Mike Weir Voted Canada's 'Most Influential Person in Golf'

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1 FEATURE Top of the Leaderboard by Bob Weeks Mike Weir Voted Canada's 'Most Influential Person in Golf' While the sun was shining down providing glorious temperature, and waves crashed mere metres from where he stood, Mike Weir was trying to concentrate on putting a little white ball into a hole in the ground. On this day, he would manage to do it in just 63 strokes, tying the course record at the Waialae Country Club golf course in Hawaii and taking the lead at the Mercedes Championship. At the time, Weir probably wasn't even remotely aware of the fact that a few thousand miles away, the golf fans of an entire nation were riveted to their television sets, watching their favourite native son pour it on. Weir's performance on this day and similar ones over the past three years has spurred a small revolution in the game in Canada. When he's near the top of the leaderboard, television ratings in Canada soar. When he plays at home, crowds surge. When he talks, people listen and when he wins, a nation rejoices. Such is the influence of Weir, named this country's top athlete for the past two years running. Despite the fact that he doesn't live in Canada anymore and that he only plies his trade on his home soil for a few weeks a year, he has become the leading figure in Canadian golf. So high is his profile, an Internet poll conducted by Golfmax.ca on behalf of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada ranked Weir as the most influential person in the Canadian golf industry. Dennis Conly, Managing Director of Golfmax Inc. that owns and operates the site, had the pleasure of meeting and congratulating Weir on the recent designation, and noted that Weir was flattered to be acknowledged in this way. "He recognizes that this is about more than his ability to play the game," states Conly, "The owners, operators and suppliers to the Canadian golf industry think he is having the most influence on the game. That's a big vote of confidence." As Weir told Golf Business Canada, "It's a great honour. Anytime you're recognized like this, it means a lot, especially coming from a group so involved in the game in Canada." In a country with the highest golf participation in the world (over 20 per cent play) and a player base of over 5.2 million golfers (Source: 1999 RCGA Golf Participation Survey), Weir has become a figurehead not only for his play, but also for what he represents to Canadian golf. His success story has touched

2 many areas of the game, from participation at public golf courses to sales of equipment. And in many ways, Weir is not even cognizant of the effect he has. "It's tough for me to see or tell what impact I have on the business side of golf," he said, shortly after his 14th place finish at the Mercedes Championship. "But hopefully I'm affecting it in a positive way. Like Taylor Made, I hope that my deal with them will help them sell clubs. It's definitely flattering to think that there's an effect." The Taylor Made deal to which the ever- gracious Weir is referring was one struck last year between the golfer and the clubmaker. It was a departure for the left-hander from Bright's Grove, Ontario, who was somewhat hesitant to get locked into a deal which required he play a certain brand of club. But he gained confidence with the Taylor Made staff and the reported sponsorship of $1 million (U.S.) a year also helped to sway him. While the deal is with Taylor Made's head office in Carlsbad, California, and will see him marketed internationally, Taylor Made Canada knows there will be huge benefits to having Weir in their marketing efforts north of the border. "We're hoping Mike will spike the needle for us," said Keith DeGrace, marketing manager for Taylor Made Canada. "We know that he's the No.1 name in Canadian golf and people will want to play what Mike is playing." In some ways, being the lone Canadian among the top-ranked players in the world is a huge benefit. Weir not only gets the adulation of fans from across an entire nation, but also benefits corporately. "There are not many of us from Canada on the Tour so you get a lot of attention," he admitted. "In the U.S. there are a lot of guys and only a certain number of companies putting money into golf, so it's really tough for the mid-level players." Sponsorship and endorsements can be a double-edged sword for a professional golfer. While they provide guaranteed income to someone who receives none from playing, they can also take away from a player's time on the course and with his family. Weir has been exceedingly careful since his early days on the Canadian Tour, putting his wife and two daughters as well as his practice time ahead of corporate affairs. "The biggest problem for Mike is time," states Dan Cimeroni, Weir's agent from the International Management Group in Toronto. "Mike is very committed to his family and his golf, so trying to find the time for more is tough. He'll routinely turn down offers of $100,000 (U.S.) for a day of golf because he'd rather spend that time at home with his family."

