MacKenzie Hurd '98 has dreamed of becoming a professional golfer for a long time now. Ever since he made his high school's varsity golf team as a freshman, Hurd has harbored ambitions to someday play alongside the greatest golfers in the world on the PGA Tour.
But even if he someday finds himself facing Amen Corner at Augusta or battling for a U.S. Open victory, it will not be the greatest challenge Hurd has faced in his life. At the age of 10 he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Although he had excelled in baseball and tennis, after being diagnosed with leukemia, Hurd found he could no longer partake in these strenuous sports. He decided to take a swing at golf, and he fell in love with it.
"I lived right down the street from a golf course, so I started playing when I was about 14," he explained. "I ended up slowly progressing, and during my sophomore year I started to break through and play better. I was captain my junior and senior year, and [my team] won at state my senior year."
When it came time to start applying to colleges, MacKenzie faced an important decision. He knew that the large southern schools would be best for pursuing a golf career, yet he did not want to pass up the academic opportunities that Dartmouth has to offer.
Of course the Dartmouth men's golf program whole-heartedly agreed with the decision of its number one prospect to come to Hanover.
Just as everyone expected, Hurd has seen nothing but success on Ivy League golf courses. In addition to being selected to the All-Ivy League team in 1995, he was named to the All-New England Division I golf team in both 1995 and 1996.
He won the ECAC championships his freshman year and finished second in the Dartmouth Invitational last fall.
Hurd's tremendous success has driven him to set very high standards for himself.
"I didn't do as well last year as I would have liked to," Hurd said. "I did really well freshman year, and I might be pushing myself too hard to try to get back to that."
Hurd is able to keep things in perspective, though.
"He's very even-tempered," Dartmouth men's golf Coach Bill Johnson said of Hurd. "He might go and miss a putt, and he'll just smile."
Hurd said he owes most of his success to his short game and, specifically, his putting stroke.
"Putting is definitely my strong point. I don't practice it as much as the rest of my game because I have a natural feel for it. If I'm playing well with my long game, I'll usually do pretty well," Hurd said.
His knack for reading greens may have come from his experiences as a caddy for such pro players as John Huston and Brad Faxon.
"I learned a lot about how they manage their games, and it helps me with my own game," he explains.
Hurd lives in Faxon's hometown of Barrington, Rhode Island.
Hurd brings more than just skill to the Big Green golf team.
"MacKenzie's been a joy to work with," Johnson said. "He's always got a great attitude, and he's a very hard worker. He's very even-tempered. If you ever meet a guy like MacKenzie and don't get along with him right away, you'd better look within yourself for something wrong."
Hurd is a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and is pursuing an English major. He served as co-captain of Dartmouth's golf team this past year, and he will lead the squad again this year as its captain.
Hurd definitely sees himself involved with some aspect of the golf industry in the future, even if he does not make it all the way to the PGA Tour.
"It's always been my dream to play professionally, but I often feel like I've somewhat forfeited it when I came to Dartmouth and decided to work on the academics," he said. "If I had gone down South, I would have been able to play all year round."
"But I'm still going to try my hardest for it," he said.
Regardless of where he is playing, Hurd will not give up on his lifelong ambition anytime soon. He is playing the game he loves most.
Even if his Tour aspirations do not work out, he will be happy knowing that at least he went for the Green and gave his dream the best shot he had in his bag.
