Sarnia's Mike Weir is preparing to start a new chapter in his professional golf career.
The eight-time PGA Tour winner and 2003 Masters Champion plans to play a full schedule on the PGA Champions senior tour when he turns 50 next May.
"Until then I'll play a couple of PGA Tour events, some Korn Ferry Tour events, formerly known as the Web.Com Tour, and just try to stay sharp," said Weir.
The Bright's Grove native turned pro in 1992 and played his first PGA Tour event in 1998.
Weir said the future of Canadian golf looks bright.
"We've got some guys doing some good things -- Corey Conners won this year, Adam Hadwin also won, we've got Ben Silverman out there, Adam Svensson who's a great player, we got Nick Taylor, and then there's guys right in line behind them in the top amateur ranks that are very talented players, it's just tougher than ever to get out there," said Weir.
"In my era, we only had two or three Canadians on tour at a time and maybe four one year, so now we have seven or eight guys out there, so that's great. Then Brooke Henderson is a dominant player on the LPGA Tour -- she's fantastic, she's doing great things and playing great golf out there at such a young age. So I think the status of Canadian golf is very good and I see it continuing to get stronger and stronger as the years go on."
Weir said the sport is more competitive than ever.
"It's more of a power game than ever before, and yeah, it's harder for these young guys to break through. We have some really talented players in Canada, and it's harder and harder for them to get out there and show that they do have the talent."
The Mike Weir Foundation also recently launched a campaign to raise money for a youth mental health facility in Sarnia-Lambton. He wants to raise at least $400,000 through the Chip-In-Challenge for Mental Health.
