One of Canada’s winningest LPGA Tour golfers has found repeated success on the course, but Monday she’ll receive a tremendous honor off the course.
Acadia University in Nova Scotia – one of Canada’s eastern-most provinces – will bestow Lorie Kane with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree on May 14th.
“Our Honorary Degree recipients exemplify in every way how each of us can use our background and experience to make significant and meaningful contributions to our communities, our country and to the world,” said Acadia President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Peter Ricketts when the announcement was made public.
Kane, a four-time LPGA Tour winner, attended Acadia University for three and a half years in the late 1980’s but left early to pursue her golf dreams. She recently received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Prince Edward Island.
“If you know me, you know I’m the least academic person there is,” Kane told LPGA.com with a laugh. “But Acadia was a very important time for me. I went away from home and learned about life.”
Kane will also be the special guest speaker to the 800-or-so people in attendance at the ceremony.
When asked what her message to the students would be, the answer was simple.
“We all have a different path and are faced with challenges. So, take on those challenges and stay the course,” said Kane. “You’re not the first or last person to have struggles in anything. At one time I was told not to go to university, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.”
Kane recalls how she struggled with academics, but points to one class in particular as the most helpful in her life and career.
Her professor at Acadia, she said, made her present a paper versus actually writing it. Kane acknowledged she had trouble articulating her thoughts on paper, so the professor, knowing she was an excellent orator, encouraged her to present her findings in front of the class.
“I was more fearful of writing the paper versus the presentation of it,” she explained.
Kane would speak in front of 250 people in the class, and she did very well. She said having to get in front of that many people allowed her to feel even more comfortable as she began to tee it up in front of golf crowds.
Kane did not attend a U.S. school on scholarship and did not turn professional until she was almost 30. At one time she was a better basketball player than golfer, going out for Acadia’s team.
But, Kane enjoyed much golfing success as an amateur in Canada before earning LPGA Tour status for the first time at the age of 31.
Her four wins on the LPGA Tour came in just two years, as she won three times in 2000 and once in 2001. She was just the second Canadian to have multiple wins in one LPGA Tour season (Sandra Post did in 1978 and again in 1979, while Brooke Henderson did it in 2016).
Kane is also one of the most-awarded women in Canadian sports history, not just golf.
In 2006 she was invested into the Order of Canada, the second-highest honor a Canadian civilian can receive. She was inducted into the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.
During her LPGA Tour career – which continues to this day – she was honored by the in 1998 as the Heather Farr Player Award winner (given by the LPGA Tour to the golfer who demonstrates determination, perseverance, and spirit through hard work, dedication and love of the game) and in 2000 as the William and Mousie Powell Award winner (given by the Tour to the golfer whose behavior and deeds best exemplifies the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA).
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