During the 2002 British Open at Muirfield, four Canadian golf writers went to play a nearby club.

"What is this, the bloody Mike Weir (Stats | Bio) fan club?" asked a bewildered starter when he spotted four lefties on his first tee.

Where Mike Weir (Stats | Bio) comes from, there's nothing weird about playing golf left-handed. It would be weird only if at least one out of every four Canadians didn't play lefty.

Canada is considered to have the highest percentage of left-handed golfers of any country in the world, with between 25 percent and 30 percent of golfers north of the border considered southsiders. Only about 8 percent to 10 percent of Americans play left-handed.

The reason is simple - hockey.

"There's a higher percent of left-handers in Canada on account of hockey," said John Brodrick, the vice president of the National Association of Left-handed Golfers of Canada. "They can shoot with either hand in hockey. So earlier in life they never learned to use just one hand."

With so many Canadian children playing hockey, many develop a dominant use of the left hand to play certain positions. A left-winger, for instance, will use a hockey stick curved to enhance a left-handed shot.

Curiously, nearly 70 percent of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed - making right-handed shooters as precious in the NHL as left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball.

During the era after Wayne Gretzky became the central figure in Canadian hockey, Titan manufactured and marketed a left-handed stick signed by the Edmonton Oilers center. It was the hottest-selling stick in Canada, and the theory goes that it helped spawn an abundant generation of faux lefties.

So it should be no real surprise that Weir beat American Phil Mickelson (Stats | Bio) in the race to become the first left-hander since New Zealand's Bob Charles to win a major championship. Interestingly enough, both Weir and Mickelson are naturally right-handed.

Mickelson, who made a brief tryout as a right-handed pitcher for the Toledo Mudhens last year, learned to play golf left-handed by mirroring his father's swing as a child. Weir simply mirrored the Canadian trend.

The lack of left-handed golf equipment, however, for years forced many Canadians to play golf right-handed. But Weir used hand-me-down lefty clubs from his neighbor. Huron Oaks club pro Steve Bennett bought a 12-year-old Weir his first complete set of Wilson Staff left-handed clubs.

Weir recalls wistfully the first left-handed sand wedge he ever saw - a Gene Sarazen model with a steel shaft painted to look like hickory. It showed up one day in the Huron Oaks pro shop.

"I saved my money up from working in the bag room and bought that sand wedge," Weir said.

Nowadays, the Huron Oaks pro shop has dozens of left-handed wedges available, along with full sets of clubs.

But when Weir was 14, he worried that playing left-handed might hinder his future in golf. Wanting advice on whether to switch before it was too late, Weir contacted the best golf source he knew - Jack Nicklaus (Stats | Bio) .

Nicklaus' written response is now framed and hanging in Weir's office in Utah.

"Jack suggested he should stay," said Rich Weir, Mike's father.

The rest is Canadian history.