Given that they are locked in by winter for up to six months every year, it is not surprising that Canadian golfers are passionate about their sport. They cling to its vivid reminder of warmer climes, dreaming of April days when the ice finally melts, the greens are no longer covered in carpets of white, and they eventually live up to their name.
Just as in northern Europe, the Masters Tournament holds a special place in their hearts, a rite of Spring signalling the start of their own golf season. For many, not even a Claret Jug matches up to the mystique of a Green Jacket.
So imagine what it was like in Canada as the 2003 edition of the Masters Tournament came to its heartstopping conclusion. Imagine one of those sacred days when a nation stops what it is doing and holds its collective breath. Imagine a couple of hours when even those with no affinity for golf take the phone off the hook and stay glued to the television.
And imagine what it was like at the finish, when one of their own, a man so proud of his roots and the support that stems from them, went from golfing hero to national sporting icon.
No wonder, therefore, that Mike Weir fulsomely thanked Canada and its golf fans in his gracious victory speech. Here was a man like Padraig Harrington, a clean-cut model ambassador who was only too happy to take on the burden of a nation’’s expectation.
It is not an easy role. It involves countless sacrifices in terms of time and privacy. How much Weir relishes the position, however, was evident when he was asked at the end of 2002 about his relatively disappointing season. “I feel like I have let down Canadian golf fans,” he said.
Now he celebrated his moment of redemption, and a nation’’s joy was summed up by the fact that he had hardly beaten Len Mattiace at the first play-off hole before Prime Minister Jean Chretien was on the other end of his mobile offering congratulations.
Weir said that he hoped it would inspire Canadian youngsters to take up the game, and his words revived memories of his own evocative story. Of the boy who used to hit range balls out onto Lake Huron during the winter and who, as a 13 year old, wrote to Jack Nicklaus and asked for advice about his game.
“Should I stick to playing left-handed,” Weir wanted to know. “Or should I switch?” Nicklaus’’s reply was unequivocal. “Left handed is your natural game, and that is the one that you should play.” The Golden Bear was as pleased as anyone that this advice should lead all the way to a Green Jacket, that 15 minutes out of a busy day had delivered such a momentous result.
For it was not only Canadians who were cheering their first ever Major Champion, but left handers as well. They had not seen one of their own win a Major since Bob Charles claimed the Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963, and no left-hander had ever won the Masters Tournament. On two counts, therefore, this was a historic victory.
The history many had expected to see before the event began was Tiger Woods become the first player to win three successive Green Jackets. Like Nick Faldo and Nicklaus, the two previous players who had a chance to achieve this feat, Woods delivered a strange, out-of-sorts performance that saw him turn in his worst ever first round score of 76 and tie his worst last round of 75. In the end he finished tied 15th, nine shots adrift of Weir.
In the days leading up to the tournament, the weather was so bad the event might as well have been staged in Canada, and left the organisers with no option but to put back the first day’’s play until Friday for the first time since 1939. When golf balls were finally struck it was Darren Clarke who raised hopes of a first Irish victory with a mesmerising first round 66. It was so good that for the first time in 50 years a player was three strokes ahead after the opening round. But no first round leader has gone on to win since Ben Crenshaw in 1984, and unfortunately that jinx would hold for Clarke, who eventually tied for 28th place.
Weir took control with a second round 68 for a four shot lead. He was eventually overhauled by Jeff Maggert on the third day, while the popular Mattiace set a stringent seven under par total by coming out of the pack with an amazing last round 65. Would Weir’’s nerve hold? Could he play the last six holes in two under par to force a play-off? Would that putting stroke remain true?
Weir answered all those questions to prove a most deserving Masters Champion. And at the end, the greatest American champion of his generation, Woods, slipped the jacket on to the shoulders of a man who will now be known as the greatest Canadian golfer of all.
Derek Lawrenson
