The Canadian Amateur Championship, begun in 1895, is the men's amateurgolf championship of Canada. It is staged annually by Golf Canada. It was played at match play until 1968, went to stroke play beginning in 1969, and reverted to match play in 1995.[1] It then returned to stroke play in 2008.
The Royal Canadian Golf Association was founded in June 1895, at a meeting held in Ottawa by ten charter member clubs, hosted by the Ottawa Golf Club (later the Royal Ottawa Golf Club), and the new organization was granted the prefix 'Royal' in 1896. In conjunction with the meeting, the first men's amateur championship was staged, at match play, with the Governor General of Canada, Lord Aberdeen, donating a trophy, the Aberdeen Cup, to the champion. Thomas Harley of Kingston, Ontario won the first championship.[1]
This makes the Canadian Amateur slightly older than the U.S. Amateur, which was first staged later in 1895, and hence the third oldest national amateur championship in the world, after the British Amateur Championship, which began in 1885, and the Australian Amateur in 1894.
The Aberdeen Cup was granted in perpetuity to George Lyon, after he won three straight titles from 1905 to 1907. The original cup was retained by Lyon, but was eventually lost. A new trophy was then provided, the Earl Grey Cup. Lyon would win a total of eight Canadian titles, which is still a record,[1] and he also won the gold medal at golf in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
The tournament was held annually until 1914 inclusive, but then was cancelled from 1915 to 1918 because of World War I. It resumed in 1919, and then was staged annually until 1939 inclusive, being cancelled again from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II. It has been held annually since 1946.[1]
Willingdon Cup
In 1927, the interprovincial team matches, which had begun in 1882, and held 27 times until 1921, between teams from Ontario and Quebec, but then dropped,[2] were resumed with the start of the Willingdon Cup competition, playing for a cup donated by the Governor General, Lord Willingdon. The Willingdon Cup features teams of four top players from each province, and is held on the first two days of the Canadian Amateur, which are also the qualifying days for the balance of the tournament. The Willingdon Cup was also not played from 1940-45.[1]
The Canadian Amateur was dominated in the 1920s and 1930s by Ross Somerville, who won six titles, finished runner-up four times, and had several more near-misses. Moe Norman won back-to-back titles in 1955 and 1956. Nick Weslock waited until age 40 to win the first of his four titles in 1957. Although Gary Cowan was consistently the best Canadian amateur from the late 1950s into the mid-1970s, he managed to win only one Canadian title, in 1961, but lost in the finals four more times, as well as finishing runner-up twice in stroke play. Doug Roxburgh won his first of four crowns in 1972. Jim Nelford won two in a row from 1975–1976, then narrowly missed a third in 1977, when he lost to Rod Spittle, who won two in a row. Brent Franklin won three in a row from 1985–1987, a feat not seen since Lyon did it some eighty years earlier.[1]Richard Scott won the Canadian title in three years out of four from 2003 to 2006. Cam Burke won two straight from 2008 to 2009.[4]
To date, four players have won both the U.S. Amateur and Canadian Amateur titles: Ross Somerville, Dick Chapman, Harvie Ward, and Gary Cowan. Chapman and Ward also won The Amateur Championship of Great Britain, a title which no Canadian has yet taken.
George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories.
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 1949 and 2019 when Ireland hosted the championship. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur. It normally has the widest international representation of any individual amateur event, with 38 golf federations from all six continents represented in the 2018 championship.
The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), branded as Golf Canada, is the governing body of golf in Canada.
Frank Richard Stranahan was an American sportsman. He had significant success in both amateur and professional golf. He was ranked number one in his weight class in powerlifting, from 1945 to 1954, and he became known on the golf course and off as the "Toledo strongman" long before the modern game of golf and fitness. After he retired from tournament golf in the early 1960s, he became a prolific long-distance runner, competing in 102 marathons.
Richard Davol Chapman was an American amateur golfer. Time magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf".
Gary Cowan is a Canadian golfer who has achieved outstanding results at the highest class in amateur competition.
The 1947 Masters Tournament was the 11th Masters Tournament, held April 3–6 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The purse was $10,000 with a winner's share of $2,500.
The 1948 Masters Tournament was the 12th Masters Tournament, held April 8–11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
The 1952 Masters Tournament was the 16th Masters Tournament, held April 3–6 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
The 1953 Masters Tournament was the 17th Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
The 1957 Masters Tournament was the 21st Masters Tournament, held April 4–7 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. This was the first Masters played with a 36-hole cut; 101 players started and forty made the cut at 150 (+6).
The 1958 Masters Tournament was the 22nd Masters Tournament, held April 3–6 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Arnold Palmer won the first of his four Masters titles, one stroke ahead of runners-up Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins. It was the first of his seven major titles.
The Willingdon Cup is an annual amateur golf team competition among Canada's provinces.
Cataraqui Golf and Country Club is a private golf and curling club located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1917.
The Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, often referred to as Ottawa Hunt or the Hunt Club, is a private golf and curling club in Canada, located in Ottawa, Ontario. Founded 115 years ago in 1908 as a hunting club, it has hosted many world-class professional and amateur golf tournaments, along with many high-profile Canadian curling events.
Doug Roxburgh is a Canadian accountant, amateur golfer, and golf administrator. He has won the Canadian Amateur Championship four times, the B.C. Amateur Championship a record 13 times, and is a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
Edward Harvie Ward, Jr. was an American golfer best known for his amateur career. He is best known for winning both the U.S. Amateur (twice) and the British Amateur.
Brooke Mackenzie Henderson is a Canadian professional golfer on the LPGA Tour.
Andrew Whyte Smith was a Canadian amateur golfer. He finished tied for third place in the 1895 U.S. Open played at Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island and had an identical result in the 1896 U.S. Open, held July 18, 1896, at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.
Ronald James White was an English amateur golfer. He was one of the leading amateur golfers of the post-World War II period. He played in five consecutive Walker Cup matches from 1947 to 1955. In the four matches from 1947 to 1953 Great Britain and Ireland won 12 and halved 3 of the 48 individual matches of which White contributed 6 wins and a half in his 8 matches, winning all his four singles matches.
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