While former Masters champion Mike Weir is happy to compete on the European Tour the Canadian is determined to elbow his way back to playing full time on the PGA Tour.
Weir, 41 joins a number of fellow Major winners and former PGA Tour players to have joined the European Tour this season including Todd Hamilton, Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem.
Beem has joined Weir in Spain for this week’s Andalucian Open being staged on the Aloha course near Marbella.
It’s Weir’s first visit back to Spain since capturing the 2000 WGC – American Express Championship at Valderrama.
But while Weir has won eight times in PGA Tour counting events, including the 2003 Masters, the Utah-based Canadian has endured a wretched period since tearing a ligament in his right elbow and then undergoing an operation early in 2010.
Weir commenced 2011 on a major medical exemption, which meant he would have to earn the difference between his 2010 earnings and $786,977 that was the figure earned by the player who finished 125th on the Tour’s money list) in five starts to retain full Tour status.
However that did not work out as Weir’s injuries continued through last year.
His 2012 season has seen Weir miss the cut in all three of his PGA Tour events this year including the recent Honda Classic.
And that comes on top of last year when Weir played in 15 Tour events but made the cut in just two and that was finishing well down in 70th place in the AT & T National.
Weir’s last top-10 in finishing in a share of sixth in his first event of 2010, the Bob Hope Classic.
“Coming off this injury I still want to play and I want to play more,” he said.
“I’ve been practicing for a few months now but you can only practice so much as you want to test your game by competing.
“I wasn’t in the Transitions in Tampa Bay this week so that’s why I’ve come to Europe because I am playing in Arnold Palmer’s event next week and that gives me two events before returning to Augusta.”
In capturing the 2003 Masters, Weir became only the second left-hander in 40 years to win a Major after New Zealand’s Bob Charles won the 1963 British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Weir’s Augusta success is also still the first and only Major win by a Canadian.
And while Weir continues submitting invitations to compete on the PGA Tour, he will have to be afforded similar invitations if he’s to contest the minimum of 13 to retain European Tour membership.
“I am going to try hard to play the minimum number in Europe as I will come back over in May and play a few leading up to the Open Championship,” he said.
“It all depends also the invitations I receive to play in Europe.
“But being back in Spain this week as a member of the European Tour is like a new chapter in my career.
“My two girls are now 14 and 11 years old so while I wanted to be close to home when they were younger, they’re now saying to me, ‘Dad, just go and play as you’re driving us crazy’.
“But as much I am delighted to be here back in Spain my goal to still to get back full time on the PGA Tour.“
And Weir disclosed that until his elbow is fully healed he’s had to reduce the amount of time he spends practicing on the range.
“It means I have to watch the number of golf balls I hit and when I used to maybe hit a couple of hundred balls on the range, I’m now down to about 50 to 70 balls,” he said.
“It’s going to be another year yet before the tendon lengthens out and it’s fully healed but in comparison to last year it’s 100% better.
“But I’ve accepted my plight and if I have to ask for an invitation to compete then I don’t mind that, and that’s golf I guess.
“When I look back it took me six years playing mini tours, the Canadian Tour and in places like Australia to get where I was at on the PGA Tour.
“I started as a pro in ’92 and first played on the PGA Tour in ’98 so I am used to having to dig my way out of things.
“There’s at least one event in a few weeks that I know I am playing and that’s nice to circle on the calendar every year.”
