Bombers’ Hager finishes season on strong note

It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.

Tyler Hager is a prime example of that.

It is an old cliché, yet it was the way Hager’s first varsity season went.

Hager was far from pleased with the way he started his freshman season with the Palmerton Area High School golf team.

However, over the last few weeks of the regular season, the 14-year-old quickly put his rough start behind him.

With the noise he made during the Colonial League and District 11 Class 2A tournaments, as well as the regional and state tournaments, Hager had a first season most freshmen could only dream of.

All his success earned Hager the 2019 Times News Golfer of the Year.

“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t envision me playing, or being here (receiving this type of recognition), because I didn’t play well at all right before the season,” Hager said. “I started playing better toward the end, toward the end of the postseason honestly, and I really turned it on.”

Hager played in the No. 1 spot for the Bombers, and was almost always paired with the best players from opposing teams. He had to believe in himself, and once he dug deep within, that’s when the Bomber golfer made the most of the limelight.

“I think with how special of a year we had as a team, it only goes to show that the team is made up of so many different players,” Palmerton co-head coach Alex Knoll said. “Tyler and Logan [Kresge] are the two most important players. But Tyler really stepped into that role playing against the No. 1 of every other team, and he has the pedigree of a lot of individual tournaments. This stage as a freshman wasn’t scary to him at all. The stuff that he managed to do was incredible, but at the same time, I know [co-head coach] Mike Brennan and I expected it.

“I know Tyler himself, deep down, expected it. So, it was awesome to see him accomplish his goals. But they were reasonable goals for him.”

Hager accomplished several goals over the last few weeks of the fall season.

He was a key component in the Blue Bombers’ undefeated regular season, in which the locals finished undefeated (13-0) in the Colonial League. The team then went on to take second place at the league championship tournament.

Hager shot 78 in the league tournament to tie for first place. He walked away with a silver medal after Ben Ortwein of Notre Dame (Green Pond) won the league title in a playoff. But his performance at leagues secured the Palmerton freshman a spot in the district championship tournament as the top five finishers are exempt from the district qualifying tournament.

That event started a stellar postseason run for both Hager and the team.

Two weeks after the league tournament, Hager helped Palmerton capture the program’s first-ever District 11 Class 2A team title, while finishing fourth individually at districts.

It didn’t stop there, as Hager’s district finish qualified him for the PIAA East Regional. Needing to finish in the top half of the 28-player field at regionals, Hager shot 81 and tied for 13th. He was the only boys freshman to get through the Class 2A East Regional, and one of just two to reach states in the Class 2A boys.

In the 36-hole state tournament, which is played over two days at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York, Hager shot 84 and was tied for 13th place after the first round. He shot 86 the second day to tie for 30th in a field of 36 of the state’s best players.

“It just shows me that I can win anything I put my mind to,” he said. “Because like at states, I could have easily finished top-10 if I played well.

“The league championships, in the playoff, I just left that slip away. At districts, I could have won if I put my mind to it.

Regionals and states were nice experiences to take it and learn from.”

Hager spends nearly every day on the golf course. He said he usually plays six or seven times a week if weather permits.

And it’s those type of experiences that Hager will most definitely learn and grow from.

“It will be very exciting to see where he develops from here,” Knoll said. “I think he could make a golf career for himself. I know that’s so far down the road, but this is a good starting point for that successful bid to make golf something bigger for his life.

“And that’s the great thing about the game, that you grow in the game and he can play the game forever. I think we have a lot of things to really look forward to for the next three years for Tyler, and beyond.”