Sept. 23, 1965 –
Eion Donald Leggatt is regarded as the city’s best-ever golfer.
Leggatt grew up in Cambridge and attended Galt Collegiate Institute. He began playing golf at an early age. His father Jack, loved the game and was in- strumental in not only getting him started in the game, but in developing junior golf in the city.
And his mother, Joyce — both Jack and Joyce were inducted into the Cam- bridge Sports Hall of Fame — was heavily involved in speed skating circles, both in Cambridge and later provincially and nationally.
Eion, who, as an emerging professional golfer finally relented and changed his first name to “Ian,” to avoid the confusion that had followed him with the traditional spelling of his first name, was a national calibre speed skater, but it was golf that drew him.
Leggatt attended Texas Wesleyan College on a golf scholarship, earning NAIA All-American in 1988-89.
He turned professional in 1990 and went on to play several years on the Canadian professional Tour and then the Nationwide Tour before finally earning his PGA Tour card.
He met his wife while she was working for one of his coaches, Mark Evershed.
When healthy, he showed flashes of brilliance, such as on February 20, 2002, when he made his mark on the PGA Tour with a win in the Touchstone Energy Tucson Open.
He won by two strokes with a score of -20 (68-71-65-64=268), earning nearly a half-million dollars.
Two years earlier he had a won a Nationwide Tour event, the 2000 Dayton Open, winning just under $100,000.
In 2003 he tied for 20th at the U.S. Open, his best finish at one of the PGA’s major events.
Leggatt had some other impressive results on the PGA Tour, tying for 5th in the 2001 John Deere Classic and tying for 8th in the Buick Open. His best round for 2001 was 65 at Round 3 in the Bell Canadian Open. He won the 2000 BUY.COM Dayton Open and finished 2nd in the BUY.COM Steamtown Classic, and BUY.COM Louisiana Open, tied for 3rd in the BUY.COM Richmond Open, tied for 8th in the BUY.COM Greensboro Open and the BUY.COM Omaha Classic.
In 1998 he was a member of the Canadian World Cup Team where he teamed with Rick Gibson and tied for 13th, though as an individual, he tied for eighth place, posting rounds of 69-70-76-69 — 284.
Leggatt served as Athletic Director for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Tarrant County in Ft. Worth, TX, and has worked with kids with dis- abilities. He was sponsored by the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities to raise money for kids.
Among his career highlights: he ranks 10th in All-Around on the BUY.COM Tour, and was named June 2000 PGA Player of the Month.