Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum optimistic about Canadian chances at Augusta

By Canadian Press on April 8, 2026.

The Masters marks the unofficial start of spring for Canadian golfers, but Golf Canada’s chief executive officer is hopeful that it could mean a little bit more this year.

Laurence Applebaum says watching the first major of the men’s golf season at Augusta National Golf Club is traditionally a signal to recreational players that it’s time to start playing again. But with Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., in the field, he likes the chances of a Canadian winning the event.

“Canadians feel like this is a special week, because it’s sort of the unofficial start of our outdoor season,” said Applebaum in a phone interview as he travelled to Georgia. “So many Canadians are now playing all year round, but as we watch the Masters on TV, we find that this is our chance to get ready to swing clubs outside.”

Weir is the only Canadian man to win one of golf’s majors, earning the green jacket at the 2003 Masters. Although it inspired the current generation of golfers like Conners and Taylor, no one has replicated the feat at Augusta, the U.S. Open, the British Open or the PGA Championship.

Applebaum said he thinks the time is right for a Canadian man to once again win a major. He said that it’s partly because Toronto’s Vanessa Borovilos, Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng and Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C., all did so well at last week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur and set the tone for their fellow Canadians.

It was the first time that three Canadians participated in the elite event and all three of them made the cut, with Borovilos tying for 11th.

“We’ve had a really special start already with three of our Team Canada athletes playing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and our best finish ever by Vanessa Borovilos,” said Applebaum. “But to the main event, which is the Masters tournament, I just think the world of both Nick Taylor and Corey Conners.

“I think we are primed for maybe a breakout week for one of them at the tournament this year.”

Of any Canadian, Conners has come the closest to winning at Augusta recently. He’s cracked the top 10 four times over the past six years, tying for 10th in 2020, tying for eighth in 2021, tying for sixth in 2022 and tying for eighth again last year.

“I love the golf course, love how it sets up,” said Conners. “I feel like my iron play has been on a number of those years and that’s an important aspect of the game.

“You need everything to be working to contend here, but the iron play has been sharp and that’s definitely helped me.”

It’s become a special Masters tradition that Weir invites whatever Canadians make the field to play a practice round with him on the Tuesday of tournament week. Taylor said he relishes the ritual.

“You get the text from Mike a month or two out and schedule it in,” said Taylor after this year’s practice round. “It was a lot of fun. The weather is awesome. The golf course is somewhat receptive, but knowing the forecast, it’s going to only get firmer.

“It’s always just a great stroll around Tuesday morning.”

Taylor will tee off with Americans Keegan Bradley and Ryan Gerard on Thursday morning then Weir will play with American Wyndham Clark and Argentine amateur Mateo Pulcini. Conners is in an afternoon group with England’s Harry Hall and Michael Brennan of the United States.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press

20
-19