Stephen Michael Ames (born April 28, 1964) is a professional
golfer on the
PGA Tour holding
dual citizenship of
Trinidad and Tobago and
Canada.
Ames was born in
San Fernando,
Trinidad and Tobago and is of English/Trinidadian Portuguese descent, and much of his family resides in the
Caribbean nation. His grandmother was Trinidad and Tobago Champion 20 times. He grew up in
Pointe-à-Pierre and learned to play at the
Petrotrin Pointe-à-Pierre Golf Club.
Ames's golfing talent developed early in life, assisted by support and discipline from his father, Michael. In his Hoerman Cup debut at the age of 16 in 1980, he smashed the course record at
Sandy Lane,
Barbados with a six-under-par total of 66.
Professional career
Ames won a golf scholarship at
Boca Raton,
Florida in the
United States and turned professional in 1987, but failed to win a PGA Tour card over the following few years, partly due to a neck injury. He won his first professional tournament in the United States (the Pensacola Open) in 1991 on the
Ben Hogan Tour.
In 1992, Ames tried his luck at
European Tour Qualifying School and was successful. He spent five seasons on the European Tour and performed consistently, making the top eighty on the Order of Merit each time, with a best of thirteenth in 1996. He won the 1994 Open V33 Grand Lyon in
France and the 1996
Benson & Hedges International Open in
England.
In 1997, Ames finished third at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to...
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