Mike Weir facing long rehab after elbow surgery

by Randy Phillips

Mike Weir has left the PGA Tour for the second time in less than a year because of an elbow injury, and his level of frustration is what you might expect.

"It's not fun," Weir said Tuesday during a conference call from his home in Draper, Utah. "It's tough. I can't even bring myself to watch any golf on television because it gets me fired up and I want to grab a club and get out there.

"But I've got to be really smart and take my time with this," he added. "It's kind of more fuel for the fire because I'm very motivated to get back once this elbow is healthy and strong, and I'll just be working as hard as ever to get back."

Weir won't return to the PGA Tour until some time in 2012, probably not before March for a couple of tournaments to prepare for the Masters in early April. The 2003 Masters champion from Bright's Grove, Ont., had surgery to repair the extensor tendon in his right elbow on Aug. 18, and is in the fifth of a six-week healing period.

Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery on the 41-year-old Weir in Pensacola, Fla. Weir saw Andrews again last week and got encouraging news.

"He said he couldn't be more pleased with the way it's going so far," Weir said. "I'm already getting some good range of motion in there, and the physiotherapist he works with closely has me on a pretty good program that will start to ramp up a little more aggressively.

"Everything is going according to plan. I'm excited Dr. Andrews said I was right on track. He couldn't have asked for anything better."

The injury, which Weir tried to play through for much of the season, forced him to the sidelines in July during the RBC Canadian Open in Vancouver, when he withdrew after six holes in the second round. Weir said at the time that having to hit out of the deep rough at the Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club had aggravated his elbow to the point he was unable to continue.

The Canadian Open was Weir's 15th tournament of the season, and he made only two cuts, finishing 77th and 70th. He broke 70 only once in 34 rounds.

Weir had to shut down things in late August of last year because of a torn ligament in the same elbow, which first flared up at the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C., a week after the Masters. Weir did not require surgery then, but he didn't return until January. When he did, it was on a medical exemption in which he was given five tournaments to earn enough money to retain full privileges this season. He was unable to do it.

Weir said the injury to his tendon affected his play this season, but refused to say it was the only reason for his struggles.

"I'm not going to blame it all on that," he said. "I believe it caused me to be hesitant, and that probably led to some confusion where I was not only hesitant with my golf swing, I was questioning myself and I lost some confidence.

"Obviously, when you're hitting poor shots it's hard to fake it and build confidence. So it was a bit of a snowball effect with (the injury) being the driver of it."

Weir said he didn't know precisely when the second injury occurred or if it was directly related to the first.

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