Mike Weir of Canada tees off on the tenth hole during first round at the Canadian Open golf championship in Toronto on Thursday, June 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
TORONTO – Mike Weir turned back the clock at this year’s RBC Canadian Open.
He also continued to have a keen eye on the country’s heavy hitters with a big event looming large.
The 53-year-old from Brights Grove, Ont., finished his 30th national championship at 2-under in a tie for 52nd after four solid rounds of golf.
Weir bogeyed two of Sunday’s first three holes, but responded with four birdies before missing a seven-foot putt on No. 18 that would have seen him break 70.
“Played really well,” said the 2003 Masters champion. “That could have been a 7- (or) 8-under round quite easily.”
Weir, who became the fourth-oldest player to make the Canadian Open cut when he secured a weekend spot at the event for the first time since 2014, said playing on home soil never gets old – including at the raucous No. 14 tee box made to look like a hockey rink.
“Awesome,” he said. “The hair stands up on your arms.”
Nick Taylor provided his own spine-tingling moment hours later.
The Abbotsford, B.C., product defeated Tommy Fleetwood of Southport, England, on the fourth playoff hole to become the first Canadian male to win the national title since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
Adam Hadwin, who’s also from Abbotsford, finished at 11-under, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was three strokes back, while Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., was 6-under.
Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald was 1-under, Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., wound up even for the tournament, and Edmonton’s Wil Bateman finished 1-over.
Weir, who came agonizingly close to winning the 2004 Canadian Open before falling to Vijay Singh in a playoff, is set to captain the 2024 Presidents Cup international team at Royal Montreal Golf Club in just over 15 months.
The lobbying has already started.
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., said Wednesday he would likely trade his two PGA Tour victories for an opportunity to play in the showcase against the United States after not being named in 2022.
“I don’t need any extra motivation,” said Hughes, who missed the cut this week at Oakdale Golf and Country Club. “I think about it often. I’m dying to be on that team.”
Weir said there’s still plenty of time – and there could be some moving parts with the status of LIV players following the recent news of golf’s proposed reorganization – but the nation’s most decorated men’s golfer likes what he’s seen from the Canadian contingent.
Conners started the week ranked 29th in the world followed by Adam Svensson (65th) of Surrey, B.C., Hughes (67th), Taylor (69th) and Hadwin (75th).
Conners and Pendrith, currently 115th in the world, were on the 2022 international roster – the first time multiple players from Canada have teed it up at a Presidents Cup.
“Lots of good things by the Canadian guys,” Weir, the first Canuck to compete at the event, said before Taylor’s dramatic win. “The way that Canadian guys are playing, we hopefully have three or four of them.
“It would be great.”
The lefty added that while there will be near-automatic picks based on performance, comments like what Hughes shared this week make his ears perk up.
“He was hurt that he wasn’t on the last team,” said Weir, a three-time Presidents Cup assistant, including in 2022. “That’s the kind of guys we want on the team – guys that want to be on there, are passionate about it. That trumps a lot of things. We don’t want guys that are limping into the event. We want guys playing well.
“But at the same time, you want guys that are really passionate.”
Weir, who now mostly plays on the Champions Tour, said he plans to take in more PGA events next season to see players up close as the calendar flips toward September 2024, and is aiming for as many as 20 events on his own schedule.
That will likely include a 31st Canadian Open, which would put him one back of the record held by George Cumming between 1904 and 1945.
“I’m sure I’ll surpass that,” Weir said with a grin. “As long as I’m injury-free.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2023.
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