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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 25, 2006

Mike Weir

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Mike Weir, thanks for joining us in the pressroom THE PLAYERS Championship. 68 today on the day when the scoring average is almost 75.

Great day for you. Start with some opening comments.

MIKE WEIR: It was a great round for me. I just played the kind of golf I know I can play and I've been close to playing here in the last few weeks, just controlled the ball great today. I hit the ball at the pin a lot. It was a solid round.

Q. Did you have a lot of fun with club selection?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, that was the most difficult part, especially near the end of the day where those last few holes are so exposed, and some of the other holes that are amongst the trees, the wind is down a bit and blocked. The last few holes are so exposed that the wind is very difficult.

Q. I know from the last six, seven rounds you've played, this is no surprise to you. When did you know that today was the day? When did it kick in for you? Was it the pitch in?

MIKE WEIR: That was a shot that I was trying to shape it just like that. Just all day I felt comfortable. The shot I hit into 7, it was a nice little draw 8 iron into 7 and that almost went in. I hit a cut 4 iron into 8 that almost flew off the pin. I hit it almost flew it in the hole on 10. I just knew that I was dialed in pretty good. I just wanted to keep rolling with it.

Q. The leaderboard right now is very diverse, a lot of nations are represented. Just your thoughts on kind of the quality of the leaderboard right now and the diversity of it.

MIKE WEIR: Well, yeah, I think in the last few years, and I think you'll see that in the future, that the quality of golf around the world is so strong, and obviously the PGA TOUR being the strongest around the world, guys from all around the world want to play here now. Guys like Henrik Stenson and K.J. Choi, and guys like that, and obviously Vijay, great players from all around the world now.

Q. What's your preference, Mike, for tomorrow, more wind?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I'd like to see it blow like it did today. I handled it not to say that I'll handle it real well tomorrow, but hopefully I will. I'd like to see it blow. The way I'm striking the ball right now, I'd like that.

Q. How much will you play Augusta before tournament week?

MIKE WEIR: I played it a couple of times the week of Bay Hill; Sunday and Monday of the week before Bay Hill I played it. So that's pretty much it. I'll go home after this on Sunday and go fly back in the following Sunday.

Q. Were you shocked?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I don't know if shocked, but I was surprised. I was definitely surprised on 7. I hadn't heard about the change on 15, as well. I was surprised.

Q. What's the margin of error for a medium hitter there, for say you and Chris, to be hanging around the lead all the way through the week like you have the last couple of years? Is it just that much tougher?

MIKE WEIR: I think it's probably a little more difficult, but on the other hand the golf course is much tighter now. There's some rough out there. So not only do you have to be long it helps to be long, but you need to be straight out there. In my mind that's going to favor me and maybe some guys that are more David Toms and Jim Furyk, guys that can keep it in the fairway a lot. That's the way I'm thinking; you'll see a mix of some of those players, as well.

Q. Were you scoreboard watching at all today?

MIKE WEIR: I was watching a little bit. I was kind of seeing where the lead was at, seeing if anyone had gone to 10 or 11 or something. I think I saw one on after No. 12 is where I saw the board.

Q. Some people have said that Augusta now can only be won by a handful of guys; Gary Player said five or six. Would you strongly disagree with that, that there are a lot of people out here that could put it together and win that tournament?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, I think there's a lot of players that can put it together and win out there. Now, do the long guys have an advantage, no question they do. But you've still got to get it in the hole, and there's many ways to do it. And there's a lot of guys that have been able to do it in the history of the game. That's the way I look at that.

Q. At the risk of mucking things up by asking about this tournament, I'm just wondering if you could talk about with the wind and sort of all the thinking of club selection how hard it is to be decisive and how hard it is to keep it together shot after shot?

MIKE WEIR: You brought it up, that's a good point. That's the key thing when you do pick a club is to be decisive. If you make an indifferent swing, you're not sure when you're hitting the shot, you're not going to like what happens. You just have to pick your club and trust it and go ahead and hit it.

If for some reason something happens, you catch a gust, that's what happened. 17 it looked like Chad hit a nice shot in there and the wind gusted hard. So when I was over it, it was blowing hard, and I hit an 8 iron, and the wind died a little bit and I'm on the back of the green. So you've just got to live with that.

Q. I wanted to ask you about 17, but you answered it. On 16, your options there, you went wedge, fairway metal and back to wedge. What was the difference?

MIKE WEIR: It was just there was a number of ways to play that shot. I had enough grass behind it that or a little bit of space behind it that I knew I could get wedge on it, but the shot was downwind and my ball was up against that bumper, so it was a little bit on the downslope. It came a little faster than I thought. But I could have easily rolled a 5 wood, too, but I would have had to roll it through the fringe a little bit. It was a tough shot to control downwind and firm like that.

