Bruce Mitchell becomes first Canadian to serve as Captain of the Royal & Ancient GC

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews has announced that Bruce Mitchell will serve as Captain in 2017/18.

Mr Mitchell has been nominated as Captain by the past Captains of the Club and will become the first Canadian to hold the position. He will begin his year in office with the traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course on Friday, 22 September 2017.

A renowned businessman, now based in Toronto, Mr Mitchell is the founder, owner and President of Permian Industries, a management and holding company with sole or significant shareholdings in two food companies and two computer software providers. He has also been a major shareholder of companies in the automotive parts, oil and gas, advertising and water purification industries.

Mr Mitchell has served on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Montreal and a number of other public company, private corporation and not-for-profit Boards. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, on the Board of St Michael’s Hospital Foundation and a Trustee of the Ridley College Foundation.

A member of The Toronto Golf Club where he served as President in 1996 and 1997, Mr. Mitchell is a past club champion of Windermere Golf and Country Club where he was a Trustee and then Co-Chair in 2007 and 2008. He became a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1988 and in 2001 won both The Queen Victoria Jubilee Vase and The Royal Sydney Plate (match play knockout competitions played during the Club’s Autumn Meeting). He currently plays to a handicap of 14.

Born and raised in western Canada, Mr Mitchell graduated from Queen’s University (BSc engineering) and Harvard University (MBA). Aged 71, he resides in Toronto with his wife, Vladka. He has four children and eight grandchildren. An avid skier, he and his wife enjoy adventure travel and biking trips.