Mikes Diary - Year in Review
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:30:18
I'm going to jump ahead to the end of the year first, to comment on my new arrangement with Thomson Corporation. I'm very excited to be working with the folks at this great Canadian institution and I'll be proud to have the company name on my hat for the next five years.
Before I agreed to the deal with the company, I did a lot of research on it and I was pleased to learn of its deep Canadian roots, having started with one newspaper in Timmins, Ont., and growing into the successful and world-leading organization that it is today. It's important to me that this company shares the same values as I do and has the same strong ties to Canada that I do.
Although there's a lot of excitement and happiness in that deal, I'm also sad to be parting ways with Bell. It's been there with me for a long time, 14 years to be exact, right back to my early days on the Canadian Tour. At that time, the cellular division gave me a phone that I could use when I was traveling that allowed me to stay in touch with my family. I will never forget everything Bell did for me and I know that I have a lot of friendships that will last long after my playing career is over.
In looking back on my year on the course, it's gratifying to see how it all came together. At the end of 2006, I made some big changes, bringing on two new coaches in Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett. With that, of course, was a new swing and lots and lots of time hitting balls and trying to ingrain the new movement. There was a lot of hard work but I never doubted I was on the right path. Perhaps the best part of it all was that for the first time in a long time, I was healthy and not suffering any neck or back pain. That alone allowed me to practice a lot more than I have in recent years. It used to be that I'd need lots of Advil and my chiropractor on call 24-7 just to hit a couple of buckets of balls.
The new swing
came to me quite quickly to be honest. There were a lot of weeks
where I hit the ball very solid but couldn't post any decent
scores. Memorial was an example of that. I actually missed the cut
at that tournament but it was solely because of my short game. Tee
to green, I was as good as I'd been in a long, long while, but
because I'd been spending so much time on my overall swing, I'd
neglected my chipping and putting. There were other tournaments
like that but I was really encouraged about where I was
headed.The two highlights for me were obviously my win over Tiger Woods in the Presidents Cup and my victory at the Fry's Electronics Open. I guess if I had to pick one, I'd say it was the Presidents Cup win that was the best moment. The reason I say that is because of the event being in Canada, the electricity of the crowd that day, the controversy of when I was picked and, of course, beating the No. 1 player in the world. I've said a number of times that the only way that could have been better was if we'd won the Presidents Cup. I still have that on my list of goals to achieve and I hope that in 2009, we can come out on top.
The victory at Fry's was also a great feeling. I don't think it really validated my new swing, but was more a result of all the hard work. I knew my game was good enough to get back to the winner's circle, it was just a case of putting it all together at the right time. But certainly, it felt great to get that win after such a long time without one.
There have been many other great moments for me in 2007. Being named to the Order of Canada was humbling for me, just because of how much I love Canada. The new chapter in my charity, the Mike Weir Miracle Drive for Kids, was a great success as we raised $500,000 for families in need at a big day in London. We're planning a bigger and better day in 2008.
Of course I'm blessed to have a happy and healthy family.
As the holiday season arrives, I thank you for all of your support in 2007 and I wish you and yours a safe and happy new year.
Mike
