George Seymour Lyon (July 27, 1858 – May 11, 1938) was a Canadian

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er, an Olympic gold medalist in golf, an eight-time Canadian Amateur Championship winner, and a member of

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

. He worked in the insurance industry.

Early life, cricket

Lyon was born in

Richmond, Ontario Richmond is a suburban community, part of the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1818, it spans the Jock River, a tributary of the Rideau River. A part of the National Capital Region, Richmond is located 10kms southwest of ...

, near

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. His early sporting career was in

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

, where, as a batsman he represented

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eight times, averaging 14.07, and scoring 238

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

in a club game, at that time the highest score ever made in Canada. LyonsThomsonHarvey1909

Golf career

Although he only began playing golf at the age of 38, due to lack of available golf courses in most areas of Canada before that date, he won the gold medal in

in the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 29 August to 3 September 1904, as part of an extended ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, at age 46, only eight years after beginning the sport. He won the Canadian Amateur Championship a record eight times between 1898 and 1914, the last time in his 56th year. He was also runner-up in that event on two further occasions. He won the Canadian Seniors' Golf Association Championship ten times between 1918 and 1930, the final time in his 72nd year; these events were staged before the inauguration of the Canadian Senior Golf Championship by

Golf Canada The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), branded as Golf Canada, is the governing body of golf in Canada. Beginnings Golf Canada was founded on June 6, 1895, as the ''Canadian Golf Association'' at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The Royal pre ...

. Lyon lost in the finals of the 1906 U.S. Amateur, in his 48th year, and in the round of 32 of the 1908 British Amateur, when in his 50th year. He was a lifelong amateur golfer, never turning professional. He traveled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1908 to defend his Olympic title, but plans to stage a golf tournament there were cancelled at the last minute, since representatives from

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and

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were unable to agree on the format. Offered the gold medal by default, Lyon refused to accept it. Golf did not return to the Olympics until 2016. Lyon was also a founding member, with Albert Austin, of the Lambton Golf and Country Club in Toronto. It was officially opened on June 13, 1903. Lyon often partnered with the future Canadian golf hall of fame member, professional George Cumming; as a pair they were a difficult team to beat in 4-ball matches.

Death and legacy

Lyon died in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, in 1938 and was buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In 1955, Lyon was inducted into

. In 1971, he was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. A fictionalized version of Lyon, portrayed by Kevin Jubinville, is a supporting character in "A Case of the Yips", a 2016 episode of the Canadian series ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...

''. The episode is set in 1903 -- Lyon mentions his planned upcoming trip to the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. A running gag through the episode is that as Lyon advises Detective Murdoch about golf, he is also a pushy insurance salesman, trying to talk Murdoch into buying a policy. The Golf Association of Ontario annually runs the George S. Lyon team championship for its men's club teams. His life and achievement as an Olympic Gold medalist are described in the 2016 book "Olympic Lyon" by Michael G. Cochrane. Lyon reigned as the Olympic champion for 112 years, until golf returned to the program at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the gold medal being won by Englishman

Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose, (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf ...

Tournament wins

*1898 Canadian Amateur *1900 Canadian Amateur *1903 Canadian Amateur *1905 Canadian Amateur *1906 Canadian Amateur *1907 Canadian Amateur *1912 Canadian Amateur *1914 Canadian Amateur

Results in major championships

Note: Lyon only played in the British Open, U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur. NT = No tournament
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play Sources: U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, 1905 Open, 1905 Amateur, 1908 Amateur.

References

Sources

*Cochrane, Michael G. (2016) ''Olympic Lyon'', georgelyon.ca.

External links

George Seymour Lyon
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Profile at Canadian Golf Hall of FameOlympic Lyon - The Story of George Lyon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, George Canadian male golfers Amateur golfers Olympic golfers of Canada Golfers at the 1904 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in golf Olympic gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics Golfing people from Ontario Cricketers from Ontario Sportspeople from Ottawa 1858 births 1938 deaths