Bentley Hoogerdyk fired 70-69 to finish three-under, claiming men\u2019s crown by 13 shots<\/p>\n
On Sunday he lifted a Club Championship trophy, and on Tuesday he started Grade 7.<\/p>\n
Bentley Hoogerdyk, age 12, etched his name into Bear Mountain golf history this past weekend, storming to victory at the\u00a0Bear Mountain Club Championship in Langford.<\/p>\n
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The golfing prodigy fired rounds of 70 and 69 for a three-under-par total, cruising to a commanding 13-shot win over runner-up Tzari Baines.<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, 15-year-old Zaya Baines captured the club championship title.<\/p>\n
For Hoogerdyk, the achievement came as a surprise even to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to think about because I didn\u2019t really have any expectations coming into the tournament, as I\u2019m just 12,\u201d Hoogerdyk told Goldstream News Gazette.<\/p>\n
His rounds, however, showed composure well beyond his age, with steady play on both the Mountain and Valley courses.<\/p>\n
The victory is the latest highlight in a career already packed with accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Hoogerdyk has racked up more than 20 tournament wins, including this year\u2019s MJT Harry White Little Masters at Kings Links by the Sea.<\/p>\n
He has also competed several times at the US Kids World Championships at Pinehurst, a stage he first qualified for at age six.<\/p>\n
Golf has been part of Hoogerdyk\u2019s life for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I could stand, I had plastic clubs around the house,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019d hit wiffle balls over my dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father, Tyler, recalled those early days vividly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was probably four or five, and he\u2019d just whip wiffle balls around the house until he broke all the plastic clubs. We finally got him a proper set when he was strong enough to lift them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tyler noted that a turning point came when Bentley watched the Netflix documentary The Short Game, which follows seven-year-olds competing at Pinehurst.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there on, it was kind of green light. That\u2019s all he wanted to do,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n
The family has travelled to North Carolina nearly every year since for the world championships, making it both a competition and a vacation tradition.<\/p>\n
Guided by his longtime coach Eric Wang, Hoogerdyk has continued to sharpen his game. He currently trains at Bear Mountain, where he has been a member for the past two years after spending time at Victoria Golf Club while living in Oak Bay.<\/p>\n
His dominance in the open division of the club championship, where most competitors were adults, left many impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them, after, said they were embarrassed,\u201d Bentley said with a grin.<\/p>\n
Still, he carried himself with humility, grateful just to compete.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Hoogerdyk\u00a0dreams of playing college golf one day, and maybe even the PGA Tour. For now, he is focused on enjoying the game and the opportunities it brings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s really cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to reconnect with friends from all over the world at tournaments. Golf has given me a lot already.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bentley Hoogerdyk fired 70-69 to finish three-under, claiming men\u2019s crown by 13 shots On Sunday he lifted a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[65838,49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-118138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-bear-mountaingolf","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}