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PRINTED BY PERMISSION OF THE KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
By Marty Hastings KTW Sports Editor
Wives and girlfriends of golf-crazed men might be able to relate to Natasha MacKenzie, the first female golfer in TRU WolfPack history.
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"My husband was like, ‘You need to come golfing with me,’ and he would just be pushing me to go.
"I said ‘Oh no, I don’t think I’d be good.’"
MacKenzie caved and picked up a club three years ago, when she was 23.
Since then, the Kamloops product has won four tournaments — including two women’s open division championships on the Golf Town National Amateur Series — and spawned an obsession with the game.
"I went out and fell in love with it right away," MacKenzie said at a WolfPack press conference.
"I want a career in golf. That’s why I’m getting a business degree."
Those who have spoiled a good walk at Tobiano Golf Course might recognize MacKenzie.
"I’m a cart girl there," she said.
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"I wanted a job at Tobiano so I could get free golf."
With a young, business-minded staff, including Stephen Connor and Dion Sirianni, the course on Kamloops Lake — ranked sixth in the province by the PGA of B.C. — seems a perfect fit.
MacKenzie can learn the game — to the benefit of TRU and Pack head
coach Bill Bilton Jr. — and the business at the same time.
The 26-year-old South Kamloops secondary graduate, along with the rest of TRU’s golf team, will play only four Pacific Western Athletic Association tournaments before the provincial championship.
The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship will run from Oct. 15 to Oct. 19 in Oshawa, Ont.
Bobby Armstrong, Tim Birk, Chase Broadfoot, Sean Cameron, Nick Corno, Reegan Czar, Matt Gervenitis, Blake Gozda and Bobby McPeak round out TRU’s golf squad.
Geoff Fahlman is Bilton’s assistant coach.
TRU hosted the first PacWest tourney of the season on the weekend at The Dunes at Kamloops.
Mackenzie was fourth on the girls’ side, finishing with a two-round total of 179.
Jen Woods of UBC Okanagan shot 159 to win the women’s title.
Corno was the top male finisher for the Pack, shooting 154 over two days to finish tied for fourth.
Morgan Decksheimer of Vancouver Island University won the men’s title with a 36-hole total of 139.
The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades won the overall team title.
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A second female golfer — Sara Ann Rolin of Pitt Meadows — signed up in August, but she has since left the team.
MacKenzie would like to have a few same-sex teammates in the future:
"That’s what every woman says — ‘I don’t think I’d be good’ — but you never know until you try."
