It’s always curious what you uncover when digging through the photo archives while invariably searching for something completely unrelated. This photo was taken during a very rainy and overcast Friday of the 2007 Jane Rogers Championship – a Canadian Tour event that has since been relocated to Greystone in Milton (which everyone should check out if you want to watch some great golf up close personal without all of those grumpy volunteers and endless ropes).
The 3 players in the photo are all Canadian and are all talented golfers.
The reason for this post or perhaps the reason that this photo is relevant stems from a recent groundswell within the industry as to how and why the country does not produce better players – or perhaps better stated, more Canadians on PGA Tour leaderboards. There is even the notion that the associations within this country should collectively fund the gap between amateur status and ‘the day they make it’ – whatever and whoever determines that actual day I suppose.
The point of the post and photo are rather simple:
These 3 players are all very good. And all are capable of playing at the highest level. The difference between them can be attributed to a whole host of elements not withstanding talent, timing, circumstance, work ethic, will, perseverance, and chance.
- Graham DeLaet conquered Q-School in 2009. He is on the PGA Tour and has earned $468,000 dollars in 2010 to date in just 11 events.
- James Lepp was a Canadian Tour winner and also the 2005 NCAA Amateur Champion. He is playing a very limited schedule due to the fact that he has just launched his own start-up KIKKOR, a golf shoe company.
- Wes Heffernan is a multiple winner on the Canadian Tour, has played in the US Open and partnered with Mike Weir during the World Cup. He has played 3 events on the Canadian Tour in 2010 and earned $6,380.
Can we actually measure the success of each? Would additional resources or funding have made any significant impact or changed the outcome? And who’s to say that any one of these players, like many others, sees different results 3 years from now? About all I can for certain is that each is worth the price of admission.
