Mike Weir: “We are the underdog and we will relish that role”

Can Mike Weir inspire the International team to just their second-ever Presidents Cup win?

One thing we can be sure of in this year’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal GC – Mike Weir’s nationality will inform and inspire his quest to guide the International team to only its second-ever victory in the competition.

Put simply, it has to.

The 54-year-old is just the fourth International to have had the honour of leading his team on home soil and the omens in such a situation are good. In fact, it is just about the only good omen there is for a team that has been defeated 12 times in 14 contests because, of his three predecessors as home soil leaders, the Australian legend Peter Thomson scripted a win at Royal Melbourne and the South African star Gary Player guided the team to a tie at Fancourt.

In other words, the two finest performances by a consistently underwhelming team were driven by captains utilizing similar conditions to this year.

Moreover, Weir has a long history of rising to the challenge of performing in front of his compatriots. He landed his first-ever PGA Tour top 10 in the 1996 Greater Vancouver Open, his first PGA Tour victory was in the 1999 Air Canada Championship and, on the only other occasion that the Presidents Cup was hosted by Canada (also at Royal Montreal, in 2007) Weir top-scored for the Internationals in what was a tough week for the cosmopolitan side (they were beaten 19.5-14.5).

A tough week for Weir, too, coming at the end of an exacting period in his career.

The 2003 Masters winner had successfully defended his Nissan Open title in early 2004 but had then endured a win drought. His form throughout 2007 had been patchy and two of his final three rounds ahead of the announcement of captain’s picks had been 77s.

He was perhaps fortunate that Canadian options (designed to energize the galleries) were thin on the ground for the International captain – Gary Player, but when the call came relief flooded through him. Within days he’d claimed a halfway lead which helped with confidence as he headed home for the showdown against the Americans.

In Thursday’s opening session the Internationals lost four of five foursomes matches. Weir and Vijay Singh stopped the rot with a half point. Next day Weir teamed up with Ernie Els to win a fourball and they made it two from two on Saturday.

The Internationals were seven points down heading into Sunday’s 12 singles and the Cup badly needed a boost to prevent a listless conclusion. Match four would provide it when the captains contrived to set Weir against Tiger Woods.

“There’s a lot to remember about that day,” Weir said when revealing his wildcards last month. “First of all, Gary Player had the belief in me to line me up against Tiger and then Jack Nicklaus (the US captain) gave me the chance to go out in front of our Canadian fans.

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“I accepted that challenge and went out there with a very determined mindset. I got off to a great start and played very well. Tiger did his thing. He came roaring back to pull ahead by one and then the last couple of holes were really special.”

Weir’s team-mate Trevor Immelman remembers the day well. “There was a huge buzz around the course,” he said. “It was absolutely the highlight of the week.”

Weir’s brother followed the match outside the ropes. “It was difficult to see any shots because the crowd was five or six deep,” he said. “It was electric. A lot of high fives, a lot of fist pumps. Everyone was so into it. People were running between holes. The adrenaline was pumping.

“I’m positive Mike was feeding off that Canadian energy to push him through.”

Weir made birdie on 17 to go one-up and Woods later said that the response of the galleries to their fellow countryman’s putt was one of the loudest roars he had ever heard.

“All that energy, wow,” said Weir. “It was special for me to beat him that day but also bittersweet because our team lost.”

Woods was impressed by the man who defeated him that day. “For all the pressure, it was pretty phenomenal how he played,” the 15-time major champion said. “Not a lot of people could have dealt with the things he had to deal with all week. The way he came out and represented all of Canada was impressive.”

Little wonder Mike Weir now says: “To be the captain in my home country, in the great city of Montreal, at the wonderful Royal Montreal GC – I couldn’t be more proud and excited. The fans were incredible in 2007. But we’re hoping that it’s even bigger and better this year.”

He also added: “I will never forget that Gary and Jack gave me that opportunity at home to go out there and show that – you know what? – you can overcome the odds. You can be the underdog and win.”

Imagine if a decision made in 2007 to counter boredom inspires triumph 17 years later. Weir not only hopes so, he’s planning for it to do exactly that.

“We are the underdog and we will relish that role,” he said. “We can overcome the odds.”

About the author

Matt Cooper
Contributing Writer

Matt Cooper has been a golf journalist for 15 years. He’s worked for, among others, Golf365, SkySports, ESPN, NBC, Sporting Life, Open.com and the Guardian. He specializes in feature writing, reporting and tournament analysis.

He’s traveled widely in that time, covering golf from Kazakhstan to South Korea via Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

More straightforwardly, he’s also covered numerous Majors, Ryder Cups and Solheim Cups.

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