In Defence of the Masters.

This article looks at professional golfer Mike Weir. It was neary when Mike Weir drove out the gates of Augusta National Golf Club last April 13. There aren't many things Canadian golf fans don't know about Weir's historic Sunday at Augusta National. It's been a wild ride for the man from Bright's Grove, Ont. The night after his Masters win, a sellout crowd at the Air Canada Centre for a Toronto-Philadelphia playoff game gave him a thunderous standing ovation. With the help of Sarnia, Ont., chef Alastair Mackay, an old pal, Weir chose an all-Canadian-ingredients menu that includes lobster and wild boar canapes, asparagus salad, roasted rack of caribou with sour cherry and parsnip compote and wild berry sabayon for dessert, accompanied by Okanagan wines and five-per-cent beer. So it's not surprising that offshore bookmakers rate Weir the sixth-best bet at Augusta, preferring the chances of Woods, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh--long hitters on what, after several renovations, is a very long golf course.