Mike Weir

Michael Richard Weir, born May 12, 1970, is a Canadian professional golfer now competing on the PGA Tour Champions. From 2001 through 2005, he ranked among the world’s top ten golfers for more than 110 weeks. Though a natural right-hander, he plays golf left-handed and is most famous for his 2003 Masters Tournament victory, which makes him the only Canadian man to have won a major championship.

Weir grew up in Brights Grove, a suburb of Sarnia, Ontario, and learned the game at Huron Oaks Golf Course under coach Steve Bennett. Like many Canadian boys, he started with hockey, shooting left-handed, and carried that handedness into golf. His godfather’s son, who also played left-handed, gave him a partial set of spare clubs—three woods and four irons. Using money earned as a caddy and pro shop worker, he bought a left-handed wedge and used it until the grip wore out. At age 12, he won a junior tournament whose first prize was a full set of irons, replacing his original four. While working at Huron Oaks, he met Jack Nicklaus at age 11, when the legend came for an exhibition. That encounter set the stage for a key moment in his career.

Weir gave up hockey in his early teens, realizing he wouldn’t grow past average size and that golf was his better sport. He had been told he might improve by switching to right-handed play. In 1984, he wrote to Nicklaus for advice. Nicklaus quickly replied, telling him that if he was already a good left-handed player, he shouldn’t change—especially if it felt natural. Weir never again considered switching, and the framed letter still hangs in his home.

He attended St. Michael Elementary School and St. Clair Secondary School in Sarnia, winning the Ontario Junior Championship in 1988. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Recreation Management and won the Ontario Amateur Championship in 1990 and 1992. He tied for second at the 1991 Canadian Amateur Championship and finished clear second in 1992. At BYU, he was named a Second Team All-American in 1992.

Weir turned professional in 1992, starting on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour, where he won three events. He also played some Asian PGA Tour events early on. He first reached the PGA Tour in 1998 but lost his card due to poor performance. He requalified by being medalist at the final Qualifying School tournament.

His first PGA Tour win came at the 1999 Air Canada Championship in Surrey, British Columbia, making him the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event in Canada in 45 years. At the 1999 PGA Championship, he shared the 54-hole lead with Tiger Woods but finished tied for tenth. He won The Tour Championship in a playoff in 2001.

Weir started the 2003 season strong, winning two West Coast Swing events: the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs and the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles. In April, he won the Masters Tournament at Augusta, becoming the only Canadian male to win a professional major. At the time, he was only the second left-handed golfer to win a major, following Bob Charles (1963 British Open); Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Brian Harman have since joined that group. Like Mickelson, Weir is a right-hander who plays golf left-handed.

In June 2003, he tied for third at the U.S. Open, moving him to third in the Official World Golf Ranking—his career high. For his 2003 season, he received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s outstanding athlete of the year. He stayed in the world’s top ten into 2004.

In February 2004, Weir became the sixth player to win back-to-back Nissan Open titles, the first since Corey Pavin (1994–1995), and the 20th to post multiple wins at that event. He joined a select group that includes Ben Hogan.

After that second Nissan Open win, he went more than three-and-a-half years without another tour victory. Working with Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer on a new swing produced some positive results, including two top tens and a tie for eighth at the Open Championship. However, his world ranking dropped enough that he didn’t automatically qualify for the 2007 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club. International captain Gary Player selected him as a discretionary pick, and Weir beat then-world-number-one Tiger Woods in a heated match, though his team lost the Cup. Weir later said that match might be even more special than winning the Masters.

The swing changes and Presidents Cup momentum led to his first win in over three years at the Fry’s Electronics Open in October 2007. That victory in Arizona tied him with George Knudson for the most PGA Tour wins by a Canadian, with eight.

Golf Digest reported in March 2010 that Weir had returned to work with...