Just before we visit the pro shop and get you outfitted with some smart looking clothing, the proper equipment and golf lessons let’s take a moment and grasp the meaning of ‘New Year’.

(Be sure to turn the sound on)
New Year's Day -- Histor#11A3F3
Copyright 2003, by Jerry Wilson - wilstar.com

There was no greater accomplishment in all of Canadian sport during 2003 than that of golfer Mike Weir of Sarnia, Ontario who stroked his way through 73 holes to capture The Masters golf championship on Sunday, April 13.

No moment was more defining for Canadian golf fans than when the game’s number one player, defending champion Tiger Woods, did the honour of helping Weir don the famed green jacket. (AP photo) It was a glorious moment that earlier had narrowly eluded such greats as Stan Leonard and George Knudson. It marked the crowning achievement of winning the first major golf title in history by a Canadian player.

But for many maybe the most heart warming picture taken following Weir’s unprecedented victory that afternoon in Georgia was this image (AP photo) of Mike sharing his joy with wife Bricia, a fitting reward for overcoming the privation of those early years as a couple ‘on tour.’

By any standard 2003 was a banner year for Mike Weir. No Canadian had ever won three PGA TOUR events in the same season, let alone one of the four majors of golf. He came into Augusta as one of the leading albeit improbable candidates, despite having already won titles at the Bob Hope and Los Angeles tournaments. His lack of distance off the tee was the one factor going against him, said the experts. However, it was his finite touch on the greens that enabled Weir to become the first left-handed golfer to win the Masters title and only the second lefty to ever win one of the majors. It was his 6th career PGA TOUR win and 3rd in a playoff.

With the first day of the Masters washed away because of rain, Weir posted Friday rounds of 70-68 to go 5-under par and claim the lead through 36 holes but, a 3-over 75 Saturday saw him go from a 6-stroke lead to two off the pace heading into Sunday's final. A masterful bogey-free 4-under 68 brought him to 7-under 281 for the tournament. However, before Weir had finished his round Len Mattiace (73-74-69-65) had caught fire and finished with a final round 65, at one point holding a 3-shot lead. Weir closed with a series of clutch birdie putts on the par 5's at 13 and 15 and on the 72nd hole sank a nail-biting 6-footer for par to send the pair to the par-4 10th hole for a playoff. Mattiace's second shot of the extra hole found the left rough behind trees while Weir landed safely on the front of the green where he three putted for the win to put his name into the record books forever, ensuring his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and any other Hall of Fame we can find for him.

Weir has already been named winner of the Toronto Star’s Lou Marsh Award and any day, now, will likely be proclaimed Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year by the Canadian Press. In 21 tournaments on TOUR he finished first three times, was third four times, had 10 Top 10’s, finished in the money 20 times and earned $4,918,910 to finish sixth for the season on the World Money List. In just six years as a regular on the PGA TOUR he is the 23rd leading career money winner with earnings of over $12.8 million and he’ll start the 2004 season ranked as the 13th best golfer in the world.

So what does 2004 hold for Canada’s most celebrated golfer and the most famous person to have grown up in Bright’s Cove, Ontario?

Ever since registering his first PGA TOUR victory in 1999 in the Air Canada Championship at Surrey, BC’s Northview course Canadians have looked to Mike Weir to win that one tournament that means so much to all Canucks. At Northview, Weir’s win marked the first time a Canadian had won on TOUR in seven seasons and the first win by a Canadian in Canada since Pat Fletcher’s 1954 Canadian Open triumph. Now that he’s won the Masters can the Canadian Open be any less important? If anything the pressure and expectations are even greater. This past season at Ancaster, with his every move chronicled by more Canadians and media than he has ever experienced, Weir persevered for a 10th place finish, his finest showing in 13 appearances at the Canadian Open. (photo: Masters)

There is one other record within his grasp this season. When Weir collected $450,000 for his Air Canada victory his payday was almost equal to the $532,000 in official career money won by Winnipeg’s George Knudson in 16 seasons. Knudson’s record of eight TOUR championships, including back-to-back wins at Phoenix and Tucson in 1968 has been waiting since 1972 to be equaled and the man to do it could well be Mike Weir in 2004.

Anything can and does happen on the PGA TOUR as witnessed by the results of 2003:

For the first time in 34 years players who had never won a major before took all four: --Weir (Masters), Jim Furyk (U.S. Open), Ben Curtis (British Open) and Shaun Micheel (PGA). The most unexpected winner was Curtis who had never even played in a major before winning in Britain and Micheel’s victory was his first ever in 163 tournaments. Tiger Woods, who has now played in 114 consecutive tournaments without missing a cut, a new TOUR record, claimed Player of the Year honours for the fifth straight year and very likely will make it six in a row at the end of 2004.

