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Masters appearance in jeopardy for Weir as injury bug bites again

Masters appearance in jeopardy for Weir as injury bug bites again

The immediate concern is that Canada's most accomplished golfer will not be able to tee it up at the Masters this year, the course that took his career to another level.

But the nagging thought when Mike Weir walked off the course at the Honda Classic on Thursday morning was that this might be the end of his days as a serious competitor on the PGA Tour.

Continuing wrist and elbow woes, which have plagued the left-hander for years, may simply be too much to overcome for the 44-year-old native of Brights Grove, Ont.

It was apparent that Weir was fighting pain as he tried to play his first round at the Honda Classic, a scene that's become all too familiar. After hitting his tee shot on the par-four 11th hole at the PGA National course in Palm Beach, Fla., Weir grimaced in pain and then walked over and shook the hands of his playing partners before heading to the clubhouse for medical treatment.

It was his second straight withdrawal. He pulled out during the second round of the Northern Trust Open last week with similar woes.

He was obviously frustrated.

“I'm not going to hit another ball until I get this figured out,” Weir told Score Golf's Lorne Rubenstein. He told Rubenstein he had experienced pain in his surgically repaired right elbow hitting out of the rough on the first-round fourth hole and that things got worse from there.

“I can't swing the way I want to,” Weir said. “I like to have a cup in my right wrist, and I can't do that.”

Weir said his problems last week stemmed from overuse as he worked hard on the practice range. No one's sure what caused Thursday's woes, but he's been having problems off and on with the elbow tendon that was surgically repaired in 2011.

The comeback from that injury has been a long and rocky one.

Since then, he's shown flashes of his old self but those flashes have mostly been short-lived.

While Weir has had his troubles of late, things looked even worse on Thursday. He was 6-over par after 10 holes and looking something less than comfortable.

No one's saying this is the end for Weir, but the signs are ominous, especially for a guy his age.

Things haven't looked too promising this season. He has missed the cut in six of eight events and has now withdrawn in two others. He's 176th in the FedEx Cup standings, a bitter pill to swallow for an eight-time tour winner and 2003 Masters champion with $28 million in career earnings.

“My game has not been good at all,” Weir said Tuesday during a conference call. “I've been working extremely hard and not seeing really much come out of it.

“But it's still not deterring me, I'm going to keep working here and try to get this rectified and get back to where I feel like I should be.”

Canadian golf fans are hoping that will happen, but the odds aren't looking great.