Ben Kern fell in love with the golf club, but that’s not surprising – the love golf runs in the Kern family. He was taught the game by his brothers Mario and Fred. His younger brothers, Benny and Greg, also inherited the family tradition.

     For Ben, this love affair with the game has been satisfying all around; golf has been good for him and he, in return, was good for the game. He became the first Canadian to achieve first team All-American status in U.S. intercollegiate golf for 1968 and ‘69 while on an athletic scholarship at the University of New Mexico, then went on to become a fixture on the U.S. Professional Golf Association (PGA) tour as a token Canadian

     Actually, Ben was a latecomer to the game, he did not start plating golf until he was 15 and attending T.L. Kennedy Secondary School. His talent became apparent and he soon started to blossom under Credit Valley Golf and Country Club professional George Harrison. Ben’s junior career was not particularly outstanding (the late start didn’t help). He won his first tournament in in Cobourg, Ontario in 1964 then went on to Interprovincial Junior matches the same year. He also won Toronto High School individual honours at Uplands, shooting a three-under-par 69. In the 1966 Ontario Amateur, he finished runner-up to the legendary Nick Weslock.

     These achievements helped land an athletic scholarship at New Mexico where Ben really came into his own winner of 10 intercollegiate tournaments. He captured the New Mexico State Open as an amateur in ‘68 and was named his university’s Athlete of the Year for for 1968 and 69. While at New Mexico, Ben caught the attention of one of the biggest stars of golf, Lee Trevino. In the fall of ‘69, Ben won his U.S. tour card (placing sixth out of 450 starters) and started a six-year PGA Tour career the following year. He won the New Mexico Open for the second time in ‘72. In 1974, he won the New Mexico PGA, setting course records with a 65 in the first round, then bettering it in the second with a sizzling 10-under-par 62.

     In Canada, his numerous victories include the 1979 Ontario PGA championship crown. In 1985, he was named Ontario Golfer of the Year and in ‘91 Canadian Golf Professional of the Year.