HOUSTON -- It hasn't been the best week to follow Mike Weir as he struggles on and around the testy greens of the Champions Golf Club. But even as the Masters winner essentially shot himself out of the Tour Championship yesterday with a two-over par 73, his gallery has included the usual loyalists.
Like every Tour stop, Canadians seek him out. Here there was the goofy looking pair in bright red Roots Maple Leaf toques and others in Team Canada jerseys.
His father Rich has been walking with him as has Steve Bennett, his childhood teacher from Bright's Grove, Ont.
None may have been more interested (and interesting) than Weir's self-described "mental coach" Rich Gordon, however. A professor at Utah State University, Gordon has worked with Weir since 1997 and has seen his resolve grow to match his success.
Gordon is making the season-ending event one of eight house calls he makes during the season, a final mental tuneup before Weir leaves for the Presidents Cup next week.
The patient has provided the head doctor with some material this week as Weir has at times misfired the two key weapons on any course -- his putter and his driver.
Weir hit just five of 14 fairways yesterday, most of them sharply pushed to the left. With four three-putts in two days, he has all but excused himself from the Tour player of the year race barring going low in round three today.
"I've got to play better than what I am doing to do that," Weir said when asked if he could eat measurably into the 11-strokes between his three-over standing and leader Charles Howell III. "My marginal shots seem to be going to bad spots and my good shots aren't that close."
Leave it to Gordon then, to find the good from the gloom.
When he follows Weir, as he did from start to finish the past two days, Gordon isn't tracking the ball and swing as much as Weir's expressions, a window into his state of mind.
"I'm looking for reactions," Gordon said. "It doesn't matter if he is playing well or not so well. I trust my eyes. I do that with all of the athletes I work with.
"He's holding his composure well even though he's not hitting it well. He's still out there battling. That's the thing about Mike, he has so much heart."
Measuring the role of a sport psychiatrist is a dodgy prospect at best. Some would dismiss them as quacks and those who seek their counsel quackier.
Weir and Gordon have enjoyed a subtle relationship, however, one that began when the golfer sought out the teacher on the advice of his college coach, Karl Tucker.
Gordon said they hit it off right away and his job merely became the fine-tuning of Weir's focus.
"At the time we met, Mike had been working hard to get on Tour," Gordon said. "What struck me was he was a great young man with a great attitude but that perhaps he was working a little too hard mentally.
"He has a great attitude about life and that has made him easy to work with."
Besides advising golfers, Gordon is also well-known for his years of work with the U.S. track and field team. Of the many elite performances he has witnessed around the world, Gordon counts Weir's Masters triumph as one of the strongest displays of mental fortitude.
www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Sports/2003/11/08/250128.html
Like every Tour stop, Canadians seek him out. Here there was the goofy looking pair in bright red Roots Maple Leaf toques and others in Team Canada jerseys.
His father Rich has been walking with him as has Steve Bennett, his childhood teacher from Bright's Grove, Ont.
None may have been more interested (and interesting) than Weir's self-described "mental coach" Rich Gordon, however. A professor at Utah State University, Gordon has worked with Weir since 1997 and has seen his resolve grow to match his success.
Gordon is making the season-ending event one of eight house calls he makes during the season, a final mental tuneup before Weir leaves for the Presidents Cup next week.
The patient has provided the head doctor with some material this week as Weir has at times misfired the two key weapons on any course -- his putter and his driver.
Weir hit just five of 14 fairways yesterday, most of them sharply pushed to the left. With four three-putts in two days, he has all but excused himself from the Tour player of the year race barring going low in round three today.
"I've got to play better than what I am doing to do that," Weir said when asked if he could eat measurably into the 11-strokes between his three-over standing and leader Charles Howell III. "My marginal shots seem to be going to bad spots and my good shots aren't that close."
Leave it to Gordon then, to find the good from the gloom.
When he follows Weir, as he did from start to finish the past two days, Gordon isn't tracking the ball and swing as much as Weir's expressions, a window into his state of mind.
"I'm looking for reactions," Gordon said. "It doesn't matter if he is playing well or not so well. I trust my eyes. I do that with all of the athletes I work with.
"He's holding his composure well even though he's not hitting it well. He's still out there battling. That's the thing about Mike, he has so much heart."
Measuring the role of a sport psychiatrist is a dodgy prospect at best. Some would dismiss them as quacks and those who seek their counsel quackier.
Weir and Gordon have enjoyed a subtle relationship, however, one that began when the golfer sought out the teacher on the advice of his college coach, Karl Tucker.
Gordon said they hit it off right away and his job merely became the fine-tuning of Weir's focus.
"At the time we met, Mike had been working hard to get on Tour," Gordon said. "What struck me was he was a great young man with a great attitude but that perhaps he was working a little too hard mentally.
"He has a great attitude about life and that has made him easy to work with."
Besides advising golfers, Gordon is also well-known for his years of work with the U.S. track and field team. Of the many elite performances he has witnessed around the world, Gordon counts Weir's Masters triumph as one of the strongest displays of mental fortitude.
www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Sports/2003/11/08/250128.html
