One Weir(d) day on the course
Canadian battles back to thrill fans Follows 40 on front nine with 31
VANCOUVER— The journey from expectation to exasperation took about 90 minutes. But progress was made on the long road to redemption over the next three hours. Mike Weir, considered the best bet to end a half- century drought for the home side at the Canadian Open, took fans on a roller- coaster ride yesterday. He broke hearts early by going five over par through six holes before winning them back with birdies on four of his last five holes, punctuated by a 38- foot putt on the 18th that earned roars of approval. The net result was nines of 40 and 31 for an opening round of one- over- par 71. It’s a score that puts Weir right in the thick of things and, for those who followed his every shot — at first errant, then stellar — it keeps alive dreams of Canadian glory here this week.
“ The fans were just awesome,” Weir said after the round at Shaughnessy Golf Club. “ They just hung in there with me. I didn’t want to disappoint them.” Weir did nothing but disappoint early on. Playing in the fourth group of the day off the first tee, he got a thunderous ovation when he was introduced before driving into the rough on his way to a bogey. A birdie at the next hole elicited whoops and refrains of “Atta boy, Mikey” from a gallery that had swelled to four deep around the greens.
While there was no over- refreshed fan grabbing Weir by the shoulder as happened at last year’s tournament at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, there were a number in Team Canada hockey sweaters cheering loudly as though at the rink rather than the golf course. But back-to-back bogeys on the next two holes saw the euphoria of that birdie fade.
At No. 5, fans saw too much of their hero when his drive found the bushes, forcing him to take a penalty stroke, move the gallery and then play the ball back toward the tee. He made a doublebogey six, sinking to four over par through the first five holes. On the next tee, after Weir’s tee shot found the trees, one man said to his buddy, “ He’s having a rough day.”
“ No s-- t,” the man said in reply as he shook his head in disgust.
Talk quickly turned from the pre- tournament hype of Weir’s