There has been a Mike Weir sighting on the PGA Tour. As a Canadian, it was great to see Weir back in contention on the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson. He did not seem to drive the ball particularly well, but his iron play and putting seemed pretty much like it was 10 years ago (or at least 5 years ago before he started having his elbow problems).
I am a few years younger than Mike, and I remember him at some junior tournaments that I played in. While I was busy trying not to finish last, Weir was busy winning. I remember him winning the Brantford Golf Club Junior Invitational, he seemed to be half the size of some of the other players in his division, Everyone cheered when he was announced the winner, showing what a good guy he was even as a kid.
Back to the Nelson, Weir’s performance moved him up in thebestdamngolfsiteperiod.com’s Power Rankings from 1505 to 111, which is quite a jump. Brendon Todd, the tournament winner, rose up to 39th.
A little bit about our Power Rankings. Players get points based on how they perform in tournaments on the U.S. PGA Tour, European Tour, and LPGA Tour. These rankings are much more dynamic than the Official World Golf Rankings in that only the last six events played in are used in the calculations. Our Power Rankings reward consistent strong play, as evidenced by players at and near the top. In case you are wondering, Tiger Woods is currently ranked 271 (out of 1972 players) and Mickelson is tied for 223 (with Nick O’Hern). Miguel Angel Jiminez is ranked 10th.
The Power Rankings have been around for about 10 years, but this is the first year I have included the European and LPGA Tours.
On the LPGA, Lizette Salas broke through to win the Kingsmill Championship, moving her up to 49th in the Power Rankings. In case you don’t know who Lizette Salas is, I didn’t know either until she appeared on School of Golf earlier this year. The show was mainly about putting (if I remember correctly) and she said her big improvement in her putting was because of The Putting Arc. I find School of Golf to be great show that always had great tips (and I am sure it will get its own blog post).
One of the great things about the LPGA is when players have breakthrough wins there are usually a number of fellow golfers who are already finished that come out to the 18th hole and shower the winner with beer (or some other beverage). It shows how the players on the LPGA seem to be happy for each other’s successes.
As for my own game, I played at Savannah Golf Links in Cambridge Ontario on Saturday morning. It was pretty cool out, roughly 50 F, but it was comfortable because the wind was not very strong (roughly half a club) and we were walking the course. I am not a fan of golf carts.
Savannah is a shorter course, being only 6200 yards from the back tees, but it’s a fun course to play and has some tricky holes. The second hole is a 600 yard par 5, and the ninth hole is a tough par 5 where you drive into an angled fairway that is so narrow that you almost have to walk single file (this is my go-to line for a narrow hole).
I only hit a handful of good shots, and I lost two balls (the second being on the final hole as I hit a pull hook off the tee out of bounds). Double-bogey on the final hole to shoot 80 left was a poor way to end a good day up to that point.
This week is the Colonial. It will be interesting to see how Adam Scott does this week as the top-ranked player in the world according to the official rankings (he is 33rd in our rankings).