20-years after Lorie Kane joined the LPGA Tour, she's taken up membership with a new group of professionals being recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to the game. Tuesday evening at the Canadian Pacific Headquarters in Calgary, the site of this week’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, Kane was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. The 1996 rookie said joining the Hall of Fame was something she only thought happened at the end of an athlete’s career, but was welcome to accept.
“The day that Mike Weir accepted the invitation to the Hall of Fame was the day that I said when they come to me, if my time comes while I’m still playing, I will welcome it,” Kane told the media on Tuesday. “I’m not someone who likes to look back, so I’ve had some time since Sandra’s (Post) call to look back, and you know, I’m proud of myself.”
Kane had plenty to look back on as a recipient of the Heather Farr Perseverance Award in 1998 and four-time LPGA Tour winner. After nine runner-up finishes, Kane broke through in 2000 at the Michelob Light Classic for her first victory on Tour.
“So to think in 20 years what I have achieved, you know, the four wins were, it took me a long time to win the first one, and then the next three came pretty quickly after that,” Kane said.
That season she won two more times and also received the William and Mousie Powell award in in recognizing her exemplary spirit of the LPGA. It’s the same spirit that has kept her competitive more than two decades later as a member of the Legends Tour, where she won back-to-back events this season.
“I’m probably playing some of the best golf I’ve played in a very long time. I’m having fun playing golf, it’s exciting for me to see the number of young Canadian players,” Kane said.
Those players include Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp, who made the trip from Rio to Calgary to compete this week after representing Canada in the Olympic games. That was an honor Kane had hoped to earn, but was nonetheless proud of her fellow Canadians and impressed by Henderson’s play.
“She’s not afraid to be out in front. I truly respect the way she plays and that she’s accepting of what happens and she moves past it,” Kane said of Henderson. “She swings a very big driver a very long way. You know, she’s got all kinds of game, and I’m extremely proud of her.”
This week, Kane is focused on making the most of her chance to compete in receiving a sponsor’s invite for the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, an event she hasn’t missed since 2001 and would love to win.
“That would be, yeah, that would be my Stanley Cup for sure,” said Kane. “I think I can still win, and so I need to take advantage of the opportunities when they come, and so this is an opportunity. Whether it’ll happen, I don’t know, but I can tell you that I’ll work really hard to try to make it happen.”
Kane is one of three members being inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2016 in addition to journalist Bob Weeks and Warren Sye.
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