0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Stephen Ames will get a chance to carry the Olympic torch through his adopted hometown of Calgary, after he was selected as an RBC torch bearer for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The 45-year-old professional golfer received the honour Wednesday on Canada AM, when he was presented with the 2010 Olympic torch by RBC president Gordon Nixon and two-time Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Botterill. "For me, with Calgary being home for 16 years, it's awesome," said Ames, who was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. "It's a real honour for me." Ames is in Oakville, Ont., this week for the Canadian Open, where he's looking to rebound from missing the cut at last week's British Open. Like other professional golfers, Ames also has several other business ventures on the go: he's part owner of several restaurants in Calgary, including the Vintage Chophouse and Tavern, and since 2005, he's run the Stephen Ames Foundation, which provides funding for junior gold programs and other children's initiatives in Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. Ames has three PGA Tour victories to his name: the 2006 Players Championship, the 2004 Cialis Western Open and the 2007 Children's Miracle Network Classic. When he was presented with the torch Wednesday, he said it was a little heavier than a golf club and stated his intent to carry the torch in Calgary - something RBC president Nixon had no problem with. "Hopefully it's not to long," joked Ames, the first Canadian professional athlete to be named a torch bearer. The 2010 torch relay begins in October.
Is golf really a sport?