The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame houses displays of the country’s best golfers, and their records are truly inspiring. Is it possible to pick just five and rank them accordingly? Can we compare the accomplishments of a golfer from the 1920s to one from the 1960s? Or a professional against an amateur?
Placing heavy value on PGA Tour wins, you can say that Mike Weir is Canada’s best ever golfer as he has won eight times on the PGA Tour; tied with George Knudson. But can you compare that with winning an Olympic gold medal?
It’s impossible to base a comparison on individual matches or tournament results for the rest. Each player was considered dominant and had achievements well beyond their peers.
Hence, to determine their ranking, we compare the players’ overall accomplishments and list five of the top professional golfers in Canada.
Let’s get started.
When it comes to hitting off the tee, there are a few unforgettable Canadian golf icons. Let’s have a look at the Top 5 Canadian golfers of all time.
Stephen Ames is a four-time PGA Tour winner and three-time winner internationally. He was born in Trinidad and Tobago but married a Canadian flight attendant and achieved Canadian citizenship in 2005. His grandmother was twice a Trinidad and Tobago champion.
Ames turned professional in 1987 and has won at every tour level. His most memorable win came in 2006 when he won the Players Championship by an incredible six shots. He has grossed more than $19 million on the PGA Tour and has totalled 58 Top 10 finishes in 254 starts. He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2014.
Aside from Mike Weir’s Masters win, Ames’ Players triumph is one of the most impressive performances on PGA tour by a Canadian in recent memory.
If this had been a list of the greatest Canadian ball-strikers of all time, Moe Norman would have occupied the top spot by a wide margin. With his homemade swing honed through endless hours of trial and error, Moe could stripe the ball like no other. Tiger Woods once said, “Only two people ever truly owned their swing: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan.”
Moe has been called ‘The Mysterious Genius of Golf’. He was the Canadian Men’s Amateur Champion in 1955 and 1956, turned professional in 1957, and played briefly on the PGA Tour. But due to shyness, the bullying he encountered from certain pros, and a preference to play in Canada, he stayed primarily in Ontario rather than travel extensively outside Canada.
He played 27 events on the tour (his highest finish was a fourth-place result at the New Orleans Open in 1959), along with five on the PGA Tour Champions.
He made two appearances by invitation as an amateur in the Masters Tournament: in 1956 he scored 75-78 and withdrew; in 1957 he scored 77-74 to miss the cut by one stroke. He racked up 55 Canadian Tour wins on the Old Canadian Tour, and was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
In his book Moe and Me, Lorne Rubenstein wrote: “His swing, his mannerisms, and his lifestyle were unusual, to say the least: Moe played very quickly, never took a practice swing, often repeated phrases when talking, and lived in motel rooms most of his life.”
Norman’s idiosyncrasies (he did not receive proper medical treatment after a car accident when he was five and had an autism spectrum disorder) may have cut short his Tour career. But his return to his native Ontario saw him become one of the most beloved characters in Canada’s golf history.
Stan Leonard was a professional Canadian golfer who played the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s. Leonard won three PGA Tour events, including the prestigious Western Open in 1960. His three PGA Tour victories play a major role in his ranking. But it’s his Canadian Professional Golf Tour wins and three Canadian PGA Seniors Championship victories added to the PGA Tour wins that land him in the third spot.
Leonard won the Canadian PGA Championships eight times between 1940 and 1961. He won the British Columbia Open five times, the Alberta Open nine times and the Saskatchewan Open twice. He was the low Canadian at the Canadian Open eight times and won a total of six significant amateurs and 40 professional tournaments in Canada throughout his career. He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1972 and finished in the Top 10 at the Masters three years in a row. No Canadian had accomplished that until Corey Conners did it earlier this spring.
Who Are the Top 5 Top Golfers in Canada
Before Mike Weir, George Knudson was the most successful Canadian golfer at an international professional level. He had eight Tour victories in 11 years and was the winningest Canadian in the Tour’s history for over three decades.
His winning resume as a professional is robust both at home and abroad as an individual and as part of a team. He represented Canada in the World Cup nine times, winning as an individual in 1966 and with Al Balding as a team in 1968. He finished in the Top 10 at the Masters three times and tied for second in 1969.
Knudson had one of the silkiest swings in Canadian golf history. He won 27 times worldwide as a pro, including five Canadian PGA championships and earned low Canadian honours at the Canadian Open five times.
He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1986 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1969.
Mike Weir is probably Canada’s most celebrated male golfer and is responsible for inspiring the current generation of Tour players. Weir won eight times on the PGA Tour, including a World Golf Championship and the Tour Championship in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
Almost every golf fan in the country can recall when Weir captured the Green Jacket in 2003, as he became Canada’s only male to win a major. All of Canada’s golf fans were silent watching Weir play the back nine of the Masters in 2003. When he nailed an 8-foot putt to force a playoff with Len Mattiace, they exhaled. And when Weir raised his arms in victory after the first playoff hole, Canadians from coast to coast did as well. It was the defining moment in Canadian golf history and is still considered one of its best moments. His Masters title came in his three-win season of 2003; that year, Weir made it to third in the world and was named Canada’s Athlete of the Year.
He was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2004 and was bestowed the Order of Canada (the highest honour a Canadian civilian can receive) in 2007. He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.
Weir has won a total of 15 times worldwide, has competed in the Presidents Cup five times, and has been an assistant captain in 2017, 2019 and 2022 for the Presidents Cup team. The frequency of his wins and his Masters victory make Weir the only choice for the top spot in our list.
What a robust list of golf heroes! Are you inspired by their outstanding careers and want to get your hands on a set of golf clubs? Learn 2 Golf can help. From golf camps to one-on-one private golf lessons, you can learn the game from experienced golf instructors. Contact us to schedule a class.