OAKVILLE, Ont. – Somewhere between the crossroads of expectation and anticipation arrives the man of the moment in Canadian golf.
Graham DeLaet has blazed an impressive path this season that included a stop in Scotland for last week’s British Open, the first major championship of the 31-year-old’s career.
Now he’s back on home soil and preparing to step into the spotlight at the RBC Canadian Open.
DeLaet carries the quiet confidence of a man who is in control of his golf game. A feeling of ascendency has arrived after years of hard work and stubborn perseverance – traits he claims to have learned while growing up in Weyburn, Sask. – and it has left him more prepared to handle whatever comes his way in the country’s national championship this week.
“If anything, I think I feel maybe just slightly more comfortable (than in the past),” DeLaet said Tuesday after a practice round at Glen Abbey Golf Club. “Coming into this tournament the previous four times that I’ve played it, I always came in wanting to play good. I believe this year I can play well…
“I really feel like my game’s in a good place, my confidence is high. I feel like it’s just kind of rolling.”
How can you blame him?
DeLaet has made the cut in 17 of 20 tournaments on the PGA Tour this season and statistically among the best players on the circuit. He sits first in greens in regulation, second in total driving, 19th in scoring average and 32nd on the money list with slightly less than $1.6-million in earnings.
There is no question about his status for next season – a sign of progress in itself.
Instead, the only focus is on securing his first PGA Tour victory and there’s every reason to believe that the breakthrough moment is coming sooner rather than later based on the number of chances he’s had already this year.
None were better than the Travelers Championship in June, where DeLaet played in the final pairing on Sunday and finished one shot out of a playoff. If a career is built on a stack of stepping stones, he is currently standing at a level he’s never previously reached.
“Being in the hunt a few times this year and just kind of playing a lot of weekends, it helps build your confidence and let you know that you belong,” DeLaet told sportsnet.ca during a chat just off Glen Abbey’s signature 18th green. “Once you kind of get that confidence going, that’s kind of the next step as far as building your career.”
All aspects of his game will be put to the test this week.
There will be plenty of attention on a Thursday-Friday grouping that also features David Hearn of Brantford, Ont. – himself just off a playoff loss at the John Deere Classic – while DeLaet also has to readjust following his first taste of links golf at Muirfield last week.
Even though the 83rd-place finish at the British Open was his lowest in an event where he’s made the cut this season, it was a positive experience overall. DeLaet had to rally just to make the cut there and was satisfied with his taste of a major championship.
“Even though I didn’t play well last week I’m still playing with a lot of confidence,” he said.
DeLaet’s recent play has earned him a growing band of followers, including enthusiastic Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall who frequently tweets about his performance.
The province has even formed an alliance of five business partners that now support DeLaet with an endorsement deal which has made him an ambassador for thinksask.ca.
“He’s the quintessential Saskatchewan guy,” Wall said of DeLaet. “He’s a great guy. He’s never forgotten his roots, his Saskatchewan or his Canadian roots.”
If the results continue, it is only a matter of time before he starts getting the kind of national support he has seen from his own province.
As hard as it is to imagine now, there was a time not so long ago that DeLaet’s career seemed to hang in the balance.
Money was particularly tight in the summer of 2008 when he returned home to Saskatchewan for a three-week break in the Canadian Tour schedule. It was a difficult period that included as much soul-searching as it did practice.
“I had one or two more tournaments left in my bank account basically,” said DeLaet.
Lo and behold, he was on the verge of a big moment. When competition resumed at the Desjardins Montreal Open he won the title.
“It just so happened – I don’t know how it all worked out – I kind of turned my game around,” said DeLaet. “I finished first there and then I finished second the next two weeks and that was what kind of propelled my career.
“It’s amazing how close it could have been.”
That is a long way in the rear-view mirror now.
DeLaet currently sits 67th in the official world golf rankings and has a good chance to make the International Team for the Presidents Cup this fall – something no Canadian has done since Mike Weir.
You can also place him among those now dreaming about ending the 59-year drought for homegrown players at the Canadian Open.
“I think I’m mature enough now that I know that I’ve just got to take care of each shot on the golf course and do the right things,” he said. “If I can do that, hopefully I’ll take care of expectations.”