‘This is heaven on earth’

Three Canadians were walking down the fairway of the first hole at Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday. Mackenzie Hughes, who has won a tournament on the PGA Tour this season. Adam Hadwin, who won one just a few weeks ago. And both of them were seeking guidance from the third, who hasn’t won on Tour in a decade. They were seeking guidance more or less constantly. The students and, quite literally, the Master.

“I was impressed with their games,” said Mike Weir, the 2003 champion at Augusta. “I think they have a good chance to be in there this week, both of them.”

“I don’t know who asked more (questions), me or Adam, but it was close,” said Hughes. “Probably 50 to 100 questions.”

“It’s so helpful, he’s got knowledge that lots of guys don’t have. It was very, very cool.”

Weir, though he hasn’t held a PGA Tour card for years, was not simply a sounding board out there, either. On the second hole, a downhill par-5, all three Canadians left themselves wedge shots into a raised green. Weir spun his to the back left pin, watched it bounce once and stop less than three feet from the hole. He is 46 years old now and there are more wrinkles around his thin face, but he’s still a killer with a short club in his hand, especially around this place.

“I kind of remember my first time playing here and just trying to absorb it all,” he said after the round, recalling times he played practice rounds with Fred Couples and Davis Love III in his early days at Augusta. “I picked Freddie’s brain a lot when I was playing with him, and (Hughes and Hadwin) were trying to do the same thing.” Weir showed his playing partners the right spots for lay ups, and the good spots to miss and places you don’t ever want your ball to end up.

So, Mike, have you ever talked that much during a round?

“Probably not,” he said. “I loved it. I loved all of it.”

Hughes, 26, from Dundas, Ont., came to Augusta for the first time last month, having known he would be here this week since he won the RSM Classic last November. He played the course four times, which helped make these days feel a little less surreal.

“You’re not so much in awe of it,” he said. “I’m still in awe of it, but not, like, crazy, drooling while walking down the fairways. When I first got here I was, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is heaven on earth. This is where heaven is. If I die I want to come right here.’”