Apparently Mike Weir was the only one not writing himself off after his terrible second round at the Johnny Walker Classic left him one shot off of the cut. Instead, Weir picked up his game and on a tough course shot 68, 67 to finish in fifth place, solidly ahead of several of the game’s best, including Els and Montgomerie. I’m not entirely sure what happened, since the game stories make little mention of him, but maybe the new swing is more consistent than I’d initially thought.
[photopress:weircardfinal.jpg,full,centered]Weir will now return to North America and take some time off, before reappearing at Bay Hill in the middle of the month, followed by Doral a week later. It’ll be interesting to see how the swing holds up heading into Augusta.
++++
I had a lengthy conversation with Sean Foley, Stephen Ames’ new instructor, last week. The loquacious Foley is an interesting guy, and is apparently finding the transition to the PGA Tour intriguing as well. I don’t think the instruction is an issue — Ames raved about how Foley’s technique has relieved pressure on his back and helped him practise more regularly. Rather, Foley is having his eyes opened by the number of teachers hanging round the tour, and the casual nature of some of the PGA Tour pros. Few of the pros ever tip the staff at the events, he noted, something he found very odd considering the amount of cash many players make. Apparently Foley’s reputation among the tour types is catching on. After a disappointing 2006 year, Robert Damron has come by for some discussion of his swing.
All of this seems to be cementing Foley’s position as the hottest teacher in Canada.
+++++
Interesting news today that Carrick Design will be reworking all 18 greens at the venerable Mississaugua G&CC starting in August. This comes after years of difficulty with the greens.
But it isn’t the green rebuild that caught my eye in regards to the course — it was the volume of architects that have worked on it.
Here’s a note from the press release:
Part of the challenge at Mississaugua G&CC over the last few decades has been that numerous golf course architects have made improvements to the course. Lambton G&CC Head Professional Percy Barrett laid out nine holes at Mississaugua G&CC in 1906 and a second nine was added three years later by George Cumming, Head Professional at The Toronto Golf Club. In 1919, Donald Ross, the genius behind Pinehurst No. 2, made revisions to MG&CC and the legendary Stanley Thompson lengthened it in 1927 in preparation for the 1931 Canadian Open – the first of six Opens to be played at Mississaugua. Since that time architects including Robbie Robinson, a former member, David L. Moote, Bill Robinson, Howard Watson and Graham Cooke have all worked at the club.
And this doesn’t include the plan Robert Trent Jones did for the course that was never implemented, or the fact Doug Carrick is now involved. Make the number an even 10 architects if you don’t include RTJ. Talk about a course that has never had any sense of what it is or what it wants.
