Mike Weir
"Weir's about to tee off," said one spectator following the golfer Canadians still watch more than any other. "Weir's five under for his round," another said. "Weir's seven under for the day now," a third said. The talk at the Glen Abbey Golf Club during Friday's second round of the RBC Canadian Open was all about Mike Weir. He was, as he would say after he finished with a five-under-par 67 to stand at four-under 140 for the tournament, finally giving his supporters something to cheer about.
Weir was hitting the ball beautifully. He'd had all sorts of problems driving the ball the last couple of years, but he was hitting his driver well, and long enough. He had hit the ball just as well during the opening round, when he shot 73 with a balky putter. Weir ditched that putter for the second round. The hole opened up as he made eight birdies. He did close with bogeys on his last two holes, but he wasn't about to let that get to him.
"I'll think about the way I played these two days," Weir said. What about those closing bogeys? He'll cope. That's golf. Weir found a greenside bunker on his 17th hole – the eighth on the course – and came up 15 feet short with his sand shot. The putt for par looked good, but stayed out. Weir offered a wry smile as he handed his putter to Danny Sahl, a pro himself who has played PGA Tour Canada.
On his final hole, Weir hit a perfect tee shot into the left side of the fairway. He was between a 9-iron and a pitching wedge. Playing aggressively, Weir chose not to hold back. He tried to sting the pitching wedge to set up a last birdie, but said he didn't catch it as he wanted, and came up in the bunker to the left. He had to carry a high lip, and it didn't help that he had short-sided himself. Weir's bunker shot ran past the hole about eight feet and he couldn't get that down.
Still, Weir's round was a combination of ball control and self-control, and a putter that clicked. Weir went to a putter with a softer insert in the face, and without a line on the top edge. Golfers often believe this helps them line up. Weir later pronounced it a "visual distraction," so he went to a putter without a line, which encouraged him to putt with more feel.
Weir's demeanour said a lot. It was of a golfer who has been released from the turmoil of the last couple of years. He made two cuts in 11 tournaments in 2011. He didn't make a cut in 14 tournaments last year. "Brutal," he said. But he's made eight cuts in 19 tournaments this year.
It can seem absurd to think it's progress when a former Masters champion makes cuts. Weir is, after all, 43, the same age as Phil Mickelson, not all that old in golf. But Weir has indeed been making progress. He's been patrolling the fairways as a golfer who knows he will find them, not as one who hopes and prays he will find them.
This does not mean that Weir has been playing mistake-free golf. That happens only rarely for any golfer. On Friday, Weir went for the green on the par-five 18th hole – his ninth of the round – but missed left into an awkward spot above the cart path. He hit a touchy little shot over the bunker but couldn't spin the ball, and it rolled to the edge of the green. His errant second shot had eroded his opportunity to make a birdie.
Weir also missed a three-foot putt for birdie on the par-five second hole, his 11th of the day. But he poured in putts of some 15 to 20 feet for birdies two, three and five holes later. He's well off the lead after two rounds, but he's come from far back before to win. He's not blowing smoke about what he thinks he can do. He's again demonstrating what he can do.
Still, who knows what the weekend will hold for Weir? This much is true, as the saying goes: "Been there, done that." Weir is there or thereabouts again, and his game is getting to where he can do that again: be a force in tournaments, as he always believed he could.