Weir’s Induction Is A Home Town Celebration

Considering his national profile, it seemed natural that 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir might be officially inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame during RBC Canadian Open week at Glen Abbey, where the hall is located.

“Originally, we talked about that, having it possibly around the Canadian Open,” said Weir, who already had a busy week planned at the national championship in July with the inaugural Mike Weir Charity Classic, as well as playing in the tournament.

“It would have been too much to then try to focus on the golf tournament, as well,” said Weir, who discovered that other inductees into the hall had held their induction ceremonies at their home clubs.

As a result, Weir will become the 64th member of the hall of fame this Saturday at a ceremony held at Huron Oaks in his home town of Bright’s Grove, Ont.

“That made sense to me, to have it at Huron Oaks,” he said. “Originally, I didn’t know that I could do that. When that was brought to my attention, I said let’s go to Huron Oaks and do it.

“I’m excited to have the ceremony in Bright’s Grove, at Huron Oaks. This is where it all began for me,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to share this moment with a lot of friends, family and a lot of people who have been very supportive of my career. I just thought it was, in that regard, the right thing to do,” said Weir, who says he hasn’t been around the old hood much recently, so it will be good to get.

“This past year, I didn’t get back to play at all,” he said. “They’ve been making some changes out there and probably, this time of year, I won’t be able to see the changes.

“I don’t get back as often as I’d like, but I still keep in touch. It was just a great atmosphere. I was one of the younger guys in the group that worked in the backshop and worked in the pro shop – just the characters that we had around.

“The whole atmosphere we had around there, it was a fun place to go practice and play and go to work. I was just a golf rat.

“I was just out there all the time. That’s where I wanted to be. I’m sure my parents were pretty happy about that. They didn’t have to worry about me too much in the summer,” said Weir.

These days, kids in Bright’s Grove are having fun at Mike Weir Park, which took that name the year after he won the Masters, typical of the way his home town has supported him over the years, according to Weir.

“We had a little ceremony there and that was really cool,” he said. “Some of the kids from the public school I grew up going to, they all came down and had a little pep rally kind of thing.

“The response has been fantastic,” added Weir. “It’s a tight-knit community, a hard-working community. I still stay close with a lot of my friends and it’s almost like, when we see each other, we just pick up where we left off.

“It never feels any different.”

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