The man clutching the 2003 floppy Masters Tournament hat tried his best Friday afternoon to get the signature that would have raised the lid's value instantly.

"Mike! Mike!" the man shouted, trying to keep pace with a fast-walking Mike Weir (Stats | Bio) , who turned around for a quick glance but was gone up the stairs of the Clubhouse, presumably for the sanctuary of the Champions Locker Room.

A year ago this week, the 5-foot-9 Weir became bigger in Canada than native Maple Leafs Mike Myers, Wayne Gretzky or Anne Murray.

On Friday, the first Canadian to win a major and the first left-hander to win the Masters became the first champion to miss the cut the following year since Jose Maria Olazabal (Stats | Bio) in 2000 and just the ninth since the cut was instituted in 1957.

Other notable players who missed the cut of 4-over par 148 were six-time champion Jack Nicklaus (Stats | Bio) ; Players Championship winner Adam Scott (Stats | Bio) ; fan favorite John Daly (Stats | Bio) ; Darren Clarke (Stats | Bio) , who opened with 70 before soaring to 79 on Friday; 2003 runner-up Len Mattiace (Stats | Bio) ; and British Open champion Ben Curtis (Stats | Bio) .

Weir came close to playing this weekend by posting a second-round 70, but there was too much ground to make up after beginning the day with bogeys on Nos. 16, 17 and 18 to complete his weather-delayed first-round with 79, the highest opening-round score for a reigning champion. He finished at 5-over-par 149.

"I'm just trying to fight back, and it's a tough golf course to fight back on when you get behind," Weir said before knowing for sure that he had missed the cut.

Weir's weekend chances were all but over after he bogeyed the 18th again during his second round. He bemoaned the 5-iron he used on the finishing hole, saying he picked the wrong club thinking the wind was blowing differently.

"If I could have just sharpened up a few things," Weir said. "I shot 70, but it could have been 6- or 7-under."

Weir could only hope that the site of his greatest triumph would be a cure-all for an all-around game that he says has been off-kilter recently. After top-five finishes in Phoenix and Pebble Beach and a win at the Nissan Open, Weir lost in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play, missed the cut at The Players Championship and tied for 45th at the BellSouth Classic.

Weir will stick around for Sunday's green jacket ceremony in Butler Cabin.

Mattiace, who shed tears after losing a sudden-death playoff to Weir last year, was out of action for three months from knee surgery in December after a skiing accident in Vail, Colo.

The Wake Forest product missed cuts at the Honda Classic and Bay Hill Invitational and tied for 33rd at The Players Championship in the only events he played heading into Augusta, where he finished 7-over par.

"I'm hitting too many wild shots right now," Mattiace said. "It's been a lot of work to try and get back to where I think I can be."

Some thought Scott could be in the picture on the back nine Sunday after his win two weeks ago in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. A first-round 80 doomed him, but he bounced back with 73 on Friday.

"I let (Thursday) get away from me a little bit and just wasn't quite comfortable out there," said Scott, who missed the cut for the first time in three Masters appearances.

"Maybe because it's a major ... I've got plenty of stuff to work on."