Reily Hegarty, 20’, is leading the Bucs men’s golf team into the 2018 season with hopes of taking home the Northwest Conference Championship.  

The Bucs made an impressive 2018 debut taking first place at the PLU invitational on Monday of September the 17th. The Bucs finished a combined one over par with 577 total strokes. They edged last years NWC champion PLU by three strokes to take the tournament.

Derrek Phelps, 19’, made an impressive debut after transferring form division two Saint Martin’s University in Olympia, Washington. Phelps took home individual honors by finishing first place overall with a score of four under par. Phelps edged Travis Bossio of Grays Harbor and two more golfers form the previously dominant PLU. Whitworth finished with five golfers inside the top 15 finishers.

Hegarty kept even with Phelps throughout the round until late into the back nine of the final day of the tournament. Hegarty ended up tying for seventh.

Reily has been playing golf since he was in third grade. He grew up in Pendleton, Oregon playing in the Northeastern Junior Golf tour. Once he began playing I high school he travelled around the state to places like Portland and Bend to compete in tournaments and get his name out as top performer in the state.

Hegarty, like any student athlete has to keep up with the rigors of school as well as an intense practice schedule to be in top competitive shape. With three hour practices every day Hegarty has balanced his time well in keeping up with his studies. “A lot of the extra work that comes with golf takes time,” Hegarty said, “We put in a lot of extra practice that isn’t mandatory.” Hegarty has had to sacrifice social time to make sure that his game is complete and that he is prepared for the coming tournaments.”

Reily has included golf as a focus on in planning his career. Hegarty, a business management major, has plans on becoming a PGA golf pro. This would mean working at a golf course and helping to maintain things as well as schedule tournaments and mange the business aspects of the course. “There are two to four years of extra training, and then an apprenticeship through the PGA,” Hegarty said. “Accounting is great for it too, I have considered double majoring in that.”

Reily Hegarty started his freshmen year playing in six tournaments and posting an average score of 79.8. His sophomore year he improved his scoring average to a 77 per round. Hegarty played in all 11 tournaments last year with his best finished being third place in the NWC spring classic.  

With the momentum of an all-star cast around him and years of hard work behind him Reily Hegarty plans on making big changes in the hierarchy of NWC golf. Pacific Lutheran University has been atop the golf standings for the past number of seasons, but after acquiring a great golfer in Derrek Phelps to help an already powerful lineup, the Bucs are sure to shake things up in the 2018 season.