It didn’t last quite as long as he would have liked, but Matt Hopley still had the time of his life. The 15-year-old Kelowna resident, who this week became the youngest player to tee it up in a Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event, finished his GolfBC Championship with a nice up-and-down par from behind the 18th green at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club.

Golf professionals are forever tinkering with some part of their game and Robby Shelton seems to be on to something. Shelton was draining birdie putts all day during Thursday’s first round of the GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club. The 21-year-old from Mobile, Ala., made nine of them en route to an eight-under 63 that gave him a one-shot lead in the $175,000 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event.

It was a dream start followed by a nightmarish finish for Kimberley’s Jared du Toit in Thursday’s first round of the GolfBC Championship. Du Toit, playing in just his second pro event after finishing his collegiate career at Arizona State University, looked to have it on cruise control on the front nine at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club.

They are student and teacher and this week both will be writing the same exam. This test does not have any true or false questions. Instead, it is fraught with obstacles like tight, tree-lined fairways and firm and fast greens. Grades will not be A’s and B’s, but birdies and bogeys. Chris Trunzer is the teacher, Matt Hopley the student and both are playing in this week’s GolfBC Championship.

Thompson, a teaching pro at Golftec in Kelowna, proved it’s more about the swing than size when he won the charity long-drive contest Wednesday afternoon that officially kicked off the GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club.