There’s a great crop of guys going in that year when I go in. Is the PGA Tour Champions on the horizon for you? He seems like an enthusiastic guy and hopefully will do some great things for Golf Canada. We’ve had a couple nice talks at the Canadian Open and we’ll see where that leads. There’s been much more engagement with Laurence. Have you and new Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum chatted about a potential role for you with Golf Canada? I still love the game and I’m excited to compete, and the motivation is still there. Outside this little setback with my back, I’ve been feeling good and excited about my game. It’s more fun right now than it has been the last few years, without a doubt. Is golf still as fun for you as it always has been? Since Fiji I haven’t touched a club in two weeks since yesterday. Health-wise has been pretty good up until Fiji, and since then I’ve been battling a bad back. How do you feel about your game and your health? You haven’t played much, but you had a couple of solid starts on the European Tour this summer, including making the cut at the Fiji International. I won a tournament within a couple weeks after winning that, so there were a lot of benefits and boosts you can gain from these team events. But I would say it did some great things. I wouldn’t say ‘bookend,’ but to win my first event on the PGA Tour in Canada and then to win that match against Tiger was… a bit bittersweet because we didn’t win as a team. That was just a really special time to do that in Canada. I was 37 at that time and done some great things. That was huge at that stage of my career. How do you look back on the moment when you beat Tiger Woods at the 2007 Presidents Cup in Montreal? So that’s how Nick did it and I thought it was a great way to do it. Everyone submitted their top three or four picks but when it all came down to it, it became fairly consensus with Anirban (Lahiri) and Emiliano (Grillo). If it had to come out to who the picks were going to be, we all would have submitted our guys and then scrummed about it. We didn’t talk about lobbying for anybody, but he did call me and ask me about Adam and what I knew about him and all of that. We still sit down at lunch and we still talk about stuff like, ‘Hey remember this in 2005 or 2003 with Ernie (Els) and Tiger (Woods) in the playoff…’ that’ll be great for Adam.ĭid you end up lobbying to International team captain Nick Price for Adam, in case he didn’t make the team on merit?
You’re playing against guys on the other side that I hadn’t played against a lot because it was my second year on Tour, but to play with them and beat them and do all those things gave me a lot of confidence, but also there’s a different connection amongst those teammates going forward that I still have to this day. (I was) accepted by guys that I looked up to for a long time. My first time playing, I felt very confident after that. Super happy to see Adam get in there and, to me, not only does it help your career playing with great players, but the confidence level you can gain from it is huge. What do you think it’ll mean for Adam Hadwin’s career to make the team for the first time?
We’ve been talking amongst our captains about potential teams, and the guys are really motivated… being so close last time in Korea (the International squad lost by just one point) I think there are a lot of guys on the team from last time who are very motivated. Starting to feel it now that it’s closer and now that the team is finalized. How do you feel with the Presidents Cup right around the corner?
11 Weir spent a few minutes with Sportsnet chatting about the Presidents Cup, the Canadian Open, Glen Abbey Golf Club, his beloved Detroit Red Wings and his relationship with TV personality Michelle Money. Weir has kept busy this summer playing a handful of events on the European Tour, trying to stay sharp on the course before he turns 50 in two years time when he becomes eligible for the Champions Tour. Mike Weir may no longer be a fixture on the PGA Tour, but as the only Canadian male to win a major golf championship (2003 Masters), he remains an authoritative voice on the sport in this country.Īt the upcoming Presidents Cup in New York, Weir will serve as an assistant captain for the International team, where he’ll advise fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin, who will be participating in the biennial competition for the first time.