	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2007

Mike Weir

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND

Q. Mike, well done. A great round. 3-under for the tournament.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I was very pleased. The front nine was pretty indifferent. I hit some good shots, but then some funny ones.
Starting about 10 I found my groove, my golf swing, and really hit the ball solid on the back nine.

Q. We've seen so many people struggling today. What was the key to your game out there?
MIKE WEIR: I think I was just putting it right in the middle of the fairway. The last nine holes I was right down the middle, every hole. I wasn't putting it in any long grass. I think that's the key out here, keeping it in the fairway, and that's what I was doing. When it's windy like this you have to hit the ball solidly. I was hitting the ball solidly, very well today.

Q. Talk about your round a little bit, please.
MIKE WEIR: I was just saying it was a little indifferent at the start of the day. I had a great warm up today and then it was a little indifferent. I just stuck with it. On the back nine I hit really, really well. I hit it right down the fairway. I hit my iron shots very solid. I think that was why I was getting so close to the hole, because the wind wasn't a factor and I was hitting the ball right in the middle of the face. If you do that in these conditions that makes a big difference. If you mis-hit it, the wind really takes the ball, but I was hitting it very solid. I was really pleased with the back nine.

Q. How much differently do you expect the course to play tomorrow considering the weather and everything like that?
MIKE WEIR: We've had a little bit different every day, and we'll see what we get. It would be nice to see the wind blow the other way, play some of those holes the other way. 15 and 16 and 18 have been playing very long, along with 12. And it would be nice to see the wind go the other way. But it's a tough golf course any way the wind blows out here.

Q. Is it a case of learning a little bit more each day about Carnoustie, do you think?
MIKE WEIR: I think so. I have a pretty good feel for it. I had a chance in '99 and played four rounds. I think the more rounds you play in the tournament you can see how the