CALGARY – Mike Weir has witnessed plenty of his long-time contemporaries find some serious success on PGA Tour Champions this year — and he knows exactly what he needs to do to join them in the winner’s circle on home soil this week.
Weir, who is the unofficial host of this week’s Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary, has had a tough year on the over-50 circuit with just one top 15 finish. And in an uncharacteristic manner, he says it’s his short game — long known as the best part of his game as he became a top-5 golfer in the world in the early 2000s — that’s been letting him down.
“Short game always has been my strength, and it just hasn’t been very good this year,” Weir told Sportsnet on Wednesday. “If you’re not getting the ball up and down, converting wedges on par fives and making a few too many three-putts, you’re going to shoot one or two under or one or two over — you’re not going too deep under par. I have to sharpen that up, and that’s what I’m looking to do this week.”
Of course, this year has also been a hearty turnaround for Weir in terms of responsibilities. Through the tail end of 2023 and for the whole of 2024, Weir would often have more than one eye on the Presidents Cup as he was the captain of the International Team when it was played at Royal Montreal. This year, that mental and emotional weight has been lifted, and he's had a few opportunities to just enjoy life again. He took the whole of July off competition and enjoyed some trips with friends, has taken up drumming, and even managed to squeeze in a little fishing session on the Bow River on Monday before getting back into golf mode.
“I obviously haven't played in the last couple of months at all […] so last week was a little bit better. Still a little bit not very sharp with my short game. Ball striking is good,” Weir said. “And putting felt a little better. So hopefully trending in the right direction.”
While Weir teed it up at the RBC Canadian Open earlier this summer, the Rogers Charity Classic is the lone opportunity to compete on the PGA Tour Champions circuit on home soil. His pro-am group Wednesday and Thursday were the most followed, and he knows his role as this country’s most legendary golfing ambassador (while Brooke Henderson holds that title amongst the contemporaries).
“Looking forward to great fan support on the weekend, and I like this course. So hopefully I can get myself in the mix on Sunday,” Weir said.
Despite the casual vibe that the Champions Tour gives off on the surface, bubbling under the post-round drinks and the casual conversation of the good-old-days, these guys are awfully good. Miguel Angel Jimenez has won four times already this season and is teeing it up in Calgary along with Padraig Harrington (who has won two majors over the last five weeks). Steve Allan and Angel Cabrera, who are not in the field this week, have also won three times.
The season-long race for the Schwab Cup is also heating up. Jimenez leads the way thanks to his foursome of trophies, while Stewart Cink is in the No. 2 spot. Steven Alker, who won the Schwab Cup in 2022, is in third and is teeing it up this week at the Rogers Charity Classic.
“The competition is great out here,” Weir said. “Three rounds — you have to start fast and get going early because it’s tough to catch up. Every tournament is 15 or 20-under par (as a winning score). So, if you have an even-par round or something, it’s pretty hard to make that up.
“You have to get out of the gates and get going.”
Weir is one of four Canadians in the field this week in Calgary alongside Stephen Ames, who has three top-10s this year but has yet to find the winner’s circle after winning seven times in the last two seasons, along with Gord Burns and qualifier Wes Martin.
Martin may be the best feel-good story of the week as he is from Calgary and is making his PGA Tour Champions debut. While he had a decent decade-long career on the old Canadian Tour, Martin now works in town full-time as a pipefitter.
