Weir breaks the ice for Canada and fellow left-handers

There was always something about the 67th Masters that was going to make it stand out. It turned out to be a first Canadian victory, and for a left-hander as well, instead of the history that beckoned for a third successive Tiger Woods triumph. That might have been too straightforward and the last week at Augusta National was anything but.

Mike Weir played golf only in the summer, growing up in Canada. He might hit old range balls on to an iced-over Lake Huron, but otherwise played the national sport of ice hockey. If the Masters traditionally marks the start of spring, it was at Augusta that Weir allowed Canadian golf to break the ice.

There was a surreal nature to the tournament, not least Martha Burk's campaign to force the club to change their male-only membership policy. One day, perhaps, a rich, old woman will play alongside a lot of rich, old men.

The deluges did not dampen the protesters' message, nor soften the club's stance. The weather, though, contracted the tournament to three days and added to the sense that this was a major with the fast-forward pressed down.

Woods got into the picture only in the third round. His decision to take a driver at the third hole on Sunday was a rare mental aberration which cost the world No 1 his chance of victory. He has yet to win a major from behind and for three of the four rounds looked as if he could do with a full-time coach after relieving Butch Harmon of the post last year.

The 54-hole leader, Jeff Maggert, suffered the indignity of his ball rebounding off the lip of a bunker and hitting him. That cost a two-stroke penalty and two visits to the water at the 12th meant a quintuple bogey.

Len Mattiace suffered a bogey at the last hole, but for which he would have equalled Gary Player's feat of winning with a closing round of 64. Mattiace played the round of his life but it was another little man dressed in black whose perseverance paid dividends for himself and a whole nation.

"This is a win for me and my family, but it is also a big win for Canadian golf," said Weir. "The fans have been very supportive of me and I felt I let them down last year. That was a good motivation for me and one of the reasons I came out this year to play well."

Two wins at the start of the year, to add to a couple of others in recent years achieved against the world's best players at the US Tour Championship and the AmEx World Championship, were his reward for the extra effort.

If Weir is a hero in his homeland, he is also a talisman for that minority who play the "wrong way round". The only other left-hander to win a major was Bob Charles at the Open in 1963. Phil Mickelson might have wanted to be the next lefty to win, but Weir does not notice the distinction. "When I am out there I don't think of myself as left-handed," he said. "I am a golfer."

Weir writes and plays racket sports with his right hand, but throws with his left. Mattiace is naturally left-handed but has always played right-handed while Mickelson, who finished third here for the third successive year, is right-handed but plays left. Weir wrote to Jack Nicklaus at the age of 13 to ask if he should switch to being right-handed and has the reply, which came in the negative, framed in his home.

Weir, 32, played with his friend Wayne Gretzky in the AT&T Pro-am at Pebble Beach earlier in the year. After Weir had played with Woods in the final round of the 1999 USPGA Championship at Medinah, and shot 80 as Tiger won, Gretzky phoned to offer help and advice.

Weir also learnt from the Tiger masterclass. "It was a very difficult day for me but I did observe how Tiger managed his game that day," he said. "I remember when it came to the clutch putt on the 17th how he stayed with his game. I took a lot of positives out of that day which I still use.

"A lot of hard work has gone in since that PGA," added Weir. "I have won five times in three years since then and it set me up for this week. I've tightened up my swing and worked hard on my putting. That was the difference today, I made everything inside eight feet."

If resilience is his strength, it came out in all those second putts he holed during a final 68 in which he did not drop a stroke. Mattiace, who won twice on Tour last year but was overwhelmed by finishing second here, had swept past Weir but the Canadian holed what he considered a vital 15-footer at the 13th to stay within two.

Another birdie at the 15th brought him level at seven under and then he bravely parred in. At the last his first putt came up six feet short, but that too went down. "I wouldn't wish that putt on anyone," he said.

Weir was able to walk virtually straight to the 10th tee for the first play-off since 1990. Mattiace had been on the range for 45 minutes but pulled his approach shot and finished behind a tree. He chipped out to 25 feet but raced his par-putt by and Weir had the luxury of three-putting for the only time in the day to win. "It was a gut-wrenching day, but I couldn't ask to play any better," he said.

MIKE WHO? WEIR'S LONG ROAD TO MASTERS GLORY

1970: Born Sarnia, Ontario.

1983: Aged 13, writes letter to Jack Nicklaus asking whether he should switch to playing golf right-handed. Nicklaus says to stick to his natural swing.

1992: Turns professional.

1993: Named Canadian Tour rookie of the year after winning the Infiniti Tournament Players Championship.

1997: Leads Canadian Tour order of merit after winning Pacific Open and Canadian Masters.

1999: Wins first USPGA Tour title at the Air Canada Championship.

2000: Ends the year sixth in the US money list.

2001: Becomes first Canadian to be ranked in the world's top 10 and ends the season with victory at Tour Championship, winning a play-off with Ernie Els, David Toms and Sergio Garcia.

2003: Fast start to the year with PGA Tour wins at the Bob Hope Classic and the Nissan Open.

13 April: Wins US Masters in a play-off with Len Mattiace.