Annika Sorenstam crossed the gender barrier from the LPGA and played in the PGA TOUR’s Colonial, missed the cut but won the admiration of millions, saying later: “I’ve climbed as high as I can, and it was worth every step”.

Among the other Canadians swinging on the world’s most lucrative golf tour in 2004 is Selkirk Manitoba’s Glen Hnatiuk, who just made it to 124th on the money list (top 125 retained their cards) and finished the season with over $488,000. Ian Leggatt of Cambridge, Ontario battled various injuries and finished 161st with $271,014 but has one season remaining through an exemption for winning the 2002 Tucson Open. After years of bureaucratic delays and red tape Stephen Ames of Trinidad, who has lived in Calgary with his Canadian-born wife for years, has finally been accepted as Canadian citizen. He earned over $1 million while retaining his TOUR card and will now carry the Maple Leaf beside his name in all future tournaments. Four outstanding members of the 2003 Canadian Tour campaign have graduated to new plateaus on the PGA TOUR in 2004: Ken Duke, a two-time Canadian Tour champion and 1999 Order of Merit winner; Scott Hend, who got married on a Saturday and spent his honeymoon Sunday winning the 2002 Victoria Open championship and Roger Tambellini, who was involved in a record setting six-man playoff at the 2001 Telus Vancouver Open and captured a Nationwide victory in 2003.

Oshawa, Ontario’s Jon Mills, the Canadian Tour’s 2003 Order of Merit Champion, has qualified to play the Nationwide Tour along with Victoria, BC’s Jim Rutledge. Ahmad Bateman, Windsor, Ontario, Bryan DeCorso, Guelph, Ontario and Montreal’s Brian McCann — all of whom finished well back in the final stage of the PGA TOUR Q-School, will likely find themselves paired occasionally with Richard Zokol of White Rock, BC in some Nationwide events during 2004.

It came as a bit of a surprise to Dave Bar last February when he suddenly found himself on a birdie binge playing the final four holes of the Royal Caribbean Golf Classic in Florida, especially when he produced a 35-footer that snaked into the last hole and won him his first tournament in 16 struggling years on the PGA TOUR. It came in his first event of the season, a stunning come-from-behind one-stroke victory in only his sixth tournament as a senior. It was the first Senior PGA TOUR victory recorded by a Canadian and delivered the Kelowna, BC native the largest payday he had ever received since becoming a professional in 1974 - - $217,500. At seasons end Barr finished in 27th place among money winners on the Champions Tour with nearly $732,000, by far his most productive campaign in a career that has seen him win 12 times on the Canadian Tour, represent his country 22 times in World Cup and Dunhill competition and inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Golf Hall of Fame of BC in 2003. Last season also saw Dave Barr sink his 10th career hole-in-one, a 4-iron from 204 yards in the final round of the Allianz Championship. Playing on a tour where there is no cut and after proving he can still win at age 51, 2004 could well be another sensational season for the friendly giant with the 10-finger grip.

In just about every story being written about the 2003 sports scene the name Annika Sorenstam of Stockholm, Sweden comes up and for good reason. Her many accomplishments on and off the golf course merit the compliments she’s been receiving - - and it all began with her acceptance of an invitation to play in the men’s PGA TOUR Bank of America Colonial and the gracious manner in which she handled the resulting hoopla and media attention, despite missing the cut. In 2003 Sorenstam visited the winners circle six times with 15 Top 10 finishes in 17 tournaments and earnings of over $2 million.

However, for those attending the BMO Canadian Women’s Open at Vancouver’s Point Grey in June, what we remember of Annika will be a lady who came to Canada despite feeling ill, who hung around long enough to meet her fans and play a corporate outing before apologizing to sponsors and organizers and quietly departing the tournament. With the schedule Sorenstam had been trying to maintain she could easily have passed on this Canadian stop and rested up before heading overseas to play in the British Women’s Open. Instead, she made an appearance, attempted to play and won the respect of all Canadian golf fans.

