Mike Weir loses tour card

[72strokes]

http://72strokes.com/2011/03/mike-weir-loses-tour-card/

 

Mike Weir loses tour card

by DEREK on MARCH 6, 2011

 

 

After receiving a medidcal exemption due to an elbow injury last year, Mike Weir had 7 events to earn $227k in order to keep his tour card for 2011. Having only made 1 cut so far this year, the Honda Classic was his last chance to hit that total. He needed to earn $216k.

 

In a perfect world he would have raced into contention on Friday and given us all a tremendous feel-good story to root for this weekend. But instead he shot a career high 85 to miss the cut. Granted, conditions have been brutal at the Honda (the cut line ended up at +5), but still an 85 is a big, big number.

 

 

It wasn't looking good for Weir this past off season when he lost his caddie of 12 years to Sean O'Hair. Players typically fire caddies, not the other way around.

 

Weir actually has 2 career money exemption that he could use to play a full schedule in 2011. But he's said that he won't use the exemptions and will instead write tournaments asking for sponsor's exemptions.

 

This has left many people scratching their heads. What does he have to gain by not using one of his exemptions for the 2011 season? My best guess, given his performance so far this season, is that he thinks that even if he were to play a full schedule this year, he's not playing well enough to earn enough money to finish inside the top 125 and keep his card.

 

So far this year he's only averaging 265yds off the tee and hitting 45% of fairways – basically almost dead last on Tour in both categories. Short and crooked is not a recipe for success in golf and it's led to him only hitting 59% GIR (172nd) and making 2.85 birdies per round (173rd).

 

Hopefully we'll see a resurgence from Weir in the near future, but it's clear that he has a lot of work to do if he wants to continue playing full-time on the PGA Tour.

 

[image Flickr/Keith Allison]

[Springbok]

S&T really messes his game up.

[72strokes]

Apparently Weir is eligible for entry into several high profile tournaments through a little known exemption due to being a 2009 Presidents Cup International Team member. While he won't be able to pick and choose where he plays, it looks like he could possibly get into 15+ tournaments before asking for sponsor's exemptions.

[TheKid]

This whole Stack and Tilt thing just doesn't seem to hold water. I guess we can add Weir to the casualty list. Who will carry Canada now?

[mizunomatt]

Didn't he dump Stack and tilt two years ago? And he had his best years using the S&T method!

[72strokes]

Didn't he dump Stack and tilt two years ago? And he had his best years using the S&T method!

 

What???? Weir switched to S&T in 2007. He won the Masters in 2003 and was ranked in the top 10 of the OWGR for 110 weeks between 2001 and 2005. He won 7 times prior to S&T. He won once (in 2007) after switching.

 

He's back working with Mike Wilson, who was his coach during his most successful years.