HANOVER – For Hartford High School golf coach Mike Hathorn and Hanover High counterpart John Donnelly the Tommy Keane Invitational has always been special.
As each year passes, however, it becomes even more so.
Each of the longtime coaches can claim a handful of their former players in the field and they couldn’t be happier about it. And not just because they are playing well.
“Winning is great, but I don’t feel that’s my main role,” said Donnelly after Saturday’s afternoon round. “It is a nice fringe benefit, but my job is to get my players exposed to the game and competitive golf, and doing things the right way with rules and etiquette. To see them continuing to play out here the way they are and enjoying the game is very special.”
Teamed up again this year with former Hartford player Mitch Cable, Hathorn was happy to move into the semifinals of the Championship flight Saturday afternoon, but he admitted to mixed feelings that his team’s 20-hole win came at the expense of his former players Zach Temple and Mak Lyford.
“It is really cool to have guys you coach continue to play and become your golf friends,” said Hathorn. “It’s disappointing that we have to knock heads against each other out here because you want your old players to advance, but it’s great to see them playing the way they do.”
Hathorn and Cable will square off Sunday morning against the team of Nate Choukas and Benny Hayes, a pair of former Hanover players under Donnelly.
“The thing that makes me happy is their love of the game,” Donnelly said. “They play it very well but what’s more important is that they enjoy it in the best possible spirit. It’s obvious they are going to play it for a long, long time and that’s what we love to see as coaches.”
Bidding to face the winner of the Hathorn half of the Championship flight bracket are defending champions Nick and Shane MacDonald, who will square off against yet another Hartford pairing in Jake Obar and Bill Vielleux.
“Jake was on the first team I ever coached,” said Hathorn. “That was 20 years ago. It’s great seeing guys like Jake and Mitch, Zach and Dillon Sass out here. They are all great kids.”
For Donnelly, having a large contingent of young players including people like Lebanon grad Nick MacDonald says something not just about the Tommy Keane, but about the venue that hosts it.
“ Young kids are the future of the game,” he said. “It is really sad at some other courses when junior golf is not fostered the way it is here.
“I always say goes back to (former Hanover pro) Bill Johnson and Tommy Keane before him. The culture here is, juniors are welcome. Unfortunately, that’s not the case everywhere, and golf is suffering because of it.”
Because Vermont plays high school golf in the spring and New Hampshire plays it in the fall, the Tommy Keane can be the first time players from the opposite sides of the Connecticut River compete against each other. That, however, will change if a push to move the Vermont season to the fall goes through.
“I’ve been talking with John about it and we are hoping that in the fall of 2017 if things go well we will be able to play Lebanon and Hanover,” said Hathorn, who notes that the increase in kids playing lacrosse in the spring has had an impact on Vermont golf participation. “If we move to the fall and can play them it would be awesome.”
And it might just be a preview of Tommy Keane competitions to come.
DIVOTS
Play continues Sunday morning in three flights (plus consolation matches). The winners will continue play in the afternoon. . . . The father-won team of Shane and Nick MacDonald is bidding for a three-peat and their fourth title overall. They also won in 2010. . . . The MacDonalds defeated Choukas and Hayes in last year’s championship. . . . Obar won the 2006 championship with former Hanover High player Rex Whitney.
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