Presidents Cup 2007

LORNE RUBENSTEIN, From the Globe and Mail

ÎLE-BIZARD, QUE. — The Presidents Cup is more than three months away, but things are already humming here at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, which will play host to the biennial competition between International and U.S. teams of 12 players. The field will have 24 of the world’s top players, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh.

But Royal Montreal’s members and most anybody interested in the event across Canada have one question above all: Will Mike Weir be on the International side? Weir is 17th on the list of players eligible for the International team, comprising golfers from outside the United States and Europe. Ten players will qualify for the team, while International captain Gary Player will pick the two others.

Player and U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus will be at Royal Montreal on Monday. Player will be asked, as he was during a Presidents Cup news conference in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., during the winter and again at the Masters, whether he plans to pick Weir should he not qualify for the team. There’s no reason to think Player will offer a different answer from the one he’s been giving.

Player has said he hopes Weir will qualify through his play. Should Weir not do that, Player has said he won’t pick him just because he’s Canadian. Player’s view is that Weir will have to be on an upswing if he doesn’t qualify.

Weir has time to make the team automatically, based on his world ranking through the PGA Championship in August. Given that this isn’t a sure thing, folks at this grand old club, which honours its past in so many ways, are a bit nervous.

“I hope he’ll be here,” a female member said while playing the 14th hole this week. “But he’s struggling.” Then the woman, like Weir a left-handed golfer, smacked her shot down the fairway.

Back at the starter’s hut behind the first tee, Gren Hyland had been offering a similar view of Weir.

“It would be too bad if he doesn’t make it,” he said. “I think he was one of the people involved in getting the Presidents Cup here.”

Weir talked up the event when the PGA Tour was looking for a site. Now that it’s around the corner, the action is picking up. Work on the television compound is beginning; the compound will be 6 1/2 times bigger than it was when the 2001 Canadian Open was here.

Then there’s the matter of security. A chain-link fence is being built around the Blue course, and there will be only four entrances to the property. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accepted the role of honorary chairman and will attend the opening ceremony on Sept. 26. It would be surprising if U.S. President George W. Bush made an appearance. It’s more likely that a former U.S. president would show up, if anybody from that high a position does appear. After all, it is the Presidents Cup, and U.S. leaders have attended earlier competitions.

Fan interest seems to be rising already. Some visitors on layovers in Montreal have taken cabs to the course to pick up Presidents Cup merchandise.

In the meantime, planning for the huge event continues. Architect Rees Jones has pretty well redone the course. He’s reworked it to cope with how far tour professionals are hitting the ball, but hasn’t done this with length alone.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the respect Royal Montreal pays its past. The club moved to this site in the late 1950s and has 45 holes. The original club began in 1873 and played on Fletcher’s Field in Montreal. Royal Montreal is the oldest golf club in North America. The club competes against the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in the oldest international match still going. The first match was held in 1898.

The club’s history is everywhere here, which makes a visit an enriching experience. The first Canadian Open was held at Royal Montreal in 1904. Willie Davis was the club’s first professional. Some interesting responsibilities accompanied his appointment in April of 1889.

The original notice, posted on a clubhouse wall, indicates that, for 30 cents an hour, Davis “shall carry the member’s clubs and instruct him in the game.” This gives new meaning to the term professional caddy.

Rules are rules, but things do change. The club’s members just voted to allow golfers to wear short socks rather than knee-high socks when they wear shorts. That’s progress.

But for progress that really matters come September, the members are praying that Weir will make the International team. They don’t want him to be history. They want him to make history, at a club that’s all about history.