Mike Weir is looking stone-cold golden atop Honda Classic leaderboard

AP

PALM BEACH GARDENS — The Olympic spirit was still burning inside Mike Weir when he teed off at The Honda Classic on Friday morning, which was just as well.

Weir was only five days removed from attending the men's hockey gold-medal game in which his native Canada defeated the United States in sudden death.

Weir called it the greatest sporting event he has ever attended.

That's fortuitous, since catching the Winter Games meant taking almost 10 days off from golf and enduring a marathon travel day through icy weather just to arrive in South Florida late Tuesday.

But while Weir could have anticipated those issues, he never could have foreseen teeing off at 7:53 a.m. Friday at PGA National in conditions much colder than what he felt in balmy Vancouver.

"Just a little chilly," Weir said of a 43-degree morning (with the wind chill), compared to the low 50s at the alleged Winter Olympics.

No matter.

Weir torched the joint, shooting a bogey-free, 6-under-par 64 to tie the course record and place himself in a five-way tie for fifth at 5-under entering Saturday's third round. Paul Casey, Anthony Kim and Stephen Ames also matched Luke Donald's course-record 64 from the first round in 2008.

"That's a good score for anybody, a really good score for me around this place," Weir said.

Why, it just might be enough to make Weir want to take an extended break every March and arrive at tournaments on the heels of a Tuesday travel day that began with a 6 a.m. wake-up call and ended with a midnight arrival at his hotel.

Weir figures it was worth it just to taste the Olympics, just as he did in Salt Lake City in 2002.

"Feeling that spirit is different than any other sporting event," Weir said.

"The camaraderie amongst all of the other athletes -- got to meet some of the skaters and going over to watch speed skating, watch these different athletes — I don't know. It's just a different feel than going to a golf tournament."

And, yes, it reaffirmed "how special it is to be an Olympian," he said with an eye on when golf joins the Olympic program in six years.

"Most golfers I've talked to are pretty excited that the Olympics are in the Games in 2016," Weir said. "I think when you go there and see that Olympic spirit, it makes you want to be a part of it."

Weir knows what it's like to carry the flag of your country, since Canadian golf fans have long seen him as their main representative on the PGA Tour. Early in his career, that equated to pressure, he said. Today? "It's a wonderful thing."

Most everything about his round Friday was just as rosy, starting with teeing off on the back nine.

"A lot of left-to-right holes -- shots that fit my game well," Weir said, thankful for a breeze out of the north. "My game was pretty good. I hit most of the fairways, scrambled a little bit out there, but you're going to do that on this golf course. It's a tough golf course."

It didn't appear so tough after Weir closed with three birdies on the final five holes.

It didn't earn him a gold medal, only a chance at the top prize for the second straight weekend, if you count hockey. For that matter, Weir, 39, hasn't even picked up a hockey stick in 22 years.

"Yeah, it's a totally different feel, totally different type of pressure," he said. "I wouldn't say when I'm watching a hockey game, I feel pressure."