Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/130253
iG1304--rev 5/10/13 4:21 PM Page 1 THE FIRST TEE BY BRYAN OUTRAM Our Top 20 LIST One of the more engaging elements of celebrating an anniversary is that it affords us the opportunity to look back and reflect on the events that have taken place over that time. In this, the 20th anniversary year of Inside Golf Magazine, it seemed only appropriate that we took the time to consider the many newsworthy moments of the last two decades which have helped shape a most remarkable period in Canadian golf history. And with 20 years, we decided that a top 20 list would be appropriate... and yes, there is a slightly western bias but after all we do try to be Western Canada's news source for golf. So, without further ado, here are iG's Top 20 most significant moments in Canadian golf over the last 20 years. 20. Lorne Rubenstein wins his 3rd Golf Writers' Association of America 1st place award for Newspaper Columns in 1995. A Canadian winning anything with 'of America' in the title is noteworthy. Lorne, considered the dean of Canadian Golf Writers, has written on the subject of golf for some 30 years. 19. Abbotsford's Nick Taylor qualifies for the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where he not only makes the cut, but cards a 65 in the second round, tying the record for lowest round by an amateur in the 109 years of the U.S. Open's history. 18. Dave Barr birdies the final four holes including a 35 footer on 18 to win the Royal Caribbean Golf Classic on the Champions Tour in 2003 breaking a 16 year long victory drought. 17. Jim Nelford is elected to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. In 1992, he won the Ben Hogan Award handed out by the Golf Writers Association of America for someone who remains active in the sport despite a major disability (Nelford suffered an horrific arm injury in a water skiing mishap in 1985, effectively bringing to an end his pro golf career). 16. On May 26th, 2010 Calgary's Jamie Kureluk shot the lowest 9-hole score ever recorded in professional competition after blistering the par 36 back nine at Carnmoney G&CC in just 25 strokes during opening round of the RBC Insurance Alberta Open. What makes this 25 even more amazing is that it was recorded on a par 36 nine. (see 'iG Editors Picks' retrospective story on page 87). 15. James Lepp wins the 2003 Greater Vancouver Classic on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour…significant because he was an amateur at the time. Lepp would win this event again in 2007, this time as a professional. 14. Lorie Kane wins her 3rd LPGA event of the 2000 At the age of 46, Doug Roxburgh wins his 13th British Columbia Amateur in 1996 to go with his 4 Canadian Amateur titles. season and tops it off with the William & Mousie Powell Award. 13. Ian Leggatt picks up his lone PGA Tour win on February 24th, 2002 at the Tucson Open. Unfortunately it coincided with a rather significant event of another kind - the first gold medal in Olympic Hockey for Canada in 50 years as they defeated the USA 5-2 in the final in Salt Lake City on the same day. Needless to say Leggatt's win took a back seat to that particular result. 12. James Lepp wins the 2005 NCAA Division I Championship while playing for the University of Washington, the first Canadian male to do so. Lepp would also win his 4th consecutive B.C. Am that year. 11. Richard Zokol sets a 9-hole record for the U.S. Open when he records a remarkable 30 on the front nine in the final round of the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It got lost in all the hoopla over Tiger Woods' stunning 15-shot victory but Zokol birdied holes 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 with three of the putts from longer than 20 feet. He would shoot 39 on the back nine to eventually finish in a T32nd, but for two hours in the final round on Sunday, he was the 'man'. 10. Moe Norman passes away at the age of 75 in 2004. Norman's skills as a ball striker are legendary. Sam Snead, himself one of the all-time greatest golfers, described Norman as the greatest striker of the ball. In January 2005, Tiger Woods, the biggest golf star of the modern era, told Golf Digest's Jaime Diaz that only two golfers in history have "owned their swings": Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. Norman was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. 9. Doug Roxburgh wins his 13th British Columbia Amateur in 1996 at the age of 46. Think about that…13 provincial titles - over a 27 year period. Roxy also won 4 Canadian Amateur titles. 8. Calgary's Stephen Ames gets throttled by Tiger Woods in the Accenture Match Play Championship. He faced Woods in the first round of the Match Play Championship, and riled him by saying that anything could happen, "especially where he's hitting the ball." Woods turned it into the shortest match in 18-hole history, 9 and 8, a score that became Ames' nickname for the next month…at least until he answered back in the Player's Championship. "What am I going to do, sit down and cry about it?" Ames said of the loss. "He's the No. 1 player in the world, and he played exceptionally well for ... was it nine or 10 holes? That was it." Continued On Page 56 10