Weir credits wife, perseverance for winning first Masters crown

He fits the mold of other recent champions Jose Maria Olazabal and Vijay Singh.
By DOUG FERGUSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mike Weir tapped in his only bogey putt on the final day at Augusta National, then raised his arms to celebrate his playoff victory. His wife ran onto the 10th green, arms outstretched, unleashing memories that reminded him just how far he had traveled to become a Masters champion.
They spent weeks at a time on opposite ends of the world when he played the tiniest of tours.
There were times Bricia worked as his caddie to save a few bucks.
They rented storage units for $50 a month so they wouldn't have to pay for an apartment while traveling.
"I think that was the most satisfying moment of the whole tournament, having my wife run out there on the green, the sacrifices she's made and the belief she had in me," Weir said.
The 33-year-old Canadian fits right in with recent Masters champions, who had times in their careers when they could not picture themselves in a green jacket.
Olazabal's comeback
Jose Maria Olazabal spent 18 months confined to his bed with a mysterious foot injury, wondering whether he would ever walk again, much less play golf. A German doctor finally diagnosed the problem in his back, and two years later the Spaniard strode purposefully up the 18th fairway of Augusta National in 1999 to a two-shot victory.
Vijay Singh was exiled to the rain forests of Borneo in 1985, earning minimum wage plus $10 for lessons at Keningau Club, then hitting balls under a blistering sun in his spare time. Fifteen years later, he was a model of poise on his way to victory in the 2000 Masters.
Weir was no different.
It wasn't the six tries at Q-school before he finally earned his PGA Tour card.
It wasn't the time he warmed up on the practice range next to Nick Price at the '95 Canadian Open, hearing the crisp sound coming off Price's irons that made Weir realize how inadequate his own game was.
Weir traces his despair -- and his resilience -- to the Indonesian Open in the mid-1990s. He was on his own, struggling to keep his hopes alive. The golf course was an hour from the hotel, and Weir had to get a cab. Worse yet, the cab broke down on the flooded back roads of Jakarta.
Life as a touring pro
"I carried my bag through all this muddy water, hitchhiking back to the golf course," Weir said. "I got through it and shot 80, making a 9 on a par 3. I think probably then, I had a tough time thinking I would win the Masters.
"But those times made me tougher and makes it even more rewarding, the six or seven years I've spent playing smaller tours and driving everywhere, finding a way just to make ends meet to keep going," he said. "I appreciated it as much as the other guys who came from a different background to get there."
Weir returns to Augusta National as the first left-hander, and first Canadian, to have won the Masters.
If his journey to a green jacket sounds extraordinary, so was his final round. He went from a one-shot lead to a three-shot deficit when Len Mattiace showed that the longer, stronger back nine at Augusta still left room for a dramatic charge.
Weir answers challenges
Weir answered with precision wedges and clutch putts to pull into a tie, then one of the most nerve-racking putts anyone can face in a major championship. After leaving a long birdie putt on the final hole some 6 feet short, he steeled himself and holed it for par to force the first sudden-death playoff at Augusta National in 13 years.
It ended quickly when Mattiace pulled his approach on No. 10 to the left, behind a tree, leaving him no chance to get it close. He eventually made double bogey, leaving Weir two putts from 6 feet to win.
It was the third victory of the year for Weir, who emerged as the highest-ranked lefty in golf. He has won seven times on tour, including a Tour Championship, a World Golf Championship and twice at Riviera, where he defended his Nissan Open title two months ago.
Respect hasn't always come easily. In his second year on the PGA Tour, he wound up in the final group with Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, only to shoot an 80 on Sunday while being heckled by a ruthless Chicago gallery.
Won first tour event
A week later, he won his first PGA Tour event in Vancouver.
Weir returned to Augusta National last week for the first time since his Masters victory, playing a practice round with his father and his caddie, Brennan Little, a longtime friend. He spent the night in Bobby Jones' cabin, found his locker in the Champions Room (he shares one with Doug Ford) and played the course.
"I had a chance to take my dad and play," he said. "Each hole, we went around and I just reminisced about a certain shot, showed him where I was on a certain hole and what I was thinking. That was cool to relive that."
Cooler yet is to remember what it took to get him there.