No longer viewed as Canada’s great hope

Weir an afterthought at Canadian Open

By: Gary Kingston Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Thursday, Jul. 21, 2011

VANCOUVER -- The last time Mike Weir played a Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf Club he was a national hero in his prime, just two years removed from his 2003 Masters title.

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VANCOUVER -- The last time Mike Weir played a Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf Club he was a national hero in his prime, just two years removed from his 2003 Masters title.

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VANCOUVER — The last time Mike Weir played a Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf Club he was a national hero in his prime, just two years removed from his 2003 Masters title.

The little left-hander out of Bright’s Grove, Ont., was ranked in the top 10 in the world and coming off his best ever Open, a gut-wrenching playoff loss in ’04 to Vijay Singh. For years, the eight-time PGA Tour winner was the darling of maple leaf-adorned fans and represented Canada’s best hope to break a homegrown winner drought that seems longer than this year’s much-discussed Shaughnessy rough.

But Weir missed the cut in 2005, as he would do in ’06 and again last year. And now, coming off a disastrous, injury-hampered 2010, he comes to Shaughnessy having missed 12 of 14 cuts this season.

Among the 17 Canadians in this year’s field, there’s more a feeling of afterthought than anticipation when it comes to Weir — even if he doesn’t view it that way.

“As poorly as I’ve played, I’d still like to think I have a glimmer of hope if I can find the fairway a few more times than I have been,” Weir said Wednesday after shooting a 75 in his pro-am round.

Now 40, Weir, who hasn’t won on Tour since the 2007 Fry’s Electronics Open and who is still fiddling with his swing, has fallen well behind tour rookie Matt McQuillan of Kingston, Ont., in 2011 earnings and sits 475th in the world rankings. And promising youngsters like Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both of Abbotsford, B.C., and Eugene Wong of North Vancouver are generating more buzz than the veteran about to play his 21st Canadian Open.

“I’m excited to see some of the younger guys playing better and having a few more guys get in there with a chance to win,” says Weir. “For myself, I obviously haven’t had great success on the golf course (lately), but at the same time, you get here … and if I can get some momentum and have great crowd support behind me, hopefully that’ll turn into something pretty good.”

His 2005 missed cut aside, playing in B.C. does bring back positive memories for Weir. He won his first Canadian Tour event at Mayfair Lakes in Richmond and his first PGA Tour win came in the Air Canada Championship at Surrey’s Northview in 1999.

Weir’s recent problems can be traced back to last year’s right elbow pain that was so severe he could barely turn a door knob and cost him the final three months of the season.

“I developed some bad habits,” he said.

But his woes might run deeper than that, back to 2007, when, in search of better consistency, he switched swing coaches to Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, who had popularized what’s called the ‘Stack and Tilt’ method.

Weir had some success with it early before struggling with the complexities. In 2009, he left the pair and sought out noted teachers Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter and Jim Flick before returning last year to his original coach Mike Wilson.

Now, he’s back working again with Plummer and Bennett, hoping to simplify things a bit more by finding one or two things to concentrate on.

“Just keeping it simpler. You lose feel when you’re really technique bound.”

— Postmedia News