Full name George Seymour Lyon Sport Golf | Name George Lyon Role Golfer | |
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Born July 27, 1858 ( 1858-07-27 ) Richmond, Canada West Died May 11, 1938, Toronto, Canada Olympic medals Golf at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's individual People also search for Chandler Egan, Burt McKinnie, Francis Newton, Edwin Hunter | ||
Remembering canada s reigning golf olympic champion george lyon
George Seymour Lyon (July 27, 1858 – May 11, 1938) was a Canadian golfer, an Olympic gold medallist, an eight-time Canadian Amateur Championship winner, and a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Contents
- Remembering canada s reigning golf olympic champion george lyon
- Early life
- Golf career
- Death and legacy
- Tournament wins
- Results timeline
- References
Early life
Lyon was born in Richmond, Ontario, near Ottawa. His early sporting career was in cricket, where, as a batsman he represented Canada eight times, averaging 14.07 and scoring 238 not out in a club game, at that time the highest score ever made in Canada.
Golf career
Although he began playing golf at the age of 38, he won the gold medal in golf in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. He won the Canadian Amateur Championship a record eight times between 1898 and 1914, and won the Canadian Seniors' Golf Association Championship ten times between 1918 and 1930. Lyon lost in the finals of the 1906 U.S. Amateur Championship, and in the semi-finals of the 1908 British Amateur Championship, when in his 50th year.
He traveled to London in 1908 to defend his Olympic title, but plans to stage a golf tournament there were cancelled at the last minute, since representatives from England and Scotland were unable to agree on the format. Golf did not return to the Olympics until 2016.
Lyon was also a founding member, with Albert Austin, of the Lambton Golf and Country Club in Toronto. It was officially opened on June 13, 1903.
Lyon often partnered with the future Canadian golf hall of famer George Cumming; as a pair they were a difficult team to beat in 4-ball matches.
Death and legacy
Lyon died in Toronto, Ontario, in 1938 and was buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In 1955, Lyon was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 1971, he was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
A fictionalized version of Lyon, portrayed by Kevin Jubinville, is a supporting character in "A Case of the Yips", a 2016 episode of the Canadian series Murdoch Mysteries. The episode is set in 1903 - Lyon mentions his planned upcoming trip to the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. A running gag through the episode is that as Lyon advises Detective Murdoch about golf, he is also a pushy insurance salesman, trying to talk Murdoch into buying a policy.
His life and achievement as an Olympic Gold medalist are described in the 2016 book "Olympic Lyon" by Michael G. Cochrane.
Lyon reigned as the Olympic champion for 112 years until golf returned to the program at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the gold medal being won by Englishman Justin Rose.
Tournament wins
Results timeline
Note: Lyon played in only the British. Open, U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur.
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Yellow background for top-10
Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database
Source for 1905 British Open: www.opengolf.com
Source for 1905 British Amateur: Golf, June, 1905, pg. 341.
Source for 1908 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1908, pg. 13.