Canadian Mike Weir is delighted to be in the company of good friend and local hero Vijay Singh as the European Tour returns to the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course for the Fiji International.
Weir joins fellow Masters Tournament winners Singh and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera in an international field which includes players from the European Tour, Asian Tour and the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.
The 47 year old has heard all about Fiji from long-time friend Singh, and both Weir and his family were keen to make the trip for this week's event.
Weir said: "It's beautiful, it's been a bucket list item for my daughter for a long time. I've heard about it a lot from playing many rounds with Vijay and it's just a beautiful place.
"Vijay’s been a great ambassador for Fiji and a great player worldwide, one of the best players of our generation.
"To come from a country that's far away from the mainland of golf on the PGA TOUR where he makes his home now, to be able to come back and give back to his country and the tournament and support it, he talked to me about coming to support.
"He's been a friend of mine for a long time so I was glad to come and support him here.
"It's such a nice event and early in my career I played a lot in Australia and some in Asia so to be back kind of where it started for me and playing some of these events is quite nice and refreshing for me.
"I’m thrilled to be able to bring my children to different parts of the world and like you said this is a beautiful place to experience as well."
Home favourite Singh has been instrumental in the redevelopment of the host course over the last year and Weir is impressed with the layout.
He added: "I think it’s just a nice solid ocean-side course, it gives you lots of room with the wind because the wind is such a factor and I think they've done a nice job planning for strategy around conditions."
Five-time European Tour winner Cabrera is happy to be making his first appearance in Fiji this week and believes the tri-sanctioned event provides a great opportunity for many of the players in the field.
He said: "I'm very very happy to be here, this is my first time here and it's a completely new experience and I'm hoping for a great week.
"Certainly it is great that this is a European Tour event, it’s very nice to be here on this side of the world for the first time.
"Being a part of the European Tour it is very good, because I started on the European Tour my whole career.
"The European Tour was the one that got me playing in Majors so I think it is very important for the up and coming golfers in events like this that are going to boost their careers."
