U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2003

Mike Weir

Q. The way it started it looked like the number we thought you were going to shoot yesterday, real low.

MIKE WEIR: I got off obviously to a great start. You know, that putt I made on No. 6 obviously got things rolling because I had missed a couple earlier putts to get it going.

Making the turn obviously I felt very good, and even the backside I felt very good. It just seemed -- so far this week it seems like when I miss a fairway I'm not -- my scrambling isn't the greatest. I get it right beside the green and I'm not able to convert a par save. That's the only difference.

I only missed two shots on the back nine and made bogey with both of them. Really the first one the wind just hit it and knocked it left. You know, still the same scenario as the first couple of days, just not making enough putts to kind of sustain any momentum to really challenge, and we'll see what it is at the end of the day. There may be too many guys in between, I don't know. We'll see what the number is. I'd have to probably shoot a Johnny Miller-like round tomorrow. You never know, it could happen.

Q. The course was giving up pretty low scores early on today. As your round went on did it get tougher, the course?

MIKE WEIR: Well, in certain areas, yes. 17 is nearly impossible. I mean, I hit as good a shot as you can hit in there, nice draw with the 4-iron, 250 yards and landed 220 and the thing is still 60 feet past the hole. Nearly impossible to get to that pin, but for the most part the greens were pretty soft on the back with the exception of that hole. The wind was swirling around a little bit more on the back.

Q. Is there anything you're doing -- is your putting consistent or is it just the fact that you're misreading them or pushing them?

MIKE WEIR: They're just not going in. That's golf sometimes. I feel like I'm maybe not reading them quite good enough. That seems to be the thing. I hit a putt a few feet from the hole I think is pretty good and it seems to go the opposite way. Maybe I'm just not seeing them right.

Q. 15 you thought was in the hole, though, right?

MIKE WEIR: Oh, yeah, exactly.

Q. Do you feel like you left something out there, how strange is that in a U.S. Open, usually you come in at par, usually that's great for a USGA setup?

MIKE WEIR: That's true. It's still a good round. 2-under par is a solid round, but I needed something maybe just a little bit better. You know, given the condition of the golf course, the fairways are firm and the greens are soft, that's why you're seeing low scores. You know, 500-yard hole like No. 9, I'm hitting a 350-yard drive and I have an 8-iron and then on. The fairways are running and the greens are soft.

Q. When you're four under, everybody was two and three and four under --

MIKE WEIR: I saw that there was -- everybody was getting after it today, and I knew that the leaders hadn't teed off, they started at 7:00. One of the two guys, there's someone at 6, someone is going to get off to 3, 4-under so I needed to keep the pedal down but wasn't able to do it.

Q. How do you compare your ball striking here compared to Augusta? It seems pretty precise.

MIKE WEIR: I'd say it's better. My iron play, especially today. Maybe not the first two days -- yesterday was pretty good, but not the first day, but the last day has gotten better. My iron play has been really sharp the last couple days.

Q. Did you look at the board at all?

MIKE WEIR: I didn't see it.

Q. You hit so many irons close. Is that sometimes sort of giving the wrong impression of your putting? You had so many chances. You're obviously not going to make them all.

MIKE WEIR: That's a little trap you can fall into when you're trying to analyze your game. You're not going to make them all. It's a U.S. Open golf course. They're going to be funny little breaks in there. So, yeah, that's part of it, too. You're not going to make them all. You just hope that you're going to make some of them.

Q. Do you throw caution to the wind tomorrow or stick with your plan?

MIKE WEIR: I'm going to stick with my plan and hopefully get off to a start like I did today. I was four under at the turn, could have been six or seven. It was a good plan, I've just got to convert a little bit more and hopefully go and play a solid full 18 holes. You know, yesterday I played the back nine 3-under, today I played the front nine 4-under. Maybe I can combine the two hopefully at some point.

Q. What kind of a result would satisfy you?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know. I just want to go out there and play really well. I'm going to see what the numbers are at the end of the day and there's an outside shot that if I shoot a remarkable round I could win this thing still.

Q. You've done it before.

MIKE WEIR: Sure.

Q. It looks like you had a lot of good yardages on the front.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I was dialed in pretty good. On the backside I was in between a lot and I just didn't seem to get it as close to the hole. It was tougher to get close to the hole on the backside, though.

Q. 12 you were right on the flag. Were you expecting it to release there?

MIKE WEIR: Oh, yeah.

Q. Were you expecting the greens to be a little firmer?

MIKE WEIR: That shot it was blowing so hard downwind I didn't expect it to pull back and the wind died down a little bit so it was spinning, but I still only had 12 feet. That was the only bad putt I hit today.

Q. Do you think speed will be a little more of a factor?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it's a a difficult factor coming into those last few holes. If you get it in the fairway you're going to be a wedge into 16 and same with 18, if you get it in the fairway most guys will have a wedge in.

17 it will be a surprise if anybody gets close to the hole. You've got to get a lucky bounce because you can't land it on the green to stop it. So the finishing holes, actually, with the exception of 17, are playing a little bit easier.

Q. O'Meara got a break. He hit it up and down the hill where you hit it and chipped it in.

MIKE WEIR: I heard the roar, yeah.

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