Home to Cabot Cliffs, The National, and St. George’s, it’s not a surprise that Canada has given rise to several highly competitive pro and amateur golfers.
Since the Royal Québec Golf Club was founded in 1875, the sport has been a popular pastime across the country, and right now, there are several Canadians competing in golf’s most prestigious tournaments and tours.
Along with a nod to Canada’s current top players who’re looking to earn a place on this list, these are the best Canadian golf players of all time.
Mike Weir
The only place to start the list of the best Canadian golf players of all time is with the nation’s first and only men’s major winner, Mike Weir.
The 1.75m lefty has amassed eight wins on the PGA Tour, two on the European Tour, and in 2021, he won his first on the PGA Tour Champions.
Still, his crowning achievement, and one of the best in sporting history for Canada, came in 2003, when he won the Masters.
Not only did he shoot a final round of 68 and become the first to go bogey-free since 1957 in the decisive round, but he also got given his green jacket by the legendary Tiger Woods.
Now, with Weir on the Champions tour, Canadians will be looking to up-and-comer Corey Conners to shoot for the moon and become the second Canadian major winner.
As it stands, while at 39th in the official World Golf Rankings, the Masters odds have Conners out at +5500 to replicate the great Mike Weir in 2023.
Marlene Streit
A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Marlene Streit stands as one of Canada’s best female amateur golfers of all time, having won tournaments across the world.
To this day, Streit remains the only amateur golfer to have gone to Canada, Britain, Australia, and the US and won the Women’s Amateurs tournaments.
As recognition for her efforts, the Alberta native boasts two Lou Marsh Trophies (given to Canada’s top pro or amateur athlete) and four Bobbie Rosenfeld Awards (given to the top female athlete in Canada).
Brooke Henderson
Usually, these all-time lists wouldn’t feature an active pro tour golfer, but Brooke Henderson’s career to date arguably already ranks the 25-year-old from Smiths Falls among the best Canadians to ever play the sport.
At the time of writing, Henderson’s record reads 13 wins on the LPGA Tour and one on the Symetra Tour, all of which are eclipsed by her 2016 Women’s PGA Championship win and the 2022 Evian Championship crown.
Since she turned pro as the top-ranked female amateur in the world in 2014, Henderson has dazzled golf fans and is a regular favourite in the majors odds when the big meets come around each year.
George Lyon
In the professional ranks, George Lyon’s prowess was mostly limited to Canadian competitions through the 19th Century and early 20th Century.
Now featured in the Canadian Hall of Fame, Lyon won the Canadian Amateur Championship eight times, but his crowning triumph came in 1904 at the St. Louis Olympics.
Lyon was one of the best amateur golfers in the world and won the gold medal at the 1904 Olympic Games.
His plans to defend the gold in 1908 were scuppered by the Games not hosting the sport, and he even rejected the gold medal offered to him as the default champion.
George Knudson
While the Masters win puts Mike Weir on top of Canada’s top male golfers of all time rankings, George Knudson is perhaps his closest professional competitor.
In the 60s and 70s, Knudson claimed eight PGA Tour wins to add to his haul of Manitoba Open and Ontario Open triumphs, which set the bar that Weir met for the most PGA Tour wins by a Canadian.
Stephen Ames
Joining Weir in the modern game, and currently on the PGA Tour Champions with the green jacket owner, Stephen Ames switched from his Trinidad and Tobago nationality to Canadian in 2005, so he gets included on this list.
The Vancouver resident once ranked 17th in the world, won twice on the European tour, and collected four PGA Tour victories.
In 1997, while representing his nation of birth, Ames tied for fifth at the Open Championship, marking his best finish at a major.
In the professional game, Brooke Henderson and Mike Weir are clearly Canada’s greatest golfers of all time, but there’s certainly competition from superb amateurs George Lyon and Marlene Streit.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 16th February 2023
