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There’s only one Mike Weir – but he’s been many different players.
There’s the young Mike Weir, struggling to find his footing in the game after leaving Brigham Young University, playing in Australia without the funds to afford a caddie. Then there’s the Mike Weir that clawed and fought his way to become one of the best players in the world, winning the Masters, a WGC, the Tour Championship and twice at Riviera. Of course, there’s the version of Mike Weir that many thought would be the final one – injured, with the driver yips, showing a small fraction of the brilliance he once displayed, commentating at Augusta because he seemed to recognize the weekend was out of reach.
It turns out there’s another version of the Canadian left-hander – healthy, confident and resurgent. When he hit bottom as a player, few thought he’d find his way back, especially at age 50. Weir’s greatness seemed so far in the rear view – more than a decade – that the move to PGA Tour Champions was almost an afterthought to everyone but the golfer himself. You can be excused for not anticipating a change; after all, Weir’s last victory on the PGA Tour came 13 years ago. That’s why his senior-circuit win at the Insperity Invitational in Texas at the start of May caught so many unaware.
Everyone but Weir, that is. He knew improvements to his game were on the horizon, even though those changes came after years of struggles. Those struggles were a challenge for Weir, as they came at a time when his personal life was in turmoil; a marital split meant his two daughters became his focus as they both graduated high school and went to college. It is those kinds of deeply personal challenges that put golf in perspective, and his last win – in 2007 at the Fry’s Electronics Open – seemed long in the past.
“There’s a lot that’s happened between 2007 and now,” Weir says. “It was not all great, but there were some really valuable lessons I’ve tried to learn. Things can be hard in life and not only my golf game – things can be very difficult. I’ve tried to keep my chin up and be there for the ones I love, especially my children. Golf has been a bit of a bonus to come back to.”
These days, Weir is in a good spot. One of his daughters has graduated from college, while the other is nearly wrapped up. He’s in a long-term relationship with girlfriend Michelle Money of The Bachelor TV fame. She’s pushed him to become more engaged with his fan base, which has led to a vibrant social media presence.
His golf game didn’t immediately reflect the personal changes in his life. Weir played infrequently on the PGA Tour and didn’t make many cuts. As he neared 50 and started to prepare for a stint on PGA Tour Champions, his game still didn’t show many signs of life.
The same dogged determination that made Weir punch above his weight during his PGA Tour heyday meant he wouldn’t give up in resurrecting his game.
“I love to compete, and I love to play,” Weir says. “When I was playing poorly – and I’ve said this before – when I was playing for fun with family members like my dad, or friends, I was playing poorly with them. I love the game too much to play poorly all the time. I wanted to play better than what I was doing.”
Did he think about packing it in? After all, he’d made $28 million on the course and plenty more away from it.
“I can’t say it never crossed my mind,” Weir says. “When you’re beating your head against a wall for years … I was not playing well for a long time. Especially with the way the game is on the PGA Tour, when you’re not hitting it well and the way the game has changed with power – I was really up against it.”
The same dogged determination that made Weir punch above his weight during his PGA Tour heyday meant he wouldn’t give up in resurrecting his game. After leaning on numerous swing instructors, Weir began working with Mark Blackburn. Quietly, his game and his driving – for which the term “yips” was tossed around for a while – started to re-emerge. Throughout it all his short game remained world-class. He carded a 65 in the final round of a Korn Ferry Tour event just before COVID-19 hit last year, and though it was lost in a pandemic haze that followed, Weir was aware that he was making strides.
“I’ve been driving it well for a couple of years,” he says. “But to be able to do it in the moment has taken some time. I’ve felt good driving it in practice and when playing with friends, but the confidence of doing it in competition is relatively recent.”
So when he stepped up on the 18th tee of the long par-4 closer at the Insperity knowing John Daly, with whom he was tied at the top of the leaderboard, had smashed a drive down the fairway, Weir didn’t hesitate. He took out his driver and hit a perfect tee ball down the fairway. When Daly’s short approach shockingly found the water, Weir played for the middle of the green. Two putts later he was back as a winner after 13 years. Weir had proven to the golf world that he could claw his way back. Perhaps more importantly, Weir had proven to himself that he could find the form that had eluded him for more than a decade.
He’ll play a regular PGA Tour Champions schedule for the rest of the year confident that he’s turned a corner in his career. Last weekend he finished T5 at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the senior circuit’s second major of the season. Looking forward, there's the expectation that Weir will be named the captain of the International Team when the Presidents Cup returns to Royal Montreal in 2024. The last time the event was held in Canada, Weir famously beat Tiger Woods in a head-to-head match.
For Weir, the next few years should see him back in the spotlight regularly. And if that’s the case, it’ll be one of the more impressive second acts that could rival his star-filled early years.
Top: Mike Weir during the 2021 Regions Tradition
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