Weir’s downward spiral from Masters champion to the Web.Com Tour

IT’S a long drop from Master champion to the Web.Com Tour but sadly that is how it has panned out for the 2003 winner of the green jacket, Mike Weir.

Having turned professional in 1992, the 48year old Canadian won his first tournament at the Air Canada Championship in 1999, making him the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event in 45 years.

His next win came in 2001 in the Tour Championship following a play-off, but 2003 was to be his most prolific year. He began the season with victory at the Bob Hope Classic and followed it a fortnight later with another win at the Nissan Open.

His play-off win over Lennie Matice at the Masters in April not only made him the first Canadian to win a major but only the second left-hander to do so, along with the 1963 Open Champion Bob Charles, but since then Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson have joined this exclusive club.

A tie for third at the US Open that year saw Weir propelled to third in the world rankings and the following year he retained the Nissan Open, but it would be a further three years until his next win on tour which turned out to be his last.

Indifferent form and an injury to his elbow saw him slip down the rankings and he needed a medical exemption to play the following three seasons before joining the European Tour with little or no success.

He returned to the PGA Tour in 2014 where he enjoyed a second place finish at the Byron Nelson but again poor form saw him lose his playing card and since then he has played little or no competitive golf and joined TNT Sports Network as a on-course commentator.

Weir announced at the end of 2018 that he would play the full season on the Web.Com Tour in the hope a gaining a PGA Tour Card for 2020 in preparation for joining the Champions Tour after his 50th birthday in May 2020.

So far, however, it hasn’t gone according to plan as he languishes in 105th place on the money list with a little under $5,000 earned from three tournaments.