Woods played a part in Weir win

Masters champion Mike Weir today revealed how he learnt an important lesson from the man who presented him with his green jacket.

Weir claimed his first major title on Sunday at Augusta with victory on the first play-off hole against Len Mattiace after the pair had finished tied on seven under par.

The Canadian left-hander’s only previous top 10 finish in a major championship was at the 1999 USPGA championship, but that was not a happy experience for the 32-year-old from Ontario.

Playing with Tiger Woods in the last group in the final round, Weir crashed to a closing 80 and a share of 10th place, and was reduced to the role of a mere spectator as Woods and a 19-year-old Sergio Garcia fought out a thrilling battle for the title.

However, while battling with his own game at Medinah that Sunday, Weir was still paying close attention to the way his playing partner coped with the pressure of trying to win a major title.

“It was a very difficult day for me then, but at the same time I did observe how Tiger managed his victory there,” said Weir, who carded a flawless final round 68 to catch clubhouse leader Mattiace before a bogey five was good enough to win the play-off.

“I remember the clutch putt he made on 17 and how he really stayed with his game. I took a lot in that day even though it was a tough day for me, I still took a lot of positives out of there.

“I’m a much different player now than I was back then. I’m much more experienced and my game’s a lot different, I think it’s more well-rounded.

“Back then I was coming out of the qualifying school the year before and I was in the final group of a major. I was probably a little out of my element. I wasn’t prepared to handle it.

“A lot of hard work has gone in since then. I worked a lot on my swing to tighten that up and make it more consistent. And I worked very hard on my putting and that was the difference on Sunday. I

made literally all my putts inside eight feet, and at the PGA that year I don’t think I made one of them.”

A few days after that final round at Medinah, Weir also received a phone call from Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who offered his support and advice and the two have since become good friends.

Ice hockey remains the national sport in Canada, and may have claimed Weir instead of golf if he had been taller than 5ft 9in, but Weir hopes becoming the first Canadian to win a major will do wonders for the game in his native country.

“This is a win for me and my family, but it is a big win for Canadian golf and the fans that have been very supportive of me,” added Weir.

“Hopefully some of the younger kids in Canada will take a passion for the game and I take pride in that.

“I think the programmes and development of golf in Canada are getting better. Hopefully I have a little influence on that.

“I was really just a summer golfer until I went to Brigham Young University. I would play hockey through the winter and spring and then play golf in the summer.

“It was just a seasonal sport and I didn’t work too hard in the off season although my dad did put a net in our garage to hit balls. We’d fish the balls out of the pond at our local golf course and save those and on a decent day in the winter we would go pound them into the lake.”

Weir is only the second left-handed golfer to win a major after Bob Charles’ Open victory in 1963, but ironically is right-handed in most other areas and as a 13-year-old wrote to Jack Nicklaus asking him if he should change to playing golf right-handed as well.

“I’m mixed up,” admitted Weir, who had already won two titles on the US Tour this year, including a play-off win over Charles Howell III in the Nissan Open.

“I write with my right hand, play racket sports with my right, but I throw with my left and serve tennis with my left, but play with my right.

“I did write to Jack when I was 13 and he wrote back and said stick to your natural swing and I still have that letter in my office and Jack and I have reminisced about that letter.

“Even when I was starting junior golf the equipment issue was a bit of a factor. That was a tough thing. Now it’s not an issue and I think you’ll see more left-handed golfers. Fathers in the past changing their sons to right-handed I think is no longer an issue.”

Ironically, the man Weir beat in the play-off, 35-year-old Mattiace, is left-handed but plays golf right-handed, while third-placed Phil Mickelson is right-handed but plays golf left-handed.

It was that kind of strange Masters, with the first day’s play washed out, planned protests about women members falling flat, and Tiger Woods failing to win when in contention.

Woods began Sunday’s final round just four shots off the lead and quickly cut the gap to three with a birdie on the second.

However, the world number one then double-bogeyed the third when trying to drive the green, struggling to a closing round of 75 for a two over total of 290, his worst in seven appearances as a professional at Augusta.

It meant Woods, who finished nine shots behind Mike Weir and Len Mattiace - Weir winning on the first hole of a play-off – joins Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo in failing in the attempt to win an unprecedented three Masters in a row.

All eight of Woods’ major victories have come when he led or shared the lead going into the final round, and he has now failed to win any of the four times he has been in contention with 18 holes to go.

He trailed by five shots and came up short behind close friend Mark O’Meara in the 1998 Open at Birkdale, and briefly shared the lead after 70 holes of the 1999 US Open before faltering and losing out to the late Payne Stewart.

He then made consecutive bogeys on the back nine before closing with four straight birdies to lose by a shot to Rich Beem at the 2002 USPGA Championship.