‘I can still play this game’

During the 1995 Manitoba Amateur Championship, Darcy Furber came to a stunning realization as he surveyed his options for an 85-yard approach shot into the 12th green at Bel Acres Country Club.

Furber had seen this shot more times than he could count, but not like this. This afternoon, he couldn’t figure out where to aim.

A hereditary eye condition had slowly eaten away at Furber’s vision in the months and years leading up to then. He was already unable to drive at night, and now it was severely affecting an environment in which he had thrived his entire life.

A future in the sport that was once clear had appeared to dim.

“My dad was my caddy. He was my caddy for years. And I said to him, ‘I can’t find the flag on the green,’” Furber recalled. “I just knew right then and there that my competitive days were pretty well done, because I couldn’t follow my ball good enough anymore.”

Twenty years later, Furber stood over his ball on the opening tee box at Tuxedo, set to hit his first shot in a competitive round since that sobering day at Bel Acres. This time, the picture through his lens was almost completely black — his vision worsened throughout the years — but there was promise once again in the game he loves.

The 60-year-old will be honoured as Sport Manitoba’s 2025 Athlete of the Year on Thursday night, as he is saluted for reinventing himself in a game that was stripped away at a critical point in his athletic career.

Furber was 29 years old when he was forced to step away from golf. Some might say he was just entering his prime.

He was a local standout as a sighted golfer, winning the individual provincial championship as a high schooler in 1983 before heading south on a golf scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi, where he played alongside fellow Manitoban and eventual PGA Tour pro Glen Hnatiuk.

Furber, who had aspirations of going pro himself one day, won two Willingdon Cups with Team Manitoba as an adult in 1985 and 1992, and followed by capturing the provincial match play championship in 1993.

“I was stepping away knowing that… I was okay with the career I had, even though it was short.”

In his mind, he was just getting started.

“In the end, it just wasn’t working out, but (when) I stepped away, I wasn’t angrily stepping away. I was stepping away knowing that… I was okay with the career I had, even though it was short,” Furber said.

As his sight worsened, it became challenging to put the effort that he wanted into his game. When a baby girl arrived in 1998 — and another in 2000 — Furber chose to devote his time to being a loving father and husband.

“I thought I was never going to compete again,” he said, emphasizing the word ‘compete.’ “It’s one thing to go play with the boys, have a couple of brews, but I always love to go and play. I practiced for tournaments, to make Willingdon Cup teams, to make junior teams, to make Manitoba-Minnesota teams back in the old days.”

Furber has since entered a second prime that has been a sight to behold.

In 2015, after being inspired to dust off the sticks by his brother Joe, Furber joined Blind Golf Manitoba and played in provincial championships with other visually impaired players. It didn’t take long for him to get the hang of it.

That day at Tuxedo, playing in his first competitive tournament in two decades, Furber was met by the same unnerving feeling that comes with every opening tee shot of a tournament. In a weird way, it felt right.

“I thought I was never going to compete again.”

“I just thought to myself, ‘Man, this is unbelievable,’” he said. “I used to have this feeling all the time, standing on the first tee in tournaments. I realized right then and there how much I missed the competition.”

Furber played as a B2 golfer for the first eight years — players who have one to five per cent of their vision — then transferred to the B1 category — where players must wear blackout glasses — in 2024.

With his brother-in-law Ron Oliver as his caddy, Furber has compiled an impressive resumé in the last dozen years, including winning five provincial championships (2014-2017, 2019), the 2016 Canadian Blind Golf Championship, the Nations Cup as one of two golfer representing Canada against the U.S., and most recently the 2025 World Blind Golf Championship.

He plans to defend his world championship next year in Spain.

“We’ve done quite well in the last 12 years, winning some titles and some nice trophies,” said Furber, who was inducted into the Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame in 2023. “(Oliver) has coached me in every tournament. I’ve had friends coach me. I don’t have the mental trust like I do with my brother-in-law, because we have a routine. I know he’s paying attention.”

These days, Furber relies on the muscle memory that he built as a sighted golfer. Oliver lines him up for every shot, and when everything seems right, tells Furber to swing away. He said the toughest part of golfing blind is in the awkward lies, when he must take an uneven stance.

“I realized right then and there how much I missed the competition.”

Furber will happily deal with those lies, however. His future in golf is as clear as it has ever been.

“It just really fired me up again that I can still play golf. Even though I can’t see, I can still play this game,” Furber said.

“It’s been amazing. The last couple of years have been really crazy, because after winning the world championship last year, it’s like, ‘Holy cow.’ I never, ever dreamt that I would get the accolades and the recognition that I’ve gotten the last six months.”

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