The concept was a simple game of word association: Outside of golf, name two or three things you think about when we say the word “Canada.”
On Tuesday at the Presidents Cup, we posed this question to the 12 players made available for interviews—six from the International team, six from the U.S.—and some of the answers were pretty simple, too. You won’t be surprised to learn that many of the respondents said “hockey,” or that “maple leaf” and “maple syrup” popped up more than once. Other answers, though, were more unique and eyebrow-raising. The graphic below summarizes the responses of the 12 players, but first, here are some interesting notes:
• The only player to mention a food other than maple syrup was Tom Kim, whose first response was “poutine,” the fries/cheese curds/gravy dish, followed by an endorsement: “Poutine is great.”
• Hockey got the most mentions, with seven, and two players—Jason Day and Scottie Scheffler—mentioned the Toronto Maple Leafs by name. Two others (Ben An, Sungjae Im) said the maple leaf itself, the symbol, while Sam Burns came uip with the maple tree. Others that earned multiple mentions included maple syrup (3), snow (4), and the “cold” (2).
• A few specific geographical locations were mentioned. Day brought up Banff National Park, and Kim specifically referenced Lake Louise, the scenic spot near Banff. Russell Henley had memories of Niagara Falls and Toronto, and Collin Morikawa, with his West Coast background, immediately thought of Vancouver. But the most interesting location might have been an American one—along with Vancouver, Morikawa can’t help think of his hometown, La Cañada, a name with Spanish origins that is often mispronounced as “La Canada.”
• Only one specific person was cited, and that was Morikawa bringing up his wife, Katherine, who is Canadian. So when you see “my wife” on the graphic below, know that it’s not a misplaced Borat reference.
• Im, speaking through an interpreter, was quick with “ice hockey,” but I have a sneaking suspicion that his other two answers, maple leaf and maple syrup, were fed to him by the interpreter. There was a suspicious back-and-forth before those answers came, but I can’t prove anything.
• Patrick Cantlay’s first response was “Canadians,” which seemed funny, but maybe he was thinking of the Montreal Canadiens. We’ll mark this one unclear.
• Sahith Theegala went right for stereotypes, albeit positive ones, calling out the “niceness” of Canadians and their penchant for saying “sorry.”
• Scheffler, after knocking off two mainstays in the Maple Leafs and maple syrup, drew up a classic Canadian insult from the depths of his brain: “hosers.” He also brought up the national anthem, and how he got goosebumps watching the Edmonton crowd sing “Oh Canada” during the Stanley Cup Finals.
• The strangest person to ask was Corey Conners, who is actually Canadian, and it wasn’t a shock to hear him say, “I don’t know, I live here.” But he was game, and he brought up a series of animals that appear on Canadian currency, including the loon, beaver and moose.
• The other person to mention an animal was Burns, who cited Canadian geese. When told he was the only one to go there, he said, “That’s the hunter in me.”
Check out the full slate of responses below: