Lyon would win a total of eight Canadian titles, which is still a record,[1] and he also won the gold medal at golf in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
[1] In 1927, the interprovincial team matches, which had begun in 1882, and held 27 times until 1921, between teams from Ontario and Quebec, but then dropped,[2] were resumed with the start of the Willingdon Cup competition, playing for a cup donated by the Governor General, Lord Willingdon.
[3] Since then, it has rotated around the country's top courses, with the current format allowing each of the six major golf regions (Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) to have its turn on approximately a six-year cycle.
The Canadian Amateur was dominated in the 1920s and 1930s by Ross Somerville, who won six titles, finished runner-up four times, and had several more near-misses.
[4] From the late 1920s into the 1970s, the Canadian Amateur often attracted many of the top American amateurs, several of whom carried the trophy south, including Dick Chapman, Frank Stranahan, Don Cherry, Harvie Ward, Allen Miller, Dick Siderowf, and George Burns.
Other leading Americans who competed but fell short include William C. Campbell, Jay Sigel, and Nathaniel Crosby.
The Canadian title has also been won by South African Reg Taylor (1962), New Zealanders Stuart Jones (1967) and Gareth Paddison (2001), Mexican Rafael Alarcón (1979), and Australian Gary Simpson (1993).
These eleven (in chronological order of their Canadian Amateur wins) are: Fred Haas, Ken Black, Frank Stranahan, Bunky Henry, Allen Miller, George Burns (golfer), Richard Zokol, Garrett Willis, Dillard Pruitt, Nick Taylor, and Mackenzie Hughes.