home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 7, 2005

Mike Weir

KAPALUA, HAWAII

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Mike Weir for joining us after the second round of the 2005 Mercedes Championships, a 10-under 63, matching that 63 you shot back in 2002 in your first round year.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, in 2002, that was the highlight of the year, I think. (Laughter.) My first round of the year. So hopefully this isn't a sign of 2002.

But, you know, it was a great round. I wasn't probably expecting to shoot that low of a round because I haven't been playing. I've been off for seven weeks and haven't been playing any golf at all. Practicing quite hard but not playing. Just nice to see some nice putts go in and I hit the ball pretty well today.

TODD BUDNICK: Talk about your start, six birdies.

MIKE WEIR: I hit a great shot into No. 2, a 5-iron to about four or five feet.

Made about a 15-footer on 3. Made a nice save on 4. And actually 5, I was in the green-side bunker, hit it a couple of feet. 6, I made about an 8-footer. And 9 I hit my second shot to about 18 feet and made that one. I actually got a nice break on 9, it hit the cart path and rolled down the hill. So I had a 4-iron down the bottom of the hill, kind of a blind shot, and chased it on the front of the green. The one hiccup was on 10 where I 3-putted, probably 15 feet.

Came back and made a nice 25-footer on the next hole. 14, short one, I laid up there and hit a little wedge to probably three feet, four feet. Missed a good chance on 15 and I was right beside the green in two and didn't hit a very good pitch but birdied 16, probably a 10-foot putt.

17, I made a long putt from about 25 feet, and then 18 I made a 7- or 8-footer, probably, 9-footer.

So the putter was good today. Hit a lot of fairways, too, and a lot of greens.

TODD BUDNICK: Take some questions.

Q. Did you have any idea you had a round like this in you?

MIKE WEIR: Well, I knew going into today that I was going to have to shoot a low one, because the guys, Ernie and Vijay, and I know Tiger is probably going to shoot a low one at some point, so I knew I wanted to get off to a better start than I did yesterday. I just kind of went with it. I didn't know I was going to shoot 10-under, but once I got going I wanted to keep that momentum going and was able to do that today.

Q. You talked a little bit the other day about your hard work in the longer off-season for you. What was it, given the way the latter half of the year went that you felt like you specifically needed to sharpen?

MIKE WEIR: I think one was the length of my swing. I was getting a little bit reverse-pivoted and the length of my swing was getting very long. It was causing me some problems, and then I just didn't feel real comfortable with my putting all year. I think that was the major thing that I worked on, just get a little bit more stability with my putting and getting the stroke under control a little bit more.

When you're making putts on these greens, I know I'm on the right track because -- the greens out here, they are tough to read. The course is in perfect shape but it's just tough to make them and there's so many factors you have to play into, the wind and the grain. It was nice to see them go in.

Q. You had a great front nine, you really got it going and I don't know how much leaderboard watching you do, but waiting on 11, 12, you must look up there and see Big Boy at 13 or so; does that take any wind out of your sails even though it's early?

MIKE WEIR: I just knew I needed to keep going. When I birdied 14, I looked up when we were up by 15, the par 5, you saw he was 13- or 14-under already through 10 or 11 holes so I figured I need to finish this round strong as well because he's going to be 15 or 16 at the end of the day the way he's going. I was watching him hit balls; looks like he's swinging it well and working as hard as ever.

Q. He's a native islander; not this one, but an islander; do you owe him one?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know. (Laughter.) I did that to myself. He didn't do anything to me there. He won the tournament at the Canadian Open, but I felt like I gave it to him at that particular event.

Q. Did it take time to recover from that?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think it took time to recover, no. It definitely -- I don't think about it anymore, but, you know, for a long while I thought about what I could have been doing better to have not been in that situation, because I was putting so poorly that week. I felt like I really could have distanced myself in that event. The way I was playing, it was one of those weeks that was magical ball-striking-wise. I just had everything together that week and had a lot of close shots but didn't capitalize on hardly any of them, except for a lot of the tap-ins, so that was very disappointing. If I would have been putting like now, I guess that's the Holy Grail of golf, to get everything going together at once.

If I could have just been a little bit sharper, I guess that played on my mind as the weeks went on after the Canadian Open, and I think maybe that played into something in this off-season that, hey, I need to work on my putting to get a little more.

Q. Last question and we'll be done with it forever. The times you've had chances in majors and didn't finish well, be it Medinah or I think Oak Hill was another one?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, Oak Hill I was two or three behind starting the last day and started off poorly.

Q. Recovering from a major, was it any different than that, just given the atmosphere that week or any harder, I guess?

MIKE WEIR: I think for me personally, being Canadian and that being so important, I think the way everything happened that week, it was a little more to recover from than maybe, you know, probably the PGA. The PGA I won two weeks later, my first win on the TOUR after the PGA in Vancouver so I quickly forgot about it so that was fantastic. I didn't finish the year off so well after the Canadian Open so I had more time to think about it.

