By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Like all good golf tournaments, this one came down to the 18th hole.

Matthew Hallat of North Vancouver won the inaugural B.C. All Abilities Championship at Vancouver’s McCleery Golf Course with a clutch par on the final hole.

Hallat, a former Paralympic skier who is now high performance director, para-alpine, with Alpine Canada, said events like the B.C. All Abilities Championship are an important first step in growing the sport and improving access for people with health conditions or impairments.

“I work for a NSO (national sport organization) and it is great to see the NSOs and the USGA and the R&A taking the lead to try and create a system that the world can compete under and give it a structure so that we can all compete on a level playing field to some degree,” Hallat said.

“Ultimately, that will lead to wherever that leads so we can create more global tournaments and so on. This event is really important. It starts at the grassroots, it starts with giving people the ability to come out and play.”

Fifteen players competed at McCleery in various categories and World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) points were available for competitors.

Hallat won the overall championship with a 36-hole score of nine-over par. That was two shots better than Walter Vanderrijst of Victoria.

Hallat, now 39, had his right leg amputated at age five due to Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. That did not deter him from diving into sports. Growing up, he skied all winter and golfed much of the summer.

Hallat got his first set of clubs when he was six or seven years old and later became a junior member at Westwood Plateau in Coquitlam. “I grew up playing at the golf academy at Westwood and eventually at the golf and country club,” he said.

“I have just always played. My athletic life was actually a skier, I was a Paralympian, but I have always loved to golf. I worked at Nicklaus North for a while and Westwood Plateau when I was younger. I played various B.C. Golf and Vancouver Golf Tour tournaments and a few of these All Abilities tournaments over the years.”

Hallat came to McCleery with relatively low expectations. He has a full-time job, a five-year-old child and is in the middle of completing his MBA. He hasn’t had a lot of time to golf. “So my goal really was to hit the ball in the middle of the club face and just kind of see where it went and then go do it again,” he said.

“Actually, in some sense having not played really forced me to keep it very, very simple. For the most part I was able to do that. There were certainly some squirrelly shots over a couple of days.”

Hallat and Vanderrijst were playing in the same group and came to the 18th hole tied for the lead. Both hit good drives that landed only a couple of yards apart. Vanderrijst joked that a malfunction with his rain pants cost him on his second shot into the par 4 finishing hole.

“As I’m in my downswing my button popped on my rain pants and I was like, oh my god, and I chunked it into a bunker,” he said with a laugh. “It landed in a footprint and then I sailed it over the green and made a nice double. It was very unfortunate. It was a very good round of golf until then. I was one-over up to No. 16.”

Vanderrijst called the event a wonderful experience. “What a well put together event, everybody did such an amazing job,” he said. “We were treated like we were on the Tour or something. It was great. I definitely look forward to the next one.”

And there will be a next one. British Columbia Golf Chief Executive Officer Kris Jonasson and board member Joe Higgins will make sure of that.

Higgins, who has spent more than 25 years coaching Paralympic athletes, was proud to see the first event successfully completed. “The best part about running the inaugural one is the diversity of people who challenged themselves to be first,” Higgins said.

“Their ability to golf stands on its own. They all have different challenges, some you can see, some you can’t. . .I hope all of them go back to their local clubs and talk about how they had a great experience.”

Julie Moroney of Victoria was the lone woman in the field and called it a terrific experience. “It was nice to have another competition at a different level,” said Moroney, who is visually impaired. “It’s interesting playing with different people other than visually impaired. It was very enjoyable and it was a nice course.”

Dennis Luick, supervisor of golf operations with the Vancouver Park Board, said the city was delighted to play host to the first All Abilities Championship. “Kris (Jonasson) connected with me probably six months ago and ran the proposal by us and asked if we would support the inaugural All Abilities event and it was a no-brainer for me,” Luick said.

“It is something we definitely want to expand on. . .To be part of the inaugural event is pretty special. And we’re glad to be hosting it here at McCleery which sometimes doesn’t get the value of the other two properties, but it is a great golf course and a great spot for this event.”

Click HERE for complete final scoring from the BC All Abilities Championship.