When Chelmsford Valley District Composite School grad Ryan Willoughby enrolled in the Professional Golf Management program at Humber College back in 2004, the school’s varsity golf crew — one of the most storied in the OCAA circuit — had no idea the gift that had landed on their laps.
That’s fine. Willoughby said he was feeling exactly the same way about them.
“I was oblivious to what I had signed up for,” said Willoughby, now 36, and one of 32 former student athletes inducted into the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Hall of Fame as of May 1. “I signed up for the program not even knowing what a golf pro did. When I got there, I quickly realized that it wasn’t what I thought it was.”
Still, he decided to stick it out, following up his three years in Golf Management with three years of Business Administration studies in a stream that merged the efforts of both Humber College and the University of Guelph.
Above all else, Willoughby knew that he loved golf.
“My dad started to take me around the golf course when I was one, in back of the cart on a car seat,” said the man who has now claimed the Idylwylde Invitational title on two separate occasions. “He would bungee-cord a car seat into the cart and I would tag along.”
Even as he showed promise in his teenage years, Willoughby would fly under the radar, and for very good reason.
“I would basically play in only one or two junior tournaments a year because we would spend the entire summer on the Island (Manitoulin Island).”
In that paradise that is Haweater Country in the months of July and August, however, Willoughby was in his element, hitting Brookwood Brae Golf Course in Mindemoya and other locales on a daily basis.
Even as he prepared to leave for Humber, there were no recruiting calls made his way, nor did he reach out. This was a world that was completely foreign to Willoughby, but one in which he would soon enjoy a huge breakthrough, and in a very big way.
Step one would come courtesy of his program, his line of studies offering him regular access to the Humber “golf lab” and the opportunity to work regularly with golf pro Bob Beauchemin – even as the Hawks golf folks remained completely unaware of the hidden gem in their midst.
“It was super weird,” said Willoughby, recalling his start at the Toronto-based institution. “My whole first year, they had no idea who I was. I was quiet, didn’t say a whole lot. But I applied myself that summer and turned into a golfer.”
Beauchemin had tweaked his posture and grip, with almost immediate results. “My ball striking went to a completely different level,” said Willoughby.
The summer of 2005 would find the up-and-comer playing and winning men’s events in Gore Bay and such, posting scores that understandably caught the eye of Humber coach Ray Chateau — even if Chateau questioned the distance of the courses that Willoughby had played.
By the time the walk-on arrived and bested all members of the team in a pair of pre-season tryout events, all doubts were dissuaded.
That was a great call, to say the least.
Willoughby would twice represent Canada at the World University Golf Championships (2006 in Italy; 2010 in Spain), claiming an OCAA individual gold medal during the 2004-2005 season, earning silver at nationals in 2009 and bronze in 2006, and contributed in a big way to a Humber team that kicked off a run of nine straight provincial titles in 2006-2007.
Ironically, Willoughby looks back somewhat wistfully of what could have been, even more.
“While I was at Humber, I feel like I left a lot on the table,” said the man who has twice qualified to compete at the Canadian Amateur Golf Championships. “Most of my success came when I graduated. Humber gave me the confidence to know that I could compete at any level – but I really didn’t apply it well until right after I graduated.”
Like the school he attended, Ryan Willoughby would discover that talent that remained unearthed initially, all in good time.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
