing in 18 sports.
Hernandez is in his second year at Trinity Western University. His record on Trinity Western lists a personal best long jump of 6.51 meters at the Canadian Youth Legion track and field championships two years ago.
Stay with Coast Reporter for updates on our local athletes.
