Ames was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago and is of English and Portuguese descent,[4] and much of his family resides in the Caribbean nation.

Ames won a golf scholarship at the College of Boca Raton in Florida in the United States and turned professional in 1987, but failed to win a PGA Tour card over the following few years, partly due to a neck injury.

He spent five seasons on the European Tour and performed consistently, making the top 80 on the Order of Merit each time, with a best of 13th in 1996.

He co-hosts, with MP Jim Prentice, an annual charity golf tournament for kids[6] and owns a steakhouse in Calgary called the Vintage Chophouse.

1 Tiger Woods with the comment: "Anything can happen, especially where [Tiger's] hitting the ball," Ames was soundly defeated by Woods at the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa, losing 9 and 8; the largest amount a player can possibly lose by in an eighteen-hole match play event is 10 and 8.

With the win, Ames surpassed the US$10 million career earnings barrier and climbed 37 places to 27th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

[7] Ames won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour in 2009, again at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, shooting a final round -8 64.

[8] On April 16, 2017, Ames secured his first PGA Tour Champions victory, in his 49th start, at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic.

[1] PGA Tour playoff record (1–0) *Note: The 2024 Chubb Classic was shortened to 36 holes due to weather.

WD = withdrew QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.