Looking back at his athletic career at Ridley, for Bruce, it’s the relationships, not the results, which stand out. He fondly recalls co-captaining the second football team with Don Nichols and remembers taking up squash in Grade 11—not because he excelled, but because Coach Jack Aylott made such an impression on him.
Though Bruce was an instructor-level skier by the time he reached university, he had yet to settle on his true sporting passion: golf. And the results are impressive. Bruce’s greatest memory is winning the Queen Victoria Jubilee Vase in 2001 at the storied St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland. The gruelling play began with 256 competitors, playing eight times over six days. He can still remember every shot from that final round, and the emotions that overpowered him at the end when, mentally and physically drained, he claimed the victory.
Of all the lessons sport has afforded him over the years, Bruce counts resilience as the most important. With a positive attitude and a willingness to keep trying, he believes anything is possible. More than just a successful golfer, Bruce is a devoted steward of the game, serving in leadership roles and executive positions with the Toronto Golf Club, Windemere Golf and Country Club, and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, where, in 2017-18, he served as the first-ever Canadian Captain of the Club.
“We need to be able to learn how to accept defeat, stand up, try again (and again) and eventually you will succeed and you will win.”