My latest Sympatico column, on Mike Weir who shot a nice 5-under round today, is now online.
Here’s a taste:
Mike Weir faces some significant challenges when he begins his 2010 season at the Bob Hope Classic on Wednesday.
Canada’s top golfer for more than a decade now, Weir turns 40 this May, and hasn’t had a victory on the PGA Tour since taking a fall finish event in 2007. While he was elected into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame last year, he remains tied with George Knudson as the Canadian with the most PGA Tour wins. To most, especially given his Masters win in 2003, Weir is the best golfer in the country’s history. But that becomes more obvious and less debatable once he eclipses Knudson.
It isn’t as easy for Weir any more “ and he admits that. At the end of the year he’s a little bit worn around the edges, a touch beaten up. Sure he trains like Lance Armstrong prepping for a Tour de France, but that’s just dealing with the reality that he’s a) been injured in the recent past b) not a flat belly anymore, at least in terms of age, even if his stomach is like a washboard and c) has to do everything to keep up with the young bombers who fly it past where his drives finish. Weir recognizes all of this. That’s why he simply tries to outwork everyone. More time in the gym. More time on the treadmill. More time on focusing on the areas of his game that needs improvement. Twice monthly trips to the California desert to see his swing coach.
“I do what I always do in the off-season, which is train really hard in order to keep up with some of these young guys and outwork them and be really ready for the start of the season,” he said last week during a call to preview his season.”
