Seven Year Itch

It's hard to believe that nearly seven years have elapsed since the playoff victory over Len Mattiace at Augusta National that lifted him into golf's most exclusive inner sanctum-the one to which only major winners need apply.

And it's equally hard to believe that Canada's outstanding male sportsman of the past decade-the personification of clean-living, timeless, optimistic youth-will turn 40 in May. Remarkably, he shares his birthday-12 May 1970-with, another of the bedrocks of the Tour, Jim Furyk.

His smile is friendly and sincere, and his conversation open and refreshing. Then again, this sweet-swinging left-hander has much to talk about, not least about how he blossomed into a hardy perennial in the world rankings with 14 titles and ten top-10 finishes in major championships.

Mirroring his tendency never to waste shots out on the course, Weir is impressively succinct in summing up his career.

"I learned to play at Huron Oaks Golf Club on the south banks of Lake Huron. We moved across the street from the course [a few miles east of Sarnia, where he was born, to Brights Grove] when I was 13 and we took out a family membership. It was a three-hour drive from Niagara Falls but only one hour from Detroit. My Dad [Richard] was a chemist in the rubber industry while Mum [Rowie] stayed at home to look after me and my two older brothers [Jim and Craig]. Steve Bennett, the head pro at Huron Oaks, took me under his wing and is still a good friend."

Bennett treasures his memories of Weir growing up. "I always knew he'd make it," he said. "I knew he had it in him. I've never met anyone with his level of determination." Indeed, Bennett was so confident he introduced the newly professional Weir as "Canada's next great golfer" in 1992 during a fundraiser at Huron Oaks which yielded $10,000.

But Weir was confident in his own ability from a much earlier age. "The moment I realized I could do something in this game came when I was 13. Until then my best score had been 79 and I was desperate to beat it. Then I played in a junior tournament at Seaforth [Ontario] which at the time was a nine-hole course. First time round I shot 36, so I was getting nervous about setting a new personal best, but I needn't have worried-I went round again in 34 for a 70. I was only an average player at the time, but I improved a lot as a teenager and I had a summer job at Huron Oaks cleaning clubs. I was off scratch at 15 and by then I was hooked. My first national victory was in the Canadian Juvenile [16 and under] Championship at Windermere G&CC near Edmonton.

"I won the Ontario Junior Championship in 1988 and the Ontario Amateur in 1990 and 1992. I never won the Canadian Amateur, but I was second in 1991 [at Royal Ottawa] and 1992 [at Riverside CC, Saint John, New Brunswick]."

Weir was named Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a Second Team All-American in 1992, the final year of his studies for a bachelor's degree in recreation management at Brigham Young University. The Utah city of Provo is a long way from Canada, and he isn't a Mormon, so the obvious question arises-why did you go there? "I was quite heavily recruited-three or four colleges were after me. The Brigham Young golf team played in a tough conference with a good schedule and Karl Tucker, the golf coach, was also a ski instructor. He made me feel at home the moment I got out there. Perhaps the key was that several older Canadian players-including Richard Zokol, Jim Nelford and Rick Gibson-had been there. Also, being a religious college there were not so many parties or distractions." Sadly, Tucker, who built BYU's golf program into a national power and sent dozens of players to the PGA Tour, including Johnny Miller, Bobby Clampett and Mike Reid, died just a few days before this interview at his home in Orem, Utah, aged 83.

Utah clearly struck a chord with Weir, not least because in his sophomore year he met his wife Bricia, a Mexican who grew up in Los Angeles. "We still live in Utah, in the foothills of the mountains. I love the outdoors-skiing, fly fishing and river rafting. And it's a great place to bring up our two daughters [Elle, aged 12 and a keen soccer player, and Lili, nearly 10 and an ice skater]."

Draw a straight line from Los Angeles to Ontario and it goes through Utah, so the decision to live there had practical as well as sentimental reasons. But Bricia, a former tennis player, is no stranger to visits north of the Border. She was one of the keynote speakers-along with Bennett-when her husband was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame at Huron Oaks towards the end of last year.

"Tenacious, competitive and relentless in his pursuit to excel at golf," she said. "One of the main reasons is, in his heart of hearts, nothing is more important to him than putting Canada on the golf map. If you ever want to push one of my husband's buttons, tell him he's not Canadian because he doesn't live in Canada. He never forgets that he is Sarnia's own, and Canada's own, Mike Weir. And the town of Sarnia has always been number one in supporting him and believing in him. I've never seen anyone-with the possible exception of Tiger, maybe-carry the weight of one country on their shoulders."

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