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CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 22, 2017

Lorie Kane

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member, needs no introduction, but it's Lori Kane. Your 27th straight appearance here this week. How does it feel to be back, and what are you looking forward to this week?

LORIE KANE: 27th? Holy smokes. Where has the time gone? Oh, wow. Yeah, I'm happy to be back. Obviously Ottawa is no stranger to the LPGA and the Hunt Club. I got to play yesterday, so it's in fabulous shape. I know we had a little bit of rain here a little while ago and some hail, but I think it will recover quickly. What I'm looking forward to is teeing it up on Thursday and putting my best foot forward. I'm not getting to play a lot of tournament golf, but I do feel pretty good about things and ready to go.

THE MODERATOR: You are a CP ambassador, so what's it like to be part of this tournament, especially given the charitable aspect of the tournament?

LORIE KANE: Well, that's probably, if I ever have a legacy or whatever, I want to say that I'm very honored to have been involved with a corporation like CP that's iconic to Canada and the brand, but also in what they do for charitable work in bringing this tournament and awareness to CHEO.

As most of you guys know, Xander is our child ambassador, and I just had a chat with his mom about the process that Xander went through as an infant and will continuing to through. If I could ask a favor of all of the media sitting here, the dollars that are going to be raised here will go to putting two labs together. One is a catheterization lab that Xander will use well into his late teens.

I asked, Crystal, his mom, if I could share that because I don't think people realize what -- where the money goes to. I know when you donate money there is a curiosity as to what are we doing with the money.

So CP is matching every dollar up until Sunday, and I challenged this area to exceed the $1.8 and try to get to the $2 million that Calgary raised last year. You know, as much as an hour ago I'm now more educated about where the funds will go. So as an ambassador, those are the things that I'm a pretty fortunate athlete to, again, represent Canadian Pacific and what they stand for outside of their business, to really want to leave something behind in the cities that we play golf.

Q. Lori, you've seemingly accomplished it all in Canadian golf and off the golf course. What keeps you motivated at this stage in your career and teeing it up this week?
LORIE KANE: I think it's that I still feel that I can win and I can continue to improve. As we all know, I wasn't 19 or 18 or 14 or 15, I was 29 when I turned pro. So I would say it again, if you minus 10 from my current age, then I should be still at the peak of my game, and I feel like I am. I just haven't had the opportunity to play as much as I would like to, and when I've had chances, I haven't taken advantage of those chances.

So to be here and moving past here, I'm going to play down in New Zealand. I was very fortunate that Lydia put in a nice word for me and got me an invitation, which speaks volumes for Lydia. I appreciate that. So anytime I can play, I think I'm here to hopefully contend.

We need a Canadian to get on that board. I know we've put all our eggs probably in Brooke's basket, but at the same time, I'm going to go out and do the best I can. I train harder, I practice longer, and the only thing I'm missing are some tournaments.

Q. I'm holding here one of the pieces of ribbon that tribute to Dawn Coe-Jones, this is the first Canadian Open since her passing. What does this mean to you? I know you were very close with her, so I'm trying to do this as appropriately as possible.
LORIE KANE: Yeah, the fact that you're talking about her, thank you very much. Because I don't want anybody to ever forget her. I leaned on Dawn probably more than Dawn realized and looked to Dawn for a kick in the butt when I needed to.

I felt a lot of pressure when I first started playing Canadian Opens, the Classics, what have you, and I didn't know how to funnel the excitement of being in Canada and playing, and also balance it to allow myself to play well. But she did that. She gave me that encouragement and told me to play as a proud Canadian, and to use the fans as a help rather than to feel it a hindrance.

Q. Do you still have her initials on your visor?
LORIE KANE: I do. It should be bigger, if it could be this big, it would be. It is the sarcoma yellow ribbon, embroidered into the maple leaf with DCJ.

Q. I'm a fellow Islander, I live over on Prince Edward Island as well. You look really fit at the moment and playing with girls who are a little bit younger than you. Has your family got you doing CrossFit as yet?
LORIE KANE: Well, I've been in the cross fit gym, but I do my own thing when I attend CrossFit Charlottetown. My sister Mary Lynn and her husband, Greg, who are -- oh, good. Oh, great. Well, I haven't seen you in the running group on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm home. You know, that's what's helped me stay where I am.

Several years ago I just have had a couple hip injuries that I played with not knowing I had two labrum tears, Dr. Bill Stanish's advice was rather than go under the knife and fix those was to get my butt in the best shape that it could possibly be in. He was very polite when he told me that, by the way. Then, you know, starting to work with Sean Foley, Danny Sharp is my ultimate coach, but Sean is the guy we consult with. Sean introduced us to Craig Davies. Then as a result of that I met a young guy by the name Attai Vial (phonetic). And Attai is a young Turkish kid that's worked under Craig, and between Craig's advice to Attai, this is what we've got. I really have given -- I can't give them enough credit for pushing me past some comfort zones and giving me the strength to just keep going.

I think with that, to your question, the reason I'm able to play is because I'm as fit as I am. And I still could be stronger, but it's difficult, I find, to try to manage both and play. So the off-season is important.

Q. We had four of our young up-and-coming pros up just before you. When you look at sort of the overall depth of Canadian golfers, competing amateur, young pro, what are your thoughts on that? Obviously there was a certain number when you were playing at that pinnacle, Dawn was in there, and now looking across the board, what are your thoughts on how much players are competing on so many levels?
LORIE KANE: Well, I think it goes without saying that I think the program is working. I'm going to push the needle to say that it can be better because I think that's the only way we get better is to continue to raise the bar as high as we possibly can.

You know, it's all right that Canadians are a little bit more of a late-blooming country. We've got a lot of young girls going to college to play golf on the amateur side which I think is important to them. The exception would be Brooke. But Brooke also benefited greatly from Team Canada, and having the structure that that entailed. Tristan is doing a wonderful job in keeping that part of the game going.

And they're regimented. They know their practice schedule. They're having good, quality practice. I think the number, Lawrence said, what do we have, 14 Canadians? That's awesome. I'd like to have 14 more, but this is 14 quality players that are here to play and can compete.

Last year playing at the Canadian Open in Calgary, I played the first two rounds with Brittany Marchand. And Brittany's going to be somebody that you all need to watch. I know she just came off a win on the Symetra Tour, and the PGA of Canada win as well. She won a playoff against Augusta. I was playing there.

So it's a lot of excitement in women's golf, and golf in general in Canada. I really think that we're in a good place. Our golf courses are busy at Prince Edward Island and throughout Canada. Contrary to the belief that the numbers are down, I really think that the sport is finding its place. We may not be all members of golf courses, but we're playing golf. That's being shown in these 14 Canadians that are going to be here to compete this week.

Again, I have to take my hat off. The program is working, again, we can make it better, and it takes corporate sponsors like my friends at Canadian Pacific and, obviously, RBC, to help move that forward.

I do this every year that I'm here, and I will continue to do it. Our story can't be told without you. So I appreciate the effort you put in. If you could just remind folks that they can continue to donate to CHEO and our Beautiful Hearts campaign. It really goes a long way. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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