Music: {allcanada} Graham DeLaet: Canada's newest golf hope

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

{allcanada} Graham DeLaet: Canada's newest golf hope

It's been almost a decade since a Canadian has created this much buzz on the PGA Tour.

This past weekend in Boston, Weyburn, Sask.'s Graham DeLaet finished third at the Deutsche Bank Championship, his second straight top-three finish on the PGA Tour, vaulting him to fifth in the FedEx Cup standings, and more importantly in his eyes, earning an automatic berth on the International team for October's Presidents Cup.

"It would mean the world to me to be on that team, there's no question," DeLaet told Reuters after Sunday's round.

DeLaet now joins Mike Weir as the only Canadians to qualify for the Presidents Cup. His current world ranking (No. 35) is the highest a Canadian has been ranked since January 2010 when Stephen Ames was No. 20, and no Canadian has been this successful on the PGA Tour since Ames in 2006-07 when he won two tournaments include The Players Championship.

DeLaet, 31, gained attention earlier this year after he announced that he would be donating $1,000 for every birdie and $2,500 for every eagle he made at the Travelers Championship to support the flood relief efforts in Alberta. DeLaet finished with nine birdies that weekend. With the help of ATB Financial, PGA Tour Canada and Canadian businessman L. David Dube, $36,000 was raised for the Canadian Red Cross.

DeLaet is also currently sporting a beard during the playoffs, taken from the ice hockey tradition — a sport Canadians are quite fond of.

"I'm Canadian, that's what we do in the playoffs, you don't shave until you're done," he told Reuters.

Here's what else you need to know about DeLaet as he battles through the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and sets his sights on the Presidents Cup Oct. 3–6 in Dublin, Ohio:

Full Name: Graham DeLaet
Age: 31 (Jan/22/1982)
Hometown: Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Residence: Boise, Idaho
College: Boise State University
Turned Pro: 2006
Twitter: @GrahamDeLaet
Favorite course to play: Sahalee CC
Favourite NHL team: Calgary Flames
Favourite movie: The Shawshank Redemption
Favourite city to visit: Montreal
Dream foursome includes: Wayne Gretzky, Bill Murray and Tiger Woods
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World Golf Ranking: 35
FedEx Cup points list: 5th
PGA Tour Top-10 Finishes (2013): 7
Scoring Average: 70.15 (20th)
Driving Distance: 298.9 (20th)
Greens in Regulation Percentage: 70.93% (3rd)
Sand Save Percentage: 50% (98th)
Strokes Gained – Putting: .143 (67th)