Kudos and consternation

Pictured above: Taylor Pendrith, Richmond Hill, Ontario

Canadian men professionals are having a relatively good season on the PGA Tour so far.

Graham DeLaet is the top Canadian, in 83^rd place on the current Money List, with about $769,000.   Adam Hadwin is 98^th, David Hearn 104^th, and Nick Taylor 121^st.  Keep it up, guys!

On the LPGA, you’re undoubtedly aware that our rising superstar Brooke Henderson is currently in 10^th place on the Money List, with over $460,000 in 12 events, in her first full season.  Brooke’s compatriots on the Ladies Tour include Alena Sharp (73^rd), Maude-Aimée Leblanc (134^th), and, part-time, Samantha Richdale (145^th).   Richdale also plays on the Symetra Tour, where she’s currently ranked 2^nd on that Money List.  If she can keep that quality of play going, she’ll graduate to the LPGA Tour full-time next season.

Thanks to some of the online golf information services I subscribe to, I’m made aware every week of how other Canadians are doing on “lower” Tours, and I’m happy to say they’re doing pretty well, too.  In fact, I doubt that there’s ever been a time when so many Canadians have been out there trying – and many succeeding – to earn a living by playing professional golf.

In the larger scheme of things, “Canadians earning a living playing golf” could rank pretty far down on the list of important things to know, I admit.  But how many of us, especially if we follow golf, aren’t just a little bit pleased when we see that a Canadian has won, or finished in the Top Ten of a tournament?

The trouble is, unless you subscribe to the online services that I do, you’re pretty unlikely to know of these performances.   In the old days – i.e., an earlier century – our newspapers used to print results when Canadians were competing, but when’s the last time you saw a Web.com or Symetra Tour leaderboard in a Monday edition of the Globe or the Star?  (Certainly never online, and very rarely in the print edition.)

But I digress.

I wanted to use this space to make you aware of the following Canadians, where they’re playing, and how they rank on the most recent money lists I could find.  You can thank me at your earliest convenience.

Men

Brad Fritsch                            Web.com Tour                        3^rd

Roger Sloan                            Web.com                                 32^nd

Taylor Pendrith                       Web.com                                 47^th

Albin Choi                              Web.com                                 54^th

Stephen Ames                         Champions Tour                      28^th

Rod Spittle                              Champions                              51^st

Jim Rutledge                           Champions                              126^th

Corey Connors                        PGA Latino-America              2^nd

Women

Augusta James                        Symetra Tour                          6^th

Jessica Wallace                        Symetra                                   12^th

Rebecca Lee-Bentham                        Symetra                                   19^th

Sarah-Maude Juneau               Symetra                                   26^th

Sue Kim                                  Symetra                                   36^th

Jennifer Kirby                         Symetra                                   39^th

Brittany Marchand                  Symetra                                   50^th

Anne Catherine Tanguay        Symetra                                   51^st

Lorie Kane                              Ladies Legends Tour              1^st

Gail Graham                            Ladies Legends                       NA

I give all these names above full credit for their passion and perseverance.  As glamorous and carefree as it may seem to those of us who either sit on our duffs looking at a computer screen all day, or work in physically demanding jobs that don’t pay much, it cannot be an easy ride for most of these young, and not-so-young Canadians.  On the one hand, they’ve worked hard to be where they are, and they’re simply trying to capitalize on their God-given talent the way the rest of us are.

They face fierce competition, bad luck, tiring travel, and a lot of self-discipline; and for those further down the list, some real economic challenges week-after-week.  And of course, they don’t get paid a salary… it’s sink or swim every time they tee it up.

So whenever I see a little Canadian flag on a leaderboard, on any Tour, I’m happy for the player, and I hope they’re making all of us proud with their attitude and demeanor.

***************

Meanwhile, I’m so incensed at the decision of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers for their decision not to allow women as members of Muirfield, that I’ve decided I’m going to start my own private golf club, WITH ONLY WOMEN MEMBERS.  It’s time I took a stand, and made a statement to the World of Golf!

What?

There already IS a club with only women members?!  Where men aren’t allowed to join?

They can play as GUESTS, but they’re not allowed to join as members?

You’re kidding!   Did they just start this club after the Muirfield decision?

Oh.  1924, hunh?

And they’ve been able to stay women-only since then?  Hunh.

So, where is this restrictive club?

Thornhill, Ontario!!   Like, just up the street, hunh?

Hunh.