History Lesson
MAKING HISTORY: The 1990 East Team captured the inaugural Canon Cup at Lake Nona Golf Club. Stewart Cink (upper right) and Vicki Goetze (lower, fourth from left) were among the stars for the East.

As the Canon Cup enters its 15th year, there is no better time to reflect on the makings of one of junior golf’s most thrilling traditions. The first edition was conducted in 1990, but only after much planning and forethought. The initial concept was to create a team event unlike anything in existence at the time

“We had discussed the possibility of such a tournament for a couple of years,” said AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin. “We knew what we wanted — a unique format allowing juniors to compete in a Ryder Cup-style event, girls and boys equally represented.”

In search of a sponsor, Hamblin arranged a meeting with David Farr, a senior vice president with Canon U.S.A., Inc., in the spring of 1990.

“I knew going into the meeting that Canon had an interest in golf, but I didn’t know where Canon stood,” Hamblin said. “David made it very clear that Canon wanted to sponsor an event to benefit deserving juniors. He wasn’t worried about what Canon would get out of the sponsorship, but rather what juniors would get out of participating in the tournament.

Farr admitted that he knew very little about the Association when the meeting was arranged.

“Once I learned about the AJGA I was very intrigued. It caught my attention. The AJGA helped kids go to college and that’s a great thing.”

Soon thereafter, Hamblin and Farr ironed out the details of an event that would pit the top 10 boys and top 10 girls from the East versus their counterparts from the West.

Another piece to the puzzle was location. For a special event such as this, a special location was vital. The Canon Cup now criss-crosses the Mississippi River to places such as The Honors Course, Conway Farms Golf Club, Prairie Dunes Country Club and, of course, Caves Valley Golf Club.

The picture would be complete only if the event was embraced by the junior golfers. The best players in the country were needed to make this truly special and to develop a rivalry.

This need was fulfilled right out of the gate, when the nation’s most outstanding juniors — Tiger Woods and Emilee Klein from the West and Stewart Cink and Vicki Goetze from the East — came to play. A rivalry was born. Fifteen years later, 40 juniors are ready to carry it forward.