THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

November 4, 2003

Mike Weir

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Mike Weir to the interview room. Three time winner on the PGA TOUR this year and the fifth on the Money List. Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Nissan Open and of course the first Major, Masters Tournament. You only missed one cut this year, Mike. With a lot of people, I don't think realize though, is that this breakthrough year came the year after no top-10s in 2002. What's the difference between last year and this year? And of course it's a good one for you.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I think that a couple of things. I think my wedge play has been a lot better, and putting. And that was the difference. I may have only missed one or two cuts last year as well. I just didn't have any high finishes because I wasn't making any putts, and inside of 150 yards, I wasn't very good last year. So that's the main difference. Those two things really.

TODD BUDNICK: I know you've done it a lot already this year but let's revisit the Masters Tournament, your first Major. Talk a little bit about how much that meant to you this year and what it will do for your career down the road.

MIKE WEIR: Well, it was a great experience that whole week. I felt like I was really ready to do it. The play I had the beginning of the year leading into the Master's, a lot of talk that week was about the longer players having the greater shot to win. I felt like I was long enough to compete there. I still think that distance control with your iron play and good putting there can override a lot. Not only there, anywhere, any week. So to do that and the way it happened, having to make a putt like that on the last hole, it does a lot for my career. I would never have -- it would have been tough to live with if I would have never made that putt on the last hole. So things change, I made it. I won the playoff. And it's great.

TODD BUDNICK: You're not the defending champion of this tournament but you are the defending champion on this course. Talk a little about that.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, this is great golf course here. You can't fluke it around here. I think you have to drive it well. I think all aspects of your game are tested here. I think that's the testimony of a real good golf course. It's no different here. You have to work the ball left-to-right, right-to-left on number of tee shots out there. There's not many driver, wedge holes on the golf course. I don't think for me -- there's maybe one for me. Outside of that you're hitting a lot of mid irons, the greens are huge. You're going to have to lag putt well, which means when you're a long way you're not always going to leave it stone dead. You're going to have to make some from the 8-foot and in range. It tests all aspects. It's going to be great. You're going to have to make some putts. I think driving is the key out here. The rough is pretty deep. It's similar to last week as far as what the ball does when it goes to the rough. It goes right to the bottom. You're going to have to drive it well here this week.

Q. Following up on why this year was so much better than last year, it seemed to me at Riviera this year you talked about your mindset was different. About how you weren't having fun playing. Can you go over that too.

MIKE WEIR: I would say that as well. Having a better attitude about not only just having fun but having more of a never-say-die attitude. Referring back to L.A., i think I won that tournament Saturday, really. When I wasn't playing very well, I chipped in three times, two times for par. And that's the kind of thing that wins you tournaments. As I said, that never-say-die attitude. To find a way to get it into the hole, no matter if you're chipping for par or whatever. I heard Gary Player talk a lot about that. What one shot means at the end of the day. I tried to really do that. To embrace that a little more this year. To conserve those little shots around the greens.

Q. Did you work out on your body more in the last off-season than past off-seasons?

MIKE WEIR: No. I've been working out pretty hard for awhile now.

Q. You said you needed to improve your putting and your wedge play. Was it simply matter of spend more time on technique? How did you do that?

MIKE WEIR: My technique wasn't quite right. I was digging the leading edge into the ground a little bit too much. It was causing inconsistency in my distance control. We worked on that. And it was just practicing that. I think I was so consumed by some swing changes I was trying to go through in the last year at the beginning of the year last year I was trying to take the waggle out of play. I worked with that true the U.S. Open trying to get that out. So I was really work on my game, and that part of my game, and neglected my short game. And I kind of put the waggle back in throughout the rest of the year. Started hitting it better then. But I was still struggling with the short game.

Q. Make any technique changes on the putting?

MIKE WEIR: A little bit, a little technique change. Just more my setup.

Q. Seems like we have been asking you and three or four other guys this question now since a couple weeks probably before the PGA. But what's your assessment of where you are in this Player of the Year race? Tiger said outside he thinks that if you won this week you would automatically, his word, be the guy who won this thing. I guess it's good that it's gone this long. It's sort of kept the interest going. It's got more of us in this room?

MIKE WEIR: Absolutely. It's great for the game. Tiger's had a lock on that thing for the last few years. And it hasn't been much of a race down near the end of the year. So it's great for the game, it's great for him. I'm sure he enjoys the competition. I think if I do play well this week and happen to win, it would be great. A great thing to have happen. But as I said before, it's been a great year no matter what. I can always look back and say what could have been if I wasn't battling my back from Colorado through the PGA for about a month and a half there, through those events. I felt like at the PGA I was really struggling with my back and my golf swing. And my short game really held me in there. It was just kind of smoke and mirrors all week. On the other hand, overall it's been real consistent and it would be great if I could do something here this week.

Q. How many tournaments did your back, do you felt, hindered your performance?

MIKE WEIR: For a good at least four events. A lot of my game's trying to get in a good posture and good fundamentals and I wasn't able to do that. That's where I was hitting a lot of sloppy shots, I think, throughout some of the summer months. We all go through that. Everybody has little things they've got to work through. I felt like the way my short game was there at the PGA I just wish I was able to just hit it a little bit better there.

Q. Growing up in Canada did you dream of making a putt to win a major, getting a winning goal in the Stanley Cup, and how did it feel getting the green jacket? How does that compare to skating around the ring with a Stanley Cup?

