HSBC WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

October 15, 2003

Mike Weir

SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you very much, Mike, for coming down. Maybe just to kick it off, it's been a fantastic year for you, three wins in America with the Masters being the highlight. Why don't you just reflect on the year that you've had?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it's been a great year. Obviously the Masters, capping it off for me. But overall, I've played really consistently all year. Not quite as well as I'd like the last month or so, but it's been fantastic, especially the start of the year where especially the first ten events I had a chance to win in almost every one of them. That was a lot of fun down the stretch.

SCOTT CROCKETT: And the form today, how are you feeling?

MIKE WEIR: I feel good. I was driving it very well in the tough wind out there. It was tougher to get iron shots close to the hole and driving it well, but you had to do that down here.

Q. When did you make up your mind about participation?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, this time of year, with winning the Masters, there's a lot of things happening in the fall with the Presidents Cup, the PGA Grand Slam, a couple of other things in the fall, along with my kids get back to school. So I had to take some time to think about what I wanted to do.

So I just really enjoyed this tournament last year. I didn't like the way I was beaten out the first sound, so I wanted to get back here.

Q. Are you surprised at the players who didn¹t come?

MIKE WEIR: I had not heard of anybody refusing to come. I think the way the tournament format was slated this year, I think Jim Furyk is the only guy that's not here that was scheduled to play.

Q. Tiger, Davis Love III?

MIKE WEIR: You'd have to ask those guys. I can't comment on those guys why they didn't make it.

Q. It seems no amount of money can tempt you guys to play?

MIKE WEIR: Like you said, I can't speak to the other guys. I just know for myself that there's things that I mentioned. You know when you start getting a little older and having kids at school full-time, summer holiday is over and they get back to school, there's a lot of factors that play into why a player here decides not to play an event.

Q. Do you think it is important to test yourself on other continents?

MIKE WEIR: I think so. I think I want to play a little bit more internationally. That's another reason why I chose to come and play, so I think it is important for everybody to come and play as much as they can in places other than their own tour.

Q. Are you also looking at this as a warm-up to the Presidents Cup with the match-play?

MIKE WEIR: You know, I'm not looking at it as a warm up but it is nice to play extra match-play before that. It's nice to play some form of match-play before that.

Q. Do you think money is a factor?

MIKE WEIR: It is a factor, yeah. Sure it's a factor. But it's not always the determining factor because we are fortunate that we do play for a lot of money a lot of the time. It's not the end-all, be-all decision maker.

Q. How different is the course to last year?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it's a little bit faster, but the wind is really swirling around quite a bit. Last year the course is wet and played fairly long. I think the wind is playing havoc out there and it's really swirling around and that's what's making the course play difficult. The greens are still very receptive, but it's just tough to pick a club because you see a flag going one way and where you're standing the wind is blowing the total opposite direction. So it makes club choosing a little bit difficult out there.

Q. The scores will be higher then?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I don't think the scores will be as low. Ernie , against Colin -- last year shot way under par, I don't know what it was. If the conditions stay like this with the wind blowing, I don't expect that. Some pars on some of those difficult holes, especially coming in straight into the wind on 14, 15, 16, pars are pretty good on those holes with this wind.

Q. Have you spoken to Gary Player about the Presidents Cup this week?

MIKE WEIR: Well, right now I'm concerned with this event, definitely, not having had a chance to speak with Gary about anything about the Presidents Cup this week.

Q. Are you having time off later in the year?

MIKE WEIR: Well, like I said, I'm pretty busy. I'll have next week off and then I play two weeks in a row to our TOUR Championship and then I have a week off before we go to the Presidents Cup in South Africa. So it's a little bit hit and miss here and there. I don't have any stretch except for after Tiger's tournament, I think I have two weeks off before the Mercedes Championship, which kicks off our season.

So it's a little different than last year, where my last event was, I think it was this event, and I didn't play again until the Phoenix Open. So I had almost three months off last year, so a little different this year where the most I have is two weeks off.

Q. Are you over golfed?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know, we'll see. I've never had this busy of a fall before. I do like to take some time off in the winter. I enjoy skiing and doing a little fly fishing and I won't get a chance to do that as much this off-season.

I'll take winning the Masters and having a few more tournaments to play in.

SCOTT CROCKETT: Many thanks. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts.