Mike Weir of Canada plays a shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the TimberTech Championship at The Old Course at Broken Sound on Nov. 3, in Boca Raton, Florida.Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Mike Weir thinks back to the first time he competed at the Presidents Cup. He was just 30 in 2000 and a rising star in the golf world, and was thrilled to be the first Canadian to be chosen for the International Team.
“The Presidents Cup was kind of a relatively new event and, being Canadian, I had never had a chance to play in the Ryder Cup,” Weir said this week from his home in Utah. “I looked at it as a great chance and was super excited.”
The Presidents Cup employs a format similar to the Ryder Cup, a biennial competition between the United States and Europe. In the Presidents Cup, 12-man teams of international players and American players square off in four days of match play.
The next tournament will be held in September of 2024 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club.
Weir’s 11 international teammates in the 2000 match-play competition included a who’s who list of the game’s greatest players with Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Nick Price and Greg Norman among them. A young Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III and Paul Azinger were among the Americans.
“These guys were big names and I may have played against them a time or two but I didn’t really know them,” Weir says. “I quickly realized how much it meant to them to be there.”
Although the International Team lost, Weir teamed with Price to win a foursome match over Mickelson and David Duval, and also beat Mickelson in singles.
“I knew from that first time that I never wanted to miss another,” Weir said.
He went on to play in the Presidents Cup on four more occasions, each time as Canada’s lone representative. In 2007, four years after he became the only Canadian to win the Masters, Weir beat Woods in a gripping singles match at Royal Montreal. It was the only previous occasion the event was held on Canadian soil.
Weir, who was the lowest-ranked member of the International Team, edged the world’s No. 1 player with pressure-packed 10-foot putt on the 17th green.
“When you are picked in your home country, and haven’t been playing great, there is a lot of weight on your shoulders,” Weir said. “It was really important for me at that stage to do well.
“It was an incredible experience. The match with Tiger was very intense. He was the greatest player of all time. I felt the pressure of playing for my country and the pull of Canadian fans cheering me on.”
The greatest male golfer Canada has produced, Weir grew up in Sarnia, Ont., and Jack Nicklaus was his hero. He won eight events on the PGA Tour and at one point rose to No. 3 in the world ranking. But, like other athletes, at times he battled injuries and at certain points struggled to find his game.
“You have to be determined and have a deep-down belief in yourself,” Weir said. “Golf isn’t like hockey where you can change lines and just jump over the boards. When you struggle, you struggle.”
Weir is 53 now and plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He was a non-playing captain’s assistant at the past three Presidents Cups and was appointed the captain of the International Team for the 2024 event, which returns to Royal Montreal and Canada for the second time.
The tournament has been held 14 times since 1994 and the United States has won all but one, with one tie.
His will again be an advisory position and not a playing one.
“I’m very excited about it,” Weir said. “It gets a little out of your hands once the players tee it up. There is a lot of stuff that is out of your control.”
Weir said there is a possibility that the International Team could have multiple Canadians. Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes are all ranked among the world’s top 66 players. Hughes, Svensson, Conners and Taylor each won an event on the PGA Tour.
“There are always ebbs and flows but they are exciting to watch,” Weir said. “Canadian golf is stronger than ever. Golf Canada has run an excellent program for the last 15 years or so and it is a good thing for Canada. At the grassroots level we are doing an excellent job.”