MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 4, 2002

Mike Weir

TODD BUDNICK: Mike Weir, 74 today, 9-under for the tournament. Got off to a rough start there. Looks like a bogey No. 2.

MIKE WEIR: 3-putted No. 2. Hit a good shot in there, rolled over the back of the green. Ran my putt by maybe six, seven feet, eight feet maybe.

TODD BUDNICK: 4.

MIKE WEIR: 4, caught a really big gust of wind. My ball spun off the front of the green. Chipped about eight feet, missed that. Proceeded to hit two good shots on the par 5. 3-putted it again for par today.

What was after that?

TODD BUDNICK: No. 7.

MIKE WEIR: 7, 3-putted that hole again.

TODD BUDNICK: Birdies on 8 and 9.

MIKE WEIR: Hit it foot and a half on No. 8. In front of the green on 9. Chipped to about eight feet, made it.

TODD BUDNICK: 11.

MIKE WEIR: 11, a 9-iron to six feet.

TODD BUDNICK: Bogey on 15.

MIKE WEIR: Right in front of the green in two, hit a terrible third shot, 3-putted.

Q. How long was that 3-putt?

MIKE WEIR: From 40 feet. Hit it short.

Q. Where was the pin?

MIKE WEIR: All the way in the back there. Didn't hit it hard enough. It rolled back. 3-putted. Then 16, right on the front fringe. Putted it probably eight feet by. Missed that coming back. But then made two nice putts on the last two holes. About an 8-footer for birdie on 17, and probably about the same, seven, eight feet for par on 18.

Q. David Toms was saying he pleased he hit it pin-high all day, because if you're not in the right spot, you can 3-putt your way around the course.

MIKE WEIR: That's what I did today. It was awful. I didn't have a feel for the greens at all, for my speed. I played quite well. I think I only missed a couple greens. I missed only a couple fairways. When I missed the greens, you know, it was just barely off the edge. Didn't get them up and down.

So I think just a little rusty, you know, not playing, short game was just a bit rusty. As I said, I felt like yesterday I could never quite get a feel of how I putted. I didn't feel like, as I said, the rolled the eight, ten-footers very well yesterday. It was the same today. I needed a few for par today. Much tougher conditions. Still didn't roll them very well.

Q. Didn't need much with your short game yesterday.

MIKE WEIR: No, I didn't need much (laughter).

Q. Were the conditions -- they were obviously different, tougher, whatever. More putting; not the conditions that hurt you?

MIKE WEIR: I think a little bit of both. I think the conditions were much tougher. David shot a great round. Did he shoot 7-under today?

TODD BUDNICK: Yes.

MIKE WEIR: Pretty much like shooting 10 yesterday. It was playing at least three, four shots harder than yesterday. That was a great round by him. I think it was a combination of both: a little bit of my short game not being sharp, a little bit of the conditions, kind of being blown around, your balance is not quite right when you're putting, you catch the gusts here and there. A little bit of both.

Q. Ever find yourself pulling the trigger there?

MIKE WEIR: A couple times. Ready to putt, you catch a gust. Don't want to putt when you're off balance. Back off, go again. Happened a couple times.

Q. I don't know if it happened to you, several that I saw, is there a bug problem, too?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, a lot of bugs around the balls, yeah. A lot of bugs. It was surprising with all the wind that they'd still be around. I didn't really notice it yesterday, but there was today.

Q. This may sound retarded. Certainly wouldn't be the first time. Is it harder sometimes to have these uphill into the grain putts and force yourself to just beat it to death than it is to have down-grain putt?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, sometimes it is. You feel like you have to swing so hard if you have anything over 30, 40 feet, uphill into the grain, maybe into the wind. It's unusual to take that big of a swing. You give it that little bit extra when you're swinging that hard, all of a sudden it's eight feet by. Then you're putting down-grain, you have a defensive putt coming back.

Putting is really difficult out here when the wind's blowing around, I believe. It was a little bit of both. Difficult putting and I didn't have a good feel for the greens. Not a good combination to have out here.

Q. You searched for your ball for about three minutes.

MIKE WEIR: Everybody kept saying it was a little bit deeper. Where we got to actually they said it was right around there. If it was going to be in there, I wouldn't have been able to get it out of there. At that point I thought if we could find it right near the edge, there was a hard base underneath. It was only probably that deep, slash it to the front of the green. We never found it.

Q. How far short of the hazard were you?

MIKE WEIR: I think it was pretty close. I couldn't tell. I missed it just a hair, but it was dead at the pin. I hit a great shot. Thought it was going to carry and run right to the pin. As I said, I just miss-hit it just enough that it didn't quite ride far enough.

Q. What club did you hit?

MIKE WEIR: 5-wood.

Q. Looked like a pretty good up and down. Did you have a pretty good lie?

MIKE WEIR: I had a decent lie. Pretty uphill. It was on a pretty good uphill slope. Just made a good up and down, yeah. 90 yards. Made a great save.

Q. Not thrilled with your round, but the benefits of starting with 63?

MIKE WEIR: I'm still there. Hopefully this is my bad round. As I said, I don't feel like I played that bad. If I really -- I just felt like I wasted a lot of shots. I played pretty well. If I would have just not 3-putted, I would have probably still shot 3-under if I didn't 3-putt so many times and miss so many short ones. My game was solid today. Got to go work on the putting green a bit.

Q. Is it kind of scary to follow-up like yesterday when you were in the zone?

MIKE WEIR: You know, the conditions obviously were a lot tougher, tough to shoot back-to-back 10-unders. I felt confident. As I said, I hit a good shot into the 1st hole, really nice one in the 2nd hole, chances on 3, gust of wind on 4, and 5. That's what really held me back. I still thought I could shoot a good round.

It is tough to follow up a real low one sometimes with another real low one. Johnny Miller figured it out, I guess. He knew how to do it.

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