AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s Tuesday night in Augusta and I’m at a champions’ dinner.
Not that one. But on the 10th occasion of Mike Weir’s annual Masters-week fête, there was no place I’d rather be.
The 20th anniversary of Weir’s Masters triumph is this year. The Canadian from a tiny town who is tiny in stature but big on belief and who took down the world’s best in 2003 to notch this country’s biggest global golfing achievement is celebrating the platinum anniversary of having Tiger Woods slip a Green Jacket onto his arms.
And this year marked the 10th time Weir’s friends, family, and colleagues got together at a house near the most iconic golf course in the world to share stories, a nice meal, plenty of wine, and memories of the week everything changed for their guy, Weirsy. They call it the Green Jacket Dinner because that’s the only requirement at this table. Find a green coat from Goodwill or Amazon or any shop you deem appropriate and raise a glass to a friend.
“Mike is part of the greatest fraternity in the world (as a Masters winner),” says Rafe Connors, a relative newbie to the Tuesday dinner group, “but this is pretty good, too.”
Connors, the most well-known heart surgeon in Utah (where Weir, 52, now calls home) attended his first ‘Green Jacket Dinner’ in 2018. That year they rented linens and tables and silverware and ate on the rental-home’s driveway. It was the best.
The texts for the dinner, he says, start about a month before. Weir’s brother, Jim, helps to spearhead most of the planning and logistics while Weir’s first swing coach, Steve Bennett (the ‘Gov,’ as he’s better known) is the cook.
And Bennett isn’t messing around in the kitchen.
“This is the best eating week of the year,” says Connors.
Indeed, Monday at the house is ‘Gov Burgers’ while Tuesday is the dinner. Wednesday is Mexican. Thursday is pasta and Friday is ribs, although that could switch depending on when Weir’s tee times are. Saturday is chicken parmesan. The home they’ve got this year — a new spot about 20 minutes from the course — looks like Joanna Gaines designed a frat house. A couple cases of wine, well-appointed liquor selections, and dozens of cigars sit on a marble countertop. The shopping was done on the weekend and the receipt was as long as Bennett is tall. He proudly shows it off and relishes his role in the kitchen. He rarely, if ever, actually sits to enjoy the Tuesday dinner. In 2004, for Weir’s real Champions Dinner, he brought in childhood friend and chef Alastair Mackay to help cook a Canadian-inspired menu including rack of Elk, Arctic char, and Niagara ice wine (some of which was donated to Augusta National’s wine cellar, which, according to Jim Weir, has three levels of face recognition).
These days, the menu on Tuesday at Weir’s Green Jacket Dinner is elevated and classy. Weir’s got his own namesake beer in Canada now, Weir Beer, with cases driven across the border for this week. Juicy California cabernet sauvignon was on offer, along with crisp Italian pinot grigio. “The 2023 Green Jacket Dinner Honouring Mike Weir and Celebrating the 20th Anniversary” started with green salad and honey balsamic and shrimp cocktail (served in dollar-store goblets from Canada). The main saw grilled asparagus and broiled parmesan tomatoes served alongside beef tenderloin with creamy horseradish and the ‘ultimate’ twice-baked potato. Banana chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream, dubbed the ‘Amen Corner’ was dessert.
It’s good to have a heart-surgeon friend.
The crew has fluctuated in size over the years. The dinner has gone on for 12 years, but two were skipped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s the heart surgeon and long-time friends from Canada and Utah. Weir’s caddie, Olly Brett, showed up, along with his agent, George Sourlis. Corey Conners’ caddie, Danny Sahl, and his partner, Mandy (who works in sales for Weir’s fiancée, Michelle), were there, too. One attendee, Jeff Kraemer, works in sales now, but he topped Weir at the Canadian Amateur when they were youngsters.
And if you think for one second he lets Weir forget that, you would be sorely mistaken.
Weir will usually show up after the real Tuesday dinner, often to share stories of what just went down. In 2022, Tom Cochrane (he of Life is a Highway fame) came and played a few tunes. When he got to the chorus of Big League you were hard-pressed to find a dry eye in that backyard. Especially with Weir’s parents in the audience.
“My boy’s going to play in the big league/my boy’s going to turn some heads/my boy’s going to play in the big league/my boy’s going to knock ‘em dead.”
It’s hard to believe, even now, Jim Weir admits, that his brother won the Masters. The freaking Masters.
“He did it,” says Jim. “It doesn’t seem like 20 years.”
Indeed, the two decades have gone by in a flash. Mike Weir is still as competitive as ever. He’s a winner on PGA Tour Champions and spent seven(!) hours on the driving range Monday at Augusta National trying to work through a few equipment things. He carries four wedges on the over-50 circuit, according to Weir’s caddie — who was a dinner attendee for the first time as they just began working together in January — but needs more longer clubs at Augusta, which tips out over 7,500 yards.
Weir continues to be regaled with where-were-you stories from that memorable week in 2003 by Canadian fans, but he loves to have those moments shared with him.
“That’s pretty special that they still remember it as vividly as I do,” Weir tells me.
Broadcaster Jim Nantz has never attended Weir’s dinner (although I’m sure he would make a fine guest), but he was as big a part of the 2003 victory for Canadians as anyone else. His call, ‘And the Green Jacket… is going north of the border… Mike Weir… has won the Masters…” will go down in Canadian golfing history as the most memorable of lines.
Nantz knew Weir’s win was “deeply meaningful” to everyone in Canada.
“When there is history being made,” Nantz tells me, “I’ve always felt the narrative that accompanies the video clip should somehow frame the moment.”
Twenty years on, Weir’s influence can still be felt amongst the Canadians who tee it up at the Masters. Each of Adam Svensson, Mackenzie Hughes, and Conners were on the cusp of deciding that golf was going to be the thing they were going to do with their lives when Weir donned the Green Jacket. The guys who aren’t here, like Taylor Pendrith, Nick Taylor, and Adam Hadwin, say the same — Weir was a constant inspiration.
This little dinner, however, makes Weir feel normal enough, if only for a fleeting few hours during the most iconic golfing week of the year.
The stories make you laugh. The memories are Georgia-peach sweet. The food is the ultimate compliment to the moment. During a week built on the back of tradition, this Canadian crew celebrating one of their own — on a special anniversary, no less — is a moment they all can’t wait for. Including the Masters winner himself.
“It’s become a tradition I really look forward to,” Weir tells me. “The Masters is my favourite event of the year, and it obviously means a lot to me and to have close friends and family gather in such a unique and fun way makes the week that much more enjoyable.”
I decline one last glass of wine before heading out. The group has taken to calling me ‘Reporter’ (with a laugh, the guys think it was because Bennett forgot my name and called me that during dinner), which is fine. Everyone’s got a nickname in this group. Weir is just ‘Weirsy,’ and at this table he’s one of the guys, because they all had their green jackets on, too.