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AT&T NATIONAL

July 7, 2007

Mike Weir

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

NELSON SILVERIO: Mike, why don't you start with some comments about your round today.
MIKE WEIR: It was a solid round. I got off to a great start birdieing 1 and 3. And then the only bogey I made was an 5. I 3-putted 5 from a little bit above the hole. As I was telling some guys out there, above the hole now is starting to get a little speedier. Earlier in in the week, green speeds were slower and you didn't worry about being too much above the hole, and now it's a factor.
Anyway, I drove the ball really well. I guess that's the biggest thing. I missed maybe a couple of fairways, but you need to do that out here. You need to hit a lot of fairways. First day I didn't, but the last couple of days, I did. I hit a lot more fairways and that's really been why I've been scoring a little bit better. I made that nice eagle on 16. Outside of that, I had some chances to make a few and didn't quite get them in but it's a good round.

Q. Can you take us through 16 and the shot-by-shot process there?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I hit a beautiful drive out there and had 263 or 264 to the hole, about 250 to the front or just under 250. And off the sidehill lie, I was debating whether to hit a soft 3-wood or hard rescue club in. I decided to hit a nice draw with the rescue club and came off really nice, came off with a nice little draw and bounced to the right with the draw that I had on it. Bounced in there probably about ten or 12 feet, and made a nice putt there.

Q. Having gone through some swing changes, are you pretty comfortable with that and can you talk about what the changes were?
MIKE WEIR: Yes, I started with two guys, actually, Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer back in November. Gone through the changes this whole year and for the most part, you know, it's been pretty good. I've been striking the ball pretty consistently most tournaments and I am starting to feel more comfortable with it and feel like I'm playing the game a little better now instead of thinking so much.
But I'm making some putts, and that's the biggest thing. I made a number of nice par putts the last couple of days, which you have to do to keep your round going, and I think that just kind of feeds into the rest of your game. You can be a little more patient and you don't have to fire at every flag when you feel better with your putter, and I think that's the biggest difference why I'm scoring a little better this week is because I'm seeing a few putts go in.

Q. Can you talk about your approach for tomorrow, if you're three or four strokes behind, do you go for it, or play your game and let the chips fall where they may?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, just play my game. I've been playing quite aggressively hitting a lot of drivers off the tee and firing at as many pins as I can because the greens are soft. I have a game plan I'm trying to stick to.
I got a little impatient today on No. 9. That was the only mistake I felt like I made. I hit a really big drive out there, only had 250 yards to the front but I was on a big downslope and I should have laid that up because it was an easy wedge shot and decided to go for it and hit it thin in the rough and lucky to make a 15-footer for par there.
That was a little bit much impatience. I probably won't be going for that green again.
You know, of the seven tournaments I've won on TOUR, I think six of them have been from behind, and I've done it with that strategy, just playing my game and hopefully going out there and playing a good, solid round and see what happens.

Q. This being Tiger's tournament, the focus with the attention and the galleries is overwhelmingly on him; it wouldn't have seemed possible, but more so than it usually is. Does that help the rest of you guys? When I go to other galleries, such as yours, it seems to be a bit more relaxed and lowkey.
MIKE WEIR: I would say that's a fair assessment. For myself, the fans, spectators have been great. I know when I played early Thursday morning and then when I was going to the range Thursday afternoon, Tiger had just teed off 1 and I was walking across 1 tee over to the range and looking down that fairway, it looked like, you know, it was framed by six- or seven-deep all the way around the fairway, all the way around the green.
It was a pretty cool look to see that many people at a non-major. We have kind of a major feel with the kind of golf course we have, and great field. It's been a great week for the first year of this event.

Q. With the Presidents Cup being in Canada, can you talk about how much that's on your mind and how you keep it from being on your mind?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I'm thrilled -- whether I make the team or not, it's great for golf in Canada to have the Presidents Cup. Obviously I really want to be on the team, and I'd like to just play my way right on these next five weeks I'm playing leading in before the team is picked.
But yeah, it's definitely on my mind. I can't deny that because I do want to make the team. You know, hopefully I just play well the next few weeks and play my way on there.

Q. I guess the follow-up on my thought, when you look down at 1 and see the seven deep or whatever, in the back of your mind are you thinking you have a more relaxed gallery?
MIKE WEIR: I don't know. I'm sure Tiger is so focused, I'm sure that's not bothering him too much.
You know, I don't know. I just feel like the number of people out here, I could see why they chose to have this event here; the support of the golf fans in the surrounding Washington area is fantastic.
So whether it's more relaxed for us players, I don't know. I mean, it might be a little bit more stressful for Tiger not on the golf course, but in all those other -- with his foundation and everything. I'm sure it's a little more hectic week than he's normally used to.
For us, the fans have been great.

Q. When you're trying to tweak your swing a little bit, is there a point where you just realize, okay, now I've got it, or is it just kind of an ongoing process the whole way?
MIKE WEIR: Well, there's certain weeks that certain things, you just feel like you can do no wrong and you feel like you have it. That's like with anything. I think whatever coach you're working with or whatever, you have weeks where it feels really, really good and you have other weeks where things are not quite clicking as well as you would like.
I would have said at the beginning of this week I was okay, I was probably a 6 out of 10 and as the week's gone on, I'm probably up to an 8 feeling better.
So that's sometimes how it works. But the game is crazy. If you could have watched me play at the Memorial, I felt like a 10; I was hitting it so good and I missed the cut. It was bizarre. I just could not make a putt. And sometimes when you get hitting that good, you start firing at flags and the round can get away from you.
I think overall, the consistency of my ball-striking is getting better with the changes on a week-to-week basis, the day-to-day basis, the reliability with what I'm working on is better.
NELSON SILVERIO: Thanks.

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