Mike Weir’s win at the 2003 Masters remains one of those “where were you?” moments for Canadian sports fans.
The sequence of events remains difficult to forget: Weir, a 32-year-old five-time PGA tournament winner from Sarnia, Ontario, begins his final round two shots behind 54-hole leader Jeff Maggert. Len Mattiace, five off the lead after 54 holes, shoots a final-round 65. Weir drains a seven-foot par putt on No. 18 for 68, good enough to get into a sudden-death playoff with Mattiace.
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Both golfers tee off on No. 10, finding the fairway. Mattiace’s approach goes left of the green in the second cut of rough. Weir’s second shot is on the green. Playing from behind a tree, Mattiace lands his third shot on the green. Weir’s birdie putt sails past the hole. Mattiace’s lengthy par putt goes by the hole toward the fringe. He missed his putt coming back, resulting in a double bogey. Weir’s tap-in for bogey sealed his Masters win. He raised his arms to a chorus of cheers from the patrons around the 10th green.
“An unbelievable feeling. It’s something I’ve dreamt of for a long time,” Weir said during CBS’ Butler Cabin interview, on the impact of being the first Canadian man to win a major. “I have a tough time putting it into words because I won’t do it justice.”
Weir’s return to Augusta National this week marks 20 years since his Masters victory. Two decades later, the impact of Weir’s win continues to reverberate for those who played in the 2003 Masters and for those watching from afar, eager to follow in the Canadian’s golfing footsteps.
Derek Ingram, head coach of Golf Canada’s men’s national team, was in Mexico coaching the Canadian men’s junior team qualifying for the World Junior golf championship in Japan that April 2003 weekend. He and four of his golfers huddled around a TV monitor in the locker room to witness Weir make history.
Ingram remembers the palpable tension in the room. When Weir tapped in to win the green jacket, jubilation ensued. Ingram and the Canadian juniors screamed, fist-bumped and hugged each other in celebration. “It was like we won the Stanley Cup,” Ingram remembers.
Starting in 2010, Ingram would have “Mike Weir evenings” at training camps for the national amateur team. He showed the replay of the 2003 Masters on a VHS tape to his players. After the video ended, Ingram looked around the room and asked, “Who’s next?”
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Nick Taylor was 14 years old when Weir won the Masters. Growing up in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Taylor recalls being in his basement with his brother, Josh, and dad, Jay, glued to the TV during the final round.
“I was pretty much standing up the whole back nine,” Taylor said.
Growing up at the height of Tiger Woods’ dominance got Taylor into golf. Weir, four-time PGA Tour winner Stephen Ames, two-time winner Richard Zokol and Tucson Open champion Ian Leggatt were among the notable Canadian golfers on the PGA Tour during the 1990s and 2000s. But no Canadian ranked in the top 50 at the end of each year in the 1990s. That changed in 2000, thanks to Weir, who ended the year ranked No. 21.
When Weir won the Masters, Taylor could see himself in his shoes.
“Coming from our country where golf is not the attraction growing up in sports and to see the success he had, I felt like you believed you could do it as well,” said Taylor, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Taylor Pendrith, a Richmond Hill, Ontario native who finished T-7 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this year, didn’t know much about golf in 2003. He was 11 years old and hadn’t even hit a golf ball. But Pendrith never missed an opportunity to root for Canada. He didn’t know who Mike Weir was but watched because he was Canadian. A year after Weir won the Masters, Pendrith started playing golf for the first time. Pendrith said that Weir’s Masters victory motivated him to be the professional golfer he is today.
“He set the standard that it can be done, that major championships can be won by Canadians,” Pendrith said.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Mackenzie Hughes’ first interaction with Weir occurred at the 2004 Canadian Open. Hughes caddied for an amateur in the same pro-am group as Weir. Hughes wasn’t the best caddie that day, because his focus was elsewhere.
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“My objective was to talk with him and pick his brain as much as I could,” Hughes said.
A decade later, Hughes was on the Korn Ferry Tour. While playing the Utah Championship, Weir invited a few Canadian golfers for dinner at his home in Sandy, Utah, including Hughes and Roger Sloan. Hughes describes the dinner as a “pinch me moment,” a chance to converse with Weir at that juncture in his golf career.
At the 2021 Masters, after Hughes played a practice round with Weir and fellow Canadian Corey Conners, he remembers an impactful exchange with the 2003 champion. Weir told the two Canadians they were good enough to win these tournaments. You’re good enough to win major championships.
For Hughes, that was the ultimate vote of confidence.
“Trust yourself and keep working hard,” Hughes said. “Sometimes even the most basic thing that he can tell you means a bit more because he’s telling you that.”
Weir finished his PGA Tour career in 2019. His 2003 Masters remains his lone major win but he won eight times overall and rose to as high as No. 3 in the world during his career. Since the 2003 Masters, Weir made the cut at Augusta eight times, including a top-five finish in 2005.
Weir still plays on the Champions Tour and will tee it up this week at Augusta. He will captain the International team at the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal, Quebec. Most importantly, Weir supports the current generation of Canadian golfers. Whenever Taylor plays a good round, he receives an encouraging text message from Weir.
Adam Hadwin didn’t know if professional golf was his trajectory when he watched Tiger Woods put the green jacket on Weir.
“It showed that Canadian golf can have an impact and it can have a significant place in the world of professional golf,” Hadwin said.
Hadwin continues to draw inspiration from Weir’s work ethic and the continual search to improve. He remembers his interactions with Weir during the 2017 Presidents Cup when they were a player and captain’s assistant, respectively, for the International team. Like Hughes, Hadwin valued the moments where he got to ask Weir about golf and learn more about him as a person. He admires Weir’s quest for perfection while remaining positive and encouraging.
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“The way he carries himself — he’s sort of our unofficial ambassador for the men’s game,” Hadwin said.
Weir, Conners, Hughes and Adam Svensson are the Canadians teeing it up at the Masters this week. Conners won his second Texas Open last week and finished T-6 at the Masters in 2022. Hughes earned his way to Augusta with a win at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2022. Svensson won his first PGA Tour event in November 2022 at the RSM Classic, qualifying for the Masters.
Currently, there are seven Canadian golfers on the PGA Tour. Five Canadians rank within the top 70 in the world.
“That’s never happened,” Hughes said. “We’re setting new benchmarks and standards for Canadian golf.”
Golf Canada, through its enhanced player-development program, aims to have 30 Canadians on the LPGA and PGA Tour by 2032.
Ingram acknowledges that golf’s growth in Canada has been long, slow and methodical. But having role models and champions, like Weir, helped accelerate making Canada one of the elite golf nations in the world.
“I don’t think there’s a more important moment in Canadian golf history than that,” Ingram said.
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
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