Sarnias Own Mike Weir

The 2003 Masters Tournament got off to a disastrous start. Thursday began with rain coming down in buckets. The forecast for the rest day was pretty glum, looked like an all day rain so the officials decided to cancel the rest of the day with a promise to begin the tournament Friday morning. Thus the playing of the 67th Masters Tournament went into the history books as being rain-delayed.

Friday dawned and the tournament began its first round of play at 7 a.m. with the competitors teeing off on the 1st and 10th holes simultaneously. Darren Clark, posted a 6 under par for the first round posting a score of 66. It was truly an impressive score as only seven players earned under par scores for the first day numbers. Sergio Garcia and Ricky Barnes, 2002 U.S. Amateur Champ were tied for second spot while 3 time major champion, Nick Price posted a two-under 70 which left him tied for fourth place with Mike Weir. Meanwhile the twice defending and 3 time Masters Champion Tiger Woods, was lost in the pack. A disappointing ten strokes back at the end of the first round.

Golfers began teeing off at 2:00 p.m. Friday to begin round 2 of the Masters. Again starting at the 1st and 10th holes. It proved to be another extremely tough day. Mike Weir accomplished a 4 stroke lead after completing 18 holes of play. Only 16 out of 93 players managed to post a sub par score at the end of the second round of play. The cut line was set at +5. Colin Montgomerie was the biggest name to miss the cut.

On Saturday, Mike Weir shot a three over 75 to slide back to 3 under which placed him all alone in second place. Phil Mickelson, José María Olazábal and Tiger Woods wound up in a three-way tie for fifth place. So on the evening of the third day the final line-up for the race for the prestigious green jacket looked like this

1. Jeff Maggert USA -5
2. Mike Weir Canada -3
3. Vijay Singh Fiji -2 David Toms USA -2
4. Phil Mickelson USA -1 José María Olazábal Spain -1 Tiger Woods USA -1​

The final round on Sunday ended in a draw between Len Mattiace of the USA and the Canadian Mike Weir.

The sudden death playoff hole began on the 10th Tee. Mikes bogie on the tenth was sufficient to win him the coveted green jacket as Mattiace had a double bogie. Winning of the 2003, 67th Masters Tournament not only gave Mike Weir a very handsome payday of $1,080,000 but he became the only Canadian golfer to win a Major Golfing Tournament. He was also the first ever left-handed golfer to win the Masters. Well done Mike Weir you have provided Sarnia with yet another first.