Gary Cowan

Gary Cowan (born October 28, 1938) is a Canadian amateur golfer.

Early life Cowan was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. He began to play golf at the municipal golf course, Rockway, alongside other local players such as Moe Norman and Gerry Kesselring. The three were coached by Lloyd Tucker.

In 1956, Cowan reached the semifinals of the Ontario Amateur Championship at a record-low age of 17.

Amateur career Cowan won the 1961 Canadian Amateur Championship, and reached the finals on four other occasions (1959, 1960, 1964, 1968), and finished second at stroke play twice more (1974, 1978). Cowan finished as the low individual scorer at the 1962 Eisenhower Trophy, an international amateur team event, in Japan. Cowan remains one of only two Canadians to win the U.S. Amateur.

Professional career In 1990, at the age of 52, Cowan turned professional and played on the Senior PGA Tour, earning three top-10 finishes.

Awards and honors

In 1967, Cowan was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame In 1972, he was inducted to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame at the age of 33, the youngest inductee at the time In 1999, he was named the Canadian Male Golfer of the Century by the Royal Canadian Golf Association. Cowan is also a member of the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame. In 2003, he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

Amateur wins (17) 1956 Canadian Junior Amateur 1961 Canadian Amateur 1964 Ontario Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur 1966 U.S. Amateur 1968 Ontario Amateur 1969 Porter Cup 1970 North and South Amateur 1971 U.S. Amateur, Ontario Amateur 1974 Ontario Amateur 1975 Ontario Amateur 1977 Ontario Amateur 1978 Ontario Amateur 1981 Ontario Amateur 1984 Ontario Amateur

Professional wins 1968 Ontario Open (as an amateur)

Team appearances Commonwealth Tournament (representing Canada): 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971 (winners) Eisenhower Trophy (representing Canada): 1960, 1962 (individual leader), 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1978 Americas Cup (representing Canada): 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965 (winners), 1967