MIKE WEIR: Well, I never had a chance to skate around the ring with a Stanley Cup. That would be cool, too. But I think that as a kid I think I dreamed both those things probably. Probably more golf though. Spending time by yourself out on the putting green, you think of those things. I think in hockey there were tournaments that we played in hockey that the Soren Silver Stick and those things that being a junior hockey player I was thinking about those things. I wasn't really thinking about the Stanley Cup. But I had a chance to hold the Stanley Cup, but not as a hockey player doing it. But it was different, two different things. Being on the team would be -- I do miss the team aspect of sports. I like -- I love team sports. I miss that aspect of hockey. Being around the guys, the locker room, that kind of stuff. It's a little different when you're in an individual sport, the locker room, compared to team sports.

Q. Do you spend much time what-ifing with the PGA? Because if you win that tournament, probably we don't have any kind of Player of the Year debate. We probably were talking about how to Weir-proof courses. (Laughter.)

MIKE WEIR: No, I haven't spent much time thinking about it because there was nothing I could do about it, really. I gave it my best effort, so I have no problems with it at all. Shaun played better than everybody. He deserved to win. At the time I was just disappointed that I wasn't able to hit it better, really.

Q. Just to follow up that. What's the state of your back now?

MIKE WEIR: I feel good. I felt good since the Canadian Open really.

Q. I wondered if you were a golf fan and not playing here this week whether you might watch that Tiger/Vijay paring on TV on Thursday if you think there would be interest, given the way that the stretch run has played out between those two guys and it's become quite a little pitched battle?

MIKE WEIR: As a golf fan, yeah, absolutely I would watch it. Last year I wasn't in this tournament and I was defending champion and not in. And I did watch a little bit and actually that kind of motivated me quite a bit. Sitting at home watching that. I was pretty down about that, about the effort that I had put in last year, maybe not the effort, but the way I went about my effort. I didn't think it out thoroughly enough. So it motivated me a lot. Yeah, a golf fan, if I wasn't playing again this year I would be watching.

Q. A lot of guys are talking Tiger, Vijay this week. At any level of golf in your career have you ever had like a rival, somebody you kept bumping heads with, when you're 12, some guy you had lost three times in a row or anything? Have you ever had a rival in your career at any age?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah. I've had a few. My caddy a little bit, Brendan. He used to drop all of us juniors as junior golfers. So he was the guy to beat in junior golf until we were 13, 14. Actually at our home golf club, our little area there that I grew up in, a town of 50,000 people, we would have to shoot low numbers just to win in our tournaments. There was a guy named Bill Hutchinson who was really competitive. He won a Tarrow Amateur and things like that. There was a number of guys playing junior golf that I butted heads with. In college golf I would say a couple times, Paul Stankowski, a couple times. Lumpy once or twice. But not one in particular guy.

Q. Was there any one of those guys you mentioned who you maybe had the most trouble beating or really wanted to beat?

MIKE WEIR: I would say the one guy that in college that no one seemed to beat when I was around was Phil. Phil was right in my era and he was winning everything. So he was tough to beat in college. Paul Stankowski, I remember beat me in our conference tournament. And he was tough.

Q. How long did it take to you beat Brendan?

MIKE WEIR: I think when I was about 15 I started moving ahead a little bit. His nickname is Butch. And it started when he was about 12, because he could hit it 250 when he was 12. We were all bunting it out there 180, 190. And he just killed us all.

Q. Do you feel at all sort of lost in the Player of the Year talk? It seems like there's been a lot more of the Tiger, Vijay thing. Do you feel like there's people have short memories and how would you, how do you feel you're leaning toward voting?

MIKE WEIR: Well understandably I think those guys have played a lot better as of late. But it is a Player of the Year for the whole year, no matter if it was the beginning of the year or end of the year. I think the discussion is valid because they played better near the end of the year, especially. But if I can play well this week, maybe I still have a shot.

Q. What's your view on a man whose made 113 consecutive cuts may make it 114. How amazed are you by that statistic in this day and age?

MIKE WEIR: That's an amazing statistic. I think that that's a testament to what Tiger brings to the table each and every week. He's ready to play each and every week. He doesn't take any tournament for granted. He doesn't play six weeks in a row when he's worn out at the end. He plans his schedule very well. He's a professional. I think that's a great compliment to him to break that record. I know that to pass Byron, a legend in the game, would be something special. I know he's, he holds it in high regard too. And I think Byron is happy for him.

Q. How hard is it for you to resist the urge to take the towel and throw it in on the second round of a Friday when you're not playing well? How hard is that?

MIKE WEIR: I don't have to fight like that. I have an inner pact with myself that I'll never do that. I don't pack it in. That's just the way I am. Even if I'm shooting 78, whatever, I try as hard as I can. I just don't do that.

Q. I'm thinking maybe it's a product of his humble roots, but do you think there's anybody out here, even given the fact that he's 40 years old, that wants to succeed more than Vijay does?

MIKE WEIR: I would say probably not. He has an unbelievable work ethic. Always has. He's made all his weaknesses into strengths now. His putting used to be, obviously, well documented it used to be his weakness. Now I think it's his strength. I think he putts as well as anybody. You can count on it and rely on it. He doesn't have to hit the ball five feet from the hole all the time. He can play on the smart side of the hole a little more. I think he's a much more well rounded player now than what he was even five years ago. That's hard to do as you start getting into your 40s. And you think as you start getting a little bit on in age that you maybe tone down your practice a little bit and maybe tone down your schedule and pick and choose a little more. He just keeps going. He just loves it.

TODD BUDNICK: Last one.

Q. Is it more than coincidence that you've excelled in November?

MIKE WEIR: I think that it still has something to do with how many times I went to Q-School, Jeff. I think that really it does. I think going to Q-School, six, seven times, trying to get ready for playing well October through December, I think just carried over somehow. I think that's the reason why I play well in November. At certain points.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Mike. And good luck defending your 2001 TOUR Championship on this course.

MIKE WEIR: Thank you, guys.

End of FastScripts.