Who became the first Canadian to lead the Order of Merit since 1989?

Mike Weir became the first Canadian to lead the Canadian Tour’s Order of Merit since Jerry Anderson in 1989.

Weir achieved the distinction in 1997, when he topped the Canadian Tour money list after winning the BC TEL Pacific Open and the Canadian Masters. The Order of Merit ranked players by prize money earned during the season, making it a season-long measure of performance rather than the result of one tournament.

The milestone was especially notable because Jerry Anderson had been the previous Canadian to lead the list, in 1989. Weir’s success helped establish him as one of Canada’s leading golfers before his breakthrough on the PGA Tour.

Weir later became the first Canadian man to win the Masters Tournament, taking the 2003 title in a playoff over Len Mattiace. That achievement is sometimes mixed up with the Order of Merit milestone: the question refers to the Canadian Tour money title, not the Order of Canada or a general world golf ranking.