What would be the chances of a skinny kid from Manitoba – home of perhaps the shortest golf season this side of Nunavut – becoming one of Canada’s best golfers of all time after playing in the best league in the world, the PGA Tour, for more than 20 years? How steep are the odds of a skinny kid from Manitoba being inducted into both the Manitoba and Canadian Golf Halls of Fame?

Defying great odds is simple when you have got a great golf swing and a great deal of desire to stake out a career on the PGA Tour, something so many people said was nearly impossible for someone from weather- challenged Manitoba.

His induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame was a natural. Born in Winnipeg, raised until the age of 14 in Sandy Hook and refining his golf game in Brandon under the watchful eyes of Bill Thompson and Rich Bull, Halldorson won the Manitoba Junior title in 1970. He went on to play on the PGA tour from 1975 through the mid-90s, winning two PGA Tour events,the 1980 Pensacola Open and the 1986 Deposit Guaranty Classic. His career earnings were in excess of $1.6 million. He was also a great promoter of golf in Canada, earning seven Canadian Tour victories, including one CPGA crown, and helping Canada to two World Cup victories. He was named a Life Member of the Canadian Tour in 2005.

Now residing with his wife, Pat, in Cambridge, Ill., the 55-year-old Halldorson serves as deputy commissioner of the Canadian Tour, in charge of the Tour’s staff and operations. He has not given up on his competitive game, as he plans to try to qualify for a couple of Champions Tour events this fall, once the Canadian Tour has wrapped up.