Lorie Kane, Canada’s Queen of the Links from Charlottetown, PEI, finished 13th on the 2003 money list with over $685,000 in earnings, as a result of 11 top-10 showings, including three seconds and a third. Kane has become one of the LPGA TOUR’s most consistent performers, recording at least one second-place finish in each of her last seven seasons for a career total of 16 to go with her four victories. 2004 could well be another break-out year for Lorie. Four years after joining the TOUR full time she exploded for three wins in 2001. She hasn’t tasted victory since 2001 and would dearly love to edge closer to Sandra Post’s Canadian record of eight career LPGA wins.

Quebec’s Isabelle Beisiegel won a spot on the LPGA TOUR for 2004 after tying for medalist honours at Q-school. This young lady has been knocking on the door to greatness for a couple of seasons in Canada, playing and winning events on the BMO Canadian Women’s Tour and on the Futures Tour. Together with her husband/caddy Dan, who has tradition of placing a different coloured orchid on her visor each day, it will be a delight to follow these two young Christians.

The 2004 Canadian Women’s Open is scheduled for July 8-11 at Legends on the Niagara, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, a radically new designed course far removed from the traditional layout the LPGA experienced at Point Grey, where Beth Daniel was victorious.

Getting bigger and better every year, the Canadian Golf Tour has come a long way since the heady days of the early 1970’s and the Peter Jackson Tour. From 11 official events in 2003, five of them in Canada, the Canadian Tour has expanded to 14 tournaments in three countries, increased some of the purses and will have additional international TV exposure on the Golf Channel. Negotiations are still underway that could see the addition two more events, one of them possibly in the Okanagan.

One of the features that help keep the Canadian Tour solvent is the staging of Tour Qualifying Schools. Last year they ran three of them to the delight of golfers from around the world looking for tournament experience. This year five Q-schools are on the schedule, including three in a three week stretch in February – Florida, California and Texas. The Dunes at Kamloops hosts the Spring Q-School in May and the Fall Q-School returns to the Royal in Ashburn, Ontario in September.

The Canadian Tour officially kicks into gear the last week of February with a pair of tournaments in Texas then picks up again one week after the Masters with two new events slated for California, followed by a return visit to Mexico for two competitions in May. The four-week western Canada swing begins on Vancouver Island June 24 with the Victoria Open, followed by amateur James Lepp’s highly anticipated defense of the Greater Vancouver Classic, which is returning to Mayfair Lakes GC in Richmond for the first time since 2000. Then it’s on to Winnipeg’s Pine Ridge GC for the Manitoba MTS Classic and finally to Alberta July 15-18 for the Telus Edmonton Open at the Derrick. In late August the Tour’s last Canadian stop is the Greater Montreal Open at Fountaine Bleu.

Missing at each stop on the Canadian Tour this year will be talented Marty Henwood, the Tour’s Media Relations Director since 2000. Mr. Hendwood skillfully produced thousands of words each year writing endless player features, game day reports, pre and post tournament summaries, compiling and analyzing reams of golf statistics while continually being at the beck and call of golf reporters and editors around the globe, arranging interviews and answering questions either on the phone, through email or at all the tournament sites. Marty’s many abilities have been recognized and January 1 he will be taking on a new role as Media and Public Relations Director for www.travelgolf.com the world’s most-read group of online golf publications.

By the way, have you seen any episodes of The Golf Channel’s ‘THE BIG BREAK’?

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=23232

Tell us what you think of the show.

Would you like to be selected to participate on THE BIG BREAK and win an exemption to play in a tournament on the Canadian Tour?

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 8-11

• PGA TOUR - Mercedes Championships
• Kapalua, Hawaii

January 22-25

• Champions Tour – MasterCard Championships
• Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii

February 5-8

• Nationwide Tour - BellSouth Panama Championship
• Panama City, Panama

February 13-14-15

• Vancouver Golf & Travel Show
• BC Place Stadium

February 20-21-22

• Victoria Golf Show
• Empress Hotel

March 1-2

• 2004 Spring Educational Seminar – ‘David Pillsbury, Nike Golf’
• BC PGA Annual General Meeting
• Empress Hotel

March 5-7

• The Seattle Golf Show 2004
• Seahawks Stadium Exhibition http://www.seattlegolfshow.com/

March 13-16

• LPGA TOUR – Welch’s/Fry’s Championship
• Tucson, Arizona

March 26-29

• Canadian Tour – Texas Classic
• Austin, Texas

And now, let us join together to raise our glasses,
tip our caps and give thanks for all the golf
we saw and games we played in 2003
and the privilege we now have
to enjoy a new season in
2004.

Auld Lang Syne - Lyrics #122BC9

Happy New Year