Q. It's never fun to end with a bogey, but considering the closing holes here of 17 when the wind is blowing and 18, playing into it today, is there part of you that's glad to be off the course and where you are and see where you go?

MIKE WEIR: Obviously I'm not happy about the finish, not happy about bogeying the last hole, but I hit a great drive and perfect shot off the tee. And I thought I hit a nice shot that the wind got it a little bit at the end and went to the right. I'm disappointed, but still, I'm in good shape. I don't want that to ruin a good day. It was a really good day. I played the hole fine.

Q. Why don't you run through your options on 18 and playing with that wind; and that pitch, that chip shot looked pretty difficult?

MIKE WEIR: I had I can't remember the number, I think it was 155 yards or 158 yards, right in there, and I wanted to hit a 7 iron and let it ride with the wind, but I saw Chad's shot. Even though it was coming out of the rough, it looked like it hit a wall up there. I went with a 6 and tried to cut it to hold it against the wind and the wind still just killed it, knocked it straight right. Just got a little gust.

Q. Given the physical problems you've had in the last year and a half, do you appreciate rounds like today more, or could you just talk about the road back?

MIKE WEIR: I would say, yeah, I do appreciate when I play a good round like this, maybe a little bit more. I'm glad to be back playing well. I'm glad to be healthy. I'm a player that's always had to work hard on my game and loved to work hard on my game, and last year I couldn't do it.

So I do appreciate it. I've always appreciated good rounds, but maybe a little bit more.

Q. Did you ever doubt that you could get back to the level that you expect?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think I have ever doubted where I see myself in the game, no, not at all.

Q. It would be kind of a long shot, but if you were 1 up in the final group tomorrow with Oberholser, would that feel weird, and what should we take out of the fact that you and he are both up on the board here? Is there any correlation to here and the setup the week at Pebble?

MIKE WEIR: No. Condition wise, the way it was playing Sunday, yeah, the course was very firm and winds not gusting like they are out here, but the course playing very firm and fast. I don't know if there's any other correlation besides that fact.

Q. Both shot makers' golf courses?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, and you have to yeah, the golf course a player that's hitting it in the fairway. Obviously Arron's a straight player, like myself. So there's that correlation, but outside that

Q. Anything weird if you were in the final group on Sunday? Would that be fun, weird, strange?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know.

Q. Just be happy to be in the last group?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah. I would be glad to be in the last group.

Q. Just curious, as you look ahead to tomorrow, can you draw any similarities between what goes on on the back 9 here and what can go on the back 9 at Augusta? Not to suggest they're similar courses, but in terms of the unpredictable nature?

MIKE WEIR: It has a similar feel. I think that's why this championship has the feel of a major. One of the reasons is that those closing holes and the atmosphere of the event and the difficulty of the last few holes, dealing with the lead or trying to catch the leaders, it has a similar feel to what Augusta brings to the table, too, yeah, the whole atmosphere and the adrenalin that's pumping and everything.

Q. Nobody does very well out here unless you beat up on par 5s. The 9th hole, a lot of squares around scores. What makes that hole so potentially lethal? Is it both the tee shot and the second shot?

MIKE WEIR: Well, yeah. If you don't get it in the fairway, you're going to be really struggling on that hole. But then up and around the green is difficult, and today, obviously, with the swirling winds.

But I think you've seen some big numbers, maybe some players trying to go for that green, and you get it on one of these mounds and in the downslope in the deep stuff and you're lucky to kind of get it around the green from out of there. It's a difficult approach to judge your distance. It's a very narrow, kind of a silver of a green. The pins are tucked real close to the edges, I think so that's the difficult part of it.

Q. Have you played with Ames before? I don't remember you playing with him.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I played with him. I played with him at Doral a couple of years ago, on Saturday I think I played with him there at Doral in '03. No, I don't think I have played with him on Sunday.

Q. Did you call "swish" on your eagle there?

MIKE WEIR: I didn't. I should have called "swish" on that.

Q. Run through that one real quick.

MIKE WEIR: I think it was about 136 yards, the wind was a little right to left and in. I told my caddie, I just wanted to start a little left. There was a guy standing there with a red sweater, I said, "I'm going to hit it at that guy with a little draw." It came back out, and perfect. I was telling some of the guys over there, there was a glare, the sun was still coming up, and it was just a glare, I couldn't see. You could just hear it. I didn't know if it hit the pin and went long or what happened. And then obviously the crowd let me know what was going on.

End of FastScripts.

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