Playing this week on a sponsor invite, former Masters champ Mike Weir withdrew from the RBC Heritage following a 7-over 78 in the opening round. It was a turn of events that didn’t sit well with fellow PGA Tour member Dawie van der Walt.
Van der Walt is a 33-year-old Tour rookie who earned his card last season via the Web.com Tour Finals. The South African has made seven cuts in 13 starts this season, highlighted by a T-17 finish at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.
Van der Walt was second alternate for this week’s event, but he ultimately didn’t gain entry into the 132-man field. After learning of Weir’s withdrawal, van der Walt sent a tweet to his 936 followers that he deleted hours later.
“Gota (sic) love a guy who gets an invite into a Tour event and then WD after the first round,” van der Walt wrote, closing his tweet with the hashtag, "#hangitupmike.”
Weir, 45, did not disclose any injury upon withdrawing. He is playing this season on a major medical extension, but remains mired in a lengthy slump. Weir has either withdrawn or missed the cut in each of his last 24 worldwide starts, and he hasn’t played the weekend since a T-21 finish at the no-cut CIMB Classic in October 2014.
Weir has not broken par in any of his 12 competitive rounds this year, and he hasn’t been in red figures since a second-round 70 at last year’s AT&T Byron Nelson Classic.
