Weir is a major star in Canada, complete with lucrative endorsement deals, his own clothing line and Tiger-like treatment at the Canadian Open.

The former BYU player drew attention across the country with his 1998 Q-school victory and really burst onto the scene when he was paired with Woods in the final round of the 1999 PGA. Weir struggled that day at Medinah, shooting an 80, but capped the year with a victory outside Vancouver in the Air Canada Championship.

Weir really got rolling with high-profile wins in the 2000 American Express Championship and 2001 Tour Championship, and guaranteed his place in Canadian golf lore with a brilliant early run in 2003, winning the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Nissan Open and Masters. He successfully defended his Nissan title in 2004, but suffered a major blow later that year when he lost a playoff to Vijay Singh in the Canadian Open.

Backed by a deafening crowd at Glen Abbey, Weir stood over three putts with a chance to win — a 10-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole, a 25-footer for eagle on the first playoff hole and a 5-footer for par on the second extra hole. He missed them all and ran out of chances on the third playoff hole, driving into the rough on the par-5 18th, laying up and hitting his approach into the water.

Weir briefly moved into outside contention for an automatic spot at Royal Montreal with consecutive eighth-place ties in the AT&T National and British Open, but struggled in the Canadian Open and withdrew from the Bridgestone Invitational because of neck pain. After missing the cut in the PGA and getting the nod from Player, he tied for 41st in The Barclays and ended his FedEx Cup playoff run with a 30th-place tie in the Deutsche Bank, a disappointing finish after opening rounds of 65 and 68.

The normally accurate Weir has struggled with his ball-striking, a key on Royal Montreal’s tree-lined Blue Course.

“It’s a course where you have to keep the ball in the fairway rather than a course where you can just bomb away,” said Weir, 92nd in the PGA Tour’s driving accuracy stats and a dismal 154th in greens hit in regulation.

He shot a 3-under 67 in a practice round at Royal Montreal the day before the start of the Deutsche Bank, his first round on the traditional layout since he tied for 34th in the 2001 Canadian Open.

“I just wanted to see it,” Weir said. “I wanted to see where the targets are and where the balls are ending up. The driving areas are better now. A few changes on the greens seem to be pretty good. It’s not going to be set up like a Canadian Open, with deep rough. They want some scoring. So, I think it’s going to be a good golf course.”

While Player may have done Weir a favor by picking him, it also put the Canadian star in position to fail in front of his adoring fans.

He’s used to the pressure of playing for his country.

“That’s there, but the Presidents Cup’s a little different because you’re playing with a partner as a team except for the last day,” Weir said. “But that’s there.”

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