All young athletes grow up dreaming of one day meeting and interacting with their heroes in the professional sports world. Whether it be hitting batting practice with Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium, catching a pass from Brett Favre in the end zone at Lambeau Field or playing horse with Michael Jordan at the United Center, everyone has their own special fantasy.

For UNCW women’s golfer TJ Harvey, that dream came true this summer when she received the opportunity to tee it up at the world famous TPC Sawgrass golf course with her idol, PGA Tour professional and 2003 U.S. Open Champion Jim Furyk.

Harvey, a sophomore, was given the chance to play a round with her favorite golfer through the Make-A-Wish Foundation after a tough battle with Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis that began her senior year of high school.

“It was tough because it was my last year and I had to finish school at home,” she said. In addition to HLH, Harvey was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in seventh grade, which weakened her immune system.

Following the HLH diagnosis, the Wilmington native was forced to travel to Chapel Hill three times a week to undergo aggressive chemotherapy to combat the life-threatening blood disease that affects only one in a million young people. “The chemo was rough and made me lose my hair and strength,” Harvey said.

However, a mere 18 months removed from intensive care, TJ found herself back on the golf course working to gain her strength back. “It took a while to get my strength to where I can walk the course and finish a round,” she said.

Women’s golf coach Cindy Ho has watched TJ’s remarkable progress over the past year. “At first, she couldn’t walk nine holes,” she said. “We could only do three and four holes at a time and we would shuttle her around. Walking with the bag is the next phase.”

Harvey and her family decided to submit her story to the Make-A-Wish foundation after a friend suggested she give it a shot. “A lot goes into it,” she said. “We sent it to the board in Raleigh, and after a few weeks they came back saying we could do it. It didn’t seem real at first.”

TJ wasted no time in requesting Furyk as her partner for the golf outing in Florida. “I like him because of his unique swing and he’s just an everyday guy,” she said. “He put my bag on the cart for me, and when I called him Mr. Furyk he’d say ‘Mr. Furyk is my father, I’m Jim.'”

After arriving at TPC Sawgrass, the two had a brief warm-up session before heading to the 10th tee to play the back nine. “It’s intimidating. This is something the pros get to do everyday,” Harvey said describing standing on the tee box at 10.

Throughout the day, the young golfer took in lessons from the experienced veteran pro: course management, setting up second shots and approaches, putting; however, Furyk also dished out tips of a much deeper value.

“He told me how important it is to stay calm. How you act on the course affects everyone one you play with. You might think you’re only affecting yourself, but it’s everyone,” she said.

After a birdie on 16, Harvey and Furyk arrived at arguably the most famous hole in golf, the par-3 island-green 17th. “Jim showed me the championship tee where all the pros play from. It’s way more intimidating,” she said. “The more attention you pay to the water, the more likely you are to hit it in.”

However, TJ paid the vast pond no attention, calmly knocking her tee-shot onto the green. Furyk said later that TJ could’ve sold that shot for “half a million dollars” to any pro playing in the Players Championship.

As if the 17th wasn’t enough, the final hole of the round served as TJ’s toughest challenge. “Eighteen was the hardest because it doesn’t look hard from the tee but it’s a long second shot and there’s water down the whole left side,” she said.

After holing out on 18, the two sat down for lunch together and continued chatting about family, hobbies and anything in between. “We exchanged phone numbers and he told me to keep in touch. It was a real honor,” Harvey said.

Leaving Sawgrass, Harvey kept with her more than just a great sports experience but also several lessons from one of her idols. “It taught me to be the best person you can be and who you are affects others,” she said. “The golf was amazing, but we did so much else. It was a once in a lifetime experience.”

Now into the fall golf season, TJ is still working hard to get back to full strength fine-tune her game. “I have to mentally keep my head in the game and finish 18, not play 16 great holes and blow the last two,” she said.

Coach Ho believes that TJ’s experience will not only be helpful to her, but also to her teammates. “She never wanted to be removed from the team. She’s a feisty, courageous and down to earth kid,” she said, “TJ is an inspiration and a lesson to the rest of the team.”