Golf: Mike Weir's sudden death victory at the US Masters drove the Iraq war and the deadly SARS disease off the front pages of Canadian newspapers yesterday.

In a country more accustomed to toasting their ice hockey heroes, Canadians cheered loudly for their new hero from a small town in southwestern Ontario.

"Weir So Proud", beamed the Toronto Sun, as a picture of the left-handed golfer receiving the winner's green jacket from last year's champion Tiger Woods replaced pictures of the war in Iraq.

Coverage was the same right across this ice hockey-obsessed nation where almost every newspaper knocked death and destruction off the front pages with pictures of Weir sporting the jacket.

Lean times forced his wife to caddy for him on occasions, but the struggle for Weir finally paid off as a six-inch putt made him a Canadian hero.