A Canadian Condition?
Well, not a great topic for my first golf post, but here goes. Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters Champion and, with apologies to Stephen Ames, Canada's main golf representative on the PGA Tour for almost a decade, started Sunday's round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at 17 under par. He finished the day at -11, shooting a 78 at Pebble Beach.
Now, most of us would kill for a 78 anywhere, let alone Pebble Beach. But for Weir, who had averaged almost 6 under par the first 3 rounds, to go 6 over Sunday is close to unbelievable. In fact, you'd never get anyone to predict he would balloon like that, especially playing with a player who had never won before Sunday.
Or would you? Weir has not won a tournament since the 2004 Nissan Open. He's had some last-round meltdowns before, the most devastating one being the 2004 Bell Canadian Open, which would've made Weir even more of a Canadian icon than he already is. After this performance, you'd have to wonder if Weir will be a lock to win one tournament a year like he has in the past. Is his best golf already behind him?
Or is this condition one that seems to be inherent to Canadians? Are Canadians able to handle being the favourites in an event? Jennifer Heil did the job in women's moguls on Saturday (congratulations!), but so far she's our only Olympian to come through. Even Canada's only other medal after 3 days, Cindy Klassen's bronze, seemed somewhat disappointing, as two Dutch skaters who had not performed very well in World Cup races this season edged her out. Jeremy Wotherspoon, a gold medal favourite in the men's 500 meters, wasn't even low Canadian, finishing 9th to Michael Ireland's 7th.
Even in sports where Canada is a clear power, such as curling, we're experiencing difficulties. Shannon Kleibrink is a great curler, and ran into an extremely strong Sweden team today. I don't expect her to finish worse than 2nd in the round robin. However, Sweden didn't seem to let their role as Sports Illustrated's favourite for gold get to them.
Why is it that Canada can't seem to have its biggest performers come up big consistently when it counts? It seems for every Wayne Gretzky, Miriam Bedard, Gataen Boucher and Catrina LeMay-Doan, there are several Jeremy Wotherspoons. Is it an identity crisis? An inner feeling of inferiority? Or something in my imagination?
Let me also be the first to congratulate Michael Ireland and Arne Dankers for their personal bests in their races. Personally I consider their performances exceptional. However, they don't translate to the medal count.
All I can say is, if Canada's Winter Olympic medal count is under 20 at the end, the Own The Podium program is going to need a lot of work before 2010. And there will be a lot of high ranking officials who will have questions to answer, something which seems to happen regularly when Canadians are involved in high-level competition.
Now, most of us would kill for a 78 anywhere, let alone Pebble Beach. But for Weir, who had averaged almost 6 under par the first 3 rounds, to go 6 over Sunday is close to unbelievable. In fact, you'd never get anyone to predict he would balloon like that, especially playing with a player who had never won before Sunday.
Or would you? Weir has not won a tournament since the 2004 Nissan Open. He's had some last-round meltdowns before, the most devastating one being the 2004 Bell Canadian Open, which would've made Weir even more of a Canadian icon than he already is. After this performance, you'd have to wonder if Weir will be a lock to win one tournament a year like he has in the past. Is his best golf already behind him?
Or is this condition one that seems to be inherent to Canadians? Are Canadians able to handle being the favourites in an event? Jennifer Heil did the job in women's moguls on Saturday (congratulations!), but so far she's our only Olympian to come through. Even Canada's only other medal after 3 days, Cindy Klassen's bronze, seemed somewhat disappointing, as two Dutch skaters who had not performed very well in World Cup races this season edged her out. Jeremy Wotherspoon, a gold medal favourite in the men's 500 meters, wasn't even low Canadian, finishing 9th to Michael Ireland's 7th.
Even in sports where Canada is a clear power, such as curling, we're experiencing difficulties. Shannon Kleibrink is a great curler, and ran into an extremely strong Sweden team today. I don't expect her to finish worse than 2nd in the round robin. However, Sweden didn't seem to let their role as Sports Illustrated's favourite for gold get to them.
Why is it that Canada can't seem to have its biggest performers come up big consistently when it counts? It seems for every Wayne Gretzky, Miriam Bedard, Gataen Boucher and Catrina LeMay-Doan, there are several Jeremy Wotherspoons. Is it an identity crisis? An inner feeling of inferiority? Or something in my imagination?
Let me also be the first to congratulate Michael Ireland and Arne Dankers for their personal bests in their races. Personally I consider their performances exceptional. However, they don't translate to the medal count.
All I can say is, if Canada's Winter Olympic medal count is under 20 at the end, the Own The Podium program is going to need a lot of work before 2010. And there will be a lot of high ranking officials who will have questions to answer, something which seems to happen regularly when Canadians are involved in high-level competition.
posted by Irrelevant at 1:53 PM
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