Canadian Open’s ‘Curse Of Pat Fletcher’ Remains Unbroken

HAMILTON, ONTARIO | For 65 years, Pat Fletcher’s Canadian Open victory has loomed over every Canadian golfer to crack the PGA Tour. Fletcher was the last Canadian to win the national championship, and like Groundhog Day, Canadian pros face the same question every year: When will a native player end the drought and win the RBC Canadian Open?

Mackenzie Hughes does not consider Canadians' long Canadian Open drought a burden. Photo: Michael Reaves, Getty Images

Mike Weir faced questions about it every year during his prime, and now the next generation of Canadian pros, players like Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners, are under the same scrutiny. After all, an entire country is watching and hoping.

But most of today’s Canadian PGA Tour pros weren’t even born when Fletcher – a famed pro at clubs like Royal Montreal and Saskatoon Golf and Country Club – died in 1985. And the pressure to somehow set another high-water mark in Canadian golf seems to be...