3 According to Cimeroni, Weir has a comfortable stable of endorsements that include Bell Canada, Taylor Made, Canali, Bushnell/Serengetti, Upper Deck, Microsoft Links and the Globe and Mail. There are also two other companies tied into the Weir circle: Weir Golf, which makes Mike Weir-autographed items (It's run by the golfer's former caddie, Dan Keogh.), and Mike Weir.com, a web site operated by Mike's brother, Jim. "We have a pretty specific plan mapped out. It's not really as much of a science as you think," said Cimeroni. "There are two sides to the approach. There's the corporate side with image and presence, and a touchy-feely side, where people can get Mike Weir items, such as hats or head covers." Cimeroni says Weir gets thousands of requests every year to attach his name to all sorts of products and programs, but he's very guarded about venturing forth. And he has a certain luxury to be able to do that. "If we didn't do any other deal for the rest of this year, Mike could live very comfortably," says Cimeroni. While Cimeroni and the IMG staff handle most of the sponsorship details, Weir has begun to get more involved. "Earlier on in my career I focused on getting on Tour," said Weir, "but now that I'm more established, I feel a little more confident turning my attent ion to business matters. I can take time to deal with them." One area to which he'd eventually like to turn his eye would be course design. Acknowledging that he's already had requests, Weir said that he would probably wait until the right opportunity comes along. "When I was a kid, I used to draw out golf courses on paper all the time," he said. "But I don't think you'd want to turn one of those into reality - they were all about 8,000 yards long and really tough." Whatever length the course they play on, Weir hopes that if there is anything he's influencing in Canada, it's getting kids to play the game, although he realizes one of the biggest problems for them can be cost. "I think what some people pay to play golf in the big cities can be restrictive for kids so I think it's important that we help them get access," he stated. "I know my charity tournament in Sarnia raised $100,000 and $25,000 of that was given to disadvantaged kids, not only for golf equipment but hockey equipment - whatever we could give to ensure these kids had a chance to participate."

4 Weir realizes that every junior player who puts a tee in the ground improves golf in Canada in the future. And he knows he may have an influence there, too. "I don't know if I cause people to play golf," he said. "I hope so. Especially kids. I hope that maybe someone watching me on television will see that if a kid can come out of a small town in Southwestern Ontario and make it to the PGA Tour, then they can too." Weir is currently involved in the RCGA Future Links program, which pairs together top amateur players with Tour professionals in a mentorship program designed to prepare up and coming golfers for the realities of life as a professional. Last year he was also the keynote speaker at the Canadian Amateur championship dinner. It's easy to imagine that Weir's influence over Canadian golf is only going to increase. As his play improves, he'll draw more attention from various sectors of the golf community. But through it all, Cimeroni is quick to reinforce one important point. "The best part about Mike Weir is that he's still a great guy from a small town," he said. "That hasn't left him at all." Golf Industry Casts It's Vote Throughout the month of November, over 2000 registered members of Golfmax.ca Business Links were invited to participate in a unique online survey. They were asked to express their opinion on who were the top ten most influential people in the Canadian golf industry. First, nominations were solicited. Over fifty were received. No one was excluded from eligibility and, not surprisingly, the nominees represented a broad spectrum of talent and industry background. Suffice it to say that without these fifty people, the Canadian golf industry would be greatly diminished. Choose, click and submit. That's how approximately four hundred people registered their votes online, up to one hour before the results were announced at the first annual Golf Business Conference and Trade Show held in late November in Toronto. Mike Weir, Canada's "Top Athlete" for two years in succession, surfaced as the chosen leader of this survey. As Dennis Conly, Managing Director of Golfmax Inc. and its website states: "It was exciting for us to sponsor this somewhat pioneering experiment in golf industry opinion surveying. We want to thank all the participants, and we look forward to doing similar surveys in the near future." Congratulations to Mike Weir on this designation.

5 RESULTS: Top Ten Most Influential People in the Golf Industry Top Five 1. Mike Weir (CPGA Professional) 2. Lori Kane (LPGA Professional) 3. Jeff Calderwood (Executive Director, NGCOA Canada) 4. Bruce Simmonds (CEO, Clublink Corporation) 5. Lorne Rubenstein (Golf Writer) 6th to 10th (in alphabetical order) Scott Atkinson (President, NGCOA Canada) Robbie Hellstrom (Management Consultant) Stephen Ross (Executive Director, RCGA) Mark Seabrook (Past-President, NGCOA Canada) Bob Weeks (SCORE Golf) Honourable Mention: Five individuals came very close to finding themselves in the top ten. They are: Jacques Burelle (Commissioner, Canadian Tour) Graham Cooke (Golf Course Architect) Stephen Johnston (National Director, KPMG Golf Industry Practice) Moe Norman (Golf Personality) Doug Roxburgh (Director, Player Development, RCGA)