Interesting to see that none of the pundits on PGATour.com are picking Mike Weir as a possible winner this week at the BMW, the third event in the FedEx Cup playoff. A bit strange since Weir has two Top 10 finishes in his last two starts and looks as solid as he has in years. His putting has been exceptionally strong, always a factor that puts Weir in contention.
Weir’s numbers following his second place showing in Boston last week are surprisingly close to those of 2004, when he made 16 of 22 cuts and $2.7 million. This year he’s made $2.4 million, and while he doesn’t have a win like he did in 2004, he does have two second-place showings. I’m not saying a monster year like 2003 is in the offing — but it wouldn’t shock me if he won this week, or perhaps in one of the two events he’s likely to play after the FedEx is done.
That said, I also wasn’t surprised by was the Golf Channel’s comment that Weir has only one win when leading heading into Sunday. Not that he lost this past weekend — rather, I’d say Vijay Singh won with some remarkable putting. Singh’s long putting was incredible — but I wouldn’t expect to see that happen all that often. Singh made almost no long putts heading into Sunday and then made everything he looked at.
So Weir didn’t hand Singh the tournament — but he has yet to step up with the lead on Sunday and shoot a 65 to dominate the closing day. I’m beginning to wonder if he just isn’t that sort of player. Instead he’s the type who wins on a Sunday by shooting even par on a tough course where his peers struggle and back up. That was almost the case in Boston, except Singh pushed forward.
Weir’s attitude this week is to worry about himself — and not Singh, who is playing tremendous golf after many had written him off.
“(Singh) played great the last two weeks, but this is a new week,” said Weir, who tied for seventh two weeks ago. “I just want to keep doing the same things I’m doing and hopefully put myself in contention to really challenge him.
“You can’t do much about any other player playing great.”
Interestingly, Weir has now surpassed Stephen Ames as the top Canadian on the world ranking — moving to 24th. A long way off 2003, when he was well inside the Top 10, but still moving in the right direction.
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in 
I love Mike Weir as much as any other Canadian golf fan does. But tournaments are won on Sundays. And the painful truth, known to all who watch, is that Weir moves the wrong way on Sundays. One stunning Sunday at Augusta, the stars aligned and every putt fell. Otherwise, Mike Weir would toil in relative obscurity – a nice guy with a few wins and some nice showings in the majors.
The PGAtour.com pundits aren’t backing Mike because he hasn’t shown that he can win. He’s steady – he’s very good – but he can’t put the pedal to the metal when he needs to.
and you think he won the Masters?