I was having so much fun there with the crowd and everything, I think looking back if I could have done something different I would have been a little bit more focused maybe. I think I was interacting with the crowd so much that possibly that may have been a factor. Maybe I did get caught up in it a little bit, because I was having a lot of fun. I was having a blast up there. You know, you live and learn every tournament.

Q. You mentioned the big guy, Vijay had the great year last year, and looks like it starts right off. Do guys out there either yourself or your caddie, other people say, "Oh, here he comes again" or "the guy is still playing well"; is there much conversation about him?

MIKE WEIR: You know, between Brendan and I, there's not much conversation. I just know in the back of my mind it's a given. He's working hard and he's not as -- he shows no signs of slowing down. It's just a given he's going to be there. You know, there's a list of four, five, six guys that are probably going to be there a lot this year. So it's no surprise to me that he's playing well.

Q. You're listed like a tier below, and you've won a major; do you consider yourself up there with the Els, Goosen, Vijay, Tiger group? Are you right almost there?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I think I'm real close. I need to have a very good year this year. You know, I think I'm real close to where they are at right now.

Q. How is this different from the time when Tiger was the guy out here, where every week he would come out and you were always concerned about him? How is this different, because you talk about four or five guys and that was never the case back then?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I think just what you said. I think he had just -- there was such a distance between him and the rest of the guys at that point in time, and right now, even though Vijay won nine times last year, I think you see the consistency from four or five guys being up there a lot more and you see Retief playing a lot better throughout last year. Ernie is always a factor. Phil played a little better last year. And Tiger is always going to be there. So I think it's just a little more bunched together, even though Vijay had that outstanding year last year, I think talent-wise it's much closer. The late 90s, 2000, Tiger's talent was just so much further ahead of everybody.

Q. The other question I had was on your putting. You've putted pretty well on two difficult courses, twice winning Nissan back-to-back and then winning obviously Augusta. At what point did the putting go wrong?

MIKE WEIR: Well, I'm a real feel-oriented putter, and when I get into a feel, it lasts for a while and sometimes I change -- I'll change certain things that I think about throughout my stroke. The feels that I've used for certain tournaments and the thoughts I've had for certain tournaments that have won me tournaments were not carrying over last year very consistently, so I had to change it.

I didn't really think of much about my setup in the past and my stroke, I just kind of aimed and hit it. Last year, for some reason, that wasn't working. The ball was not coming off very solid and I was not seeing the line very well. I could not figure it out because I really never had to think about that kind of thing.

But as I processed it in this off-season, you know, looked at some video of my putting throughout the last year, I noticed that some things were a little sloppy, and that could have been part of it. You know, I was moving around a little bit, I noticed there was a lot of movement in my posture and just tighten it up a little bit.

Q. Are you comfortable with being, I guess, more mechanical?

MIKE WEIR: I don't consider it more mechanical. I consider it just more stable and solid. I'm not really mechanical at all. I just feel more - I don't know what the word is - maybe grounded or I think stable might be the best word I could use. Like I can hit the putts much more solidly. I was miss-hitting putts last year where now I don't feel like I'm miss-hitting putts.

Q. There's a lot of Canadian snowbird-type folks that live on Maui. Just tell me, if you could, how much you could feel their presence out there today and yesterday?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, there's a big Canadian contingent. I have a bunch of them over, my friends and family are down here, too. It's great, it's great to see that many Canadians, had a great time out there, showing the colors.

Q. You talked about interacting with them at the Canadian Open, was there any of that feeling here?

MIKE WEIR: I can interact with them. It's a much more casual atmosphere at that event, where, compare it to the Canadian Open, it was like a hockey game. It was like a hockey game. It's t was like a Russian hockey game, big time. It was fun, much easier to interact out here because it's such a casual atmosphere I feel like in this event.

Q. Can you explain to us the difference in your recognition level and celebrity status in the U.S. compared to Canada? I'm sure you notice a huge difference.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, there is a huge difference. I don't know if I could compare it, what I could compare it to, but it is significant. You know, in Utah where I live now, I can pretty much go unrecognized, unless I'm at the golf course and golf fans are around. Where in Canada, I think I'm probably a little more recognized, not only by just golf fans, but by everybody, I think. I think that's the main difference.

Q. You were Athlete of the Year, you were voted Athlete of the Year in your own country; that would certainly make a difference for recognition, wouldn't it?

MIKE WEIR: Yes. That was a nice award, for sure.

Q. The 63 you shot today, how similar was that to the 63 you shot a few years ago?

MIKE WEIR: Very similar. If I remember right, it was a similar wind, about this strength of wind. A pretty good wind, not pretty strong but a pretty good wind. I think maybe the 63 a couple of years ago, I remember hitting really close to the hole, I don't know what the stats are from there, 2002, but it seemed like, I remember I had through my first ten or 11 holes, I was 7-under through maybe ten or 11 holes; that I had hit shots like this, at least probably five times (indicating three feet), where today I hit some fairly close, but it was more done with my putter I think today than maybe back in 2002.

TODD BUDNICK: Thanks, Mike.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297