With all the talk about whether Mike Weir would play the Canadian Open in two weeks — and apparently there was serious discussion that he’d skip it — I wrote this week’s Sympatico column on why Weir should play — and why he should always be welcome at the Canadian Open:
Mike Weir can’t be diminished if he plays badly in the RBC Canadian Open in two weeks. Even if he fails to break 80, he’s still the best Canadian to ever play the game. He’s still tied as the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour in history, and the only Canadian to win a major championship. Those things can never be taken away from him.
The question of whether Weir will play at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in two weeks has been raised given the left-hander’s disappearance from the PGA Tour in recent week. His hibernation followed a demoralizing stretch of golf that concluded with a horrible outing at the start of June at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament. By that time Weir was working with former tour pro turned swing instructor Grant Waite, trying to find the magic that had been stolen by injuries over the last two years.
“My game has been awful,” Weir admitted on his website. “I probably shouldn’t have been playing and it was tough to go out and post scores like I did. Grant told me I’d be better getting away from tournament golf, but I was optimistic I could turn it around or at least see some signs of progress and so I kept playing.”
The full column is here. And I have noticed the irony of the comments on the site doing just what I suggest in the article.
