Canada's Lorie Kane at the CP Women's Open Pro-Am tournament on Aug. 24, in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
When Lorie Kane tees off at the CP Women’s Open in Ottawa on Thursday, it will be her 30th and final appearance in Canada’s women’s golf championship.
The 57-year-old from Charlottetown has played the event more times than anyone, dating to her debut as an amateur in 1991. The Canadian Golf Hall of Famer is emotional thinking of her final walk up the 18th fairway at the event she helped grow, and still aches over the time she let the title slip away more than two decades ago. The finale comes on her own terms.
“I made the decision. It was my choice,” Kane said by telephone from Ottawa on Wednesday, as the LPGA Tour makes its lone stop in Canada. “I just felt like with where I am in the game, I’m not playing as much competitive golf as I’d like to, to be sharp.
“I don’t ever want to feel like I’m taking up space and an opportunity from another young Canadian that wants to play the CP Women’s Open and see where she might take her own career.”
Kane, a four-time winner on the LPGA Tour, has never won the Canadian Open. She came agonizingly close in 2000, at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. Then a national favourite in the midst of a hot season, she had a share of the lead entering Sunday, but finished tied for fifth, crestfallen before Canadian fans.
“Obviously 2000 got away on me and that’s one tournament that still stings,” Kane said. “But there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then and a lot of successes that were never about trophies.”
Brooke Henderson will be the star of this event, which opens Thursday at her home course, the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. The 24-year-old native of nearby Smiths Falls, Ont., is a 12-time champion on the LPGA Tour. Still, Kane, a pioneer in Canadian golf, will share a little of the spotlight.
Kane has maintained a big presence at the CP Women’s Open, although she hasn’t played an LPGA event since two tournaments in 2018. As an ambassador for Canadian Pacific – the title sponsor, which stabilized this tournament – Kane has helped raise millions for heart health, in tandem with the Canadian tournament.
“Lorie is incredible,” Henderson told reporters in Ottawa this week. “You know, growing up she was women’s golf in Canada. I looked up to her and she’s been a great friend and mentor. I think all of Canada just loves her dearly, so it is sad that this is her last one.”
The two women share mutual admiration. Kane used her platform this week to ask why Henderson – with the most wins of any pro golfer in the country – isn’t talked about more.
“What Brooke continues to do is fantastic, and she needs to be celebrated more, and she needs to be talked about more,” Kane said.
Brooke Henderson chips out of a bunker during the CP Women's Open Pro-Am.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Kane is not formally retiring from the sport. She intends to continue playing senior women’s events on the LPGA’s Legends Tour. She also wants to help mentor Canadian golfers and assist with the CP Women’s Open.
“Golf is a sport you never retire from,” said Kane, who took it up when she was 5.
Since her rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 1996 at the age of 29, Kane has earned nearly US$7-million. She tallied four LPGA victories, 99 top-10 finishes, eight of those at majors.
Kane won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award – given to Canada’s top female athlete of the year – in 1997 and 2000. She was inducted into Canada Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 2020-21.
Playing her last Canadian Open in Ottawa feels fitting, Kane said. In addition to her emotional finish at the 2000 tournament, she also had a big moment in the capital in 2006.
“When I was given the Order of Canada, it was on the hill here,” Kane said. “And there was never a prouder moment for me.” The proud Canadian always carries a lucky loonie – a 2010 coin from the Vancouver Olympics – when she plays, and will do so again this week.
The CP Women’s Open, with a purse of US$2.3-million, returns to the LPGA calendar for the first time since 2019, after cancellations the past two summers because of the pandemic. Defending champion Jin Young Ko of South Korea will be another headliner. The 13-time LPGA Tour winner leads a field that includes 82 of the top 100 players on the CME Globe standings, including 18 of the top 20.
The field also includes 18 Canadians. Lucy Lin, a 12-year-old from Vancouver, is the youngest player to qualify in the history of the CP Women’s Open.
Kane reflected on the growth of the LPGA Tour. While she says it still deserves more attention and media coverage, she’s encouraged by the progress of the tour, which was launched in 1950 by 13 women.
“We went from being a U.S.-based tour with basically an international component, but now we are a worldwide tour with players from all over the world, and we play all over the world,” Kane said. “The athleticism is different. This generation of players aren’t afraid. They go out and play, and represent themselves very well. It’s now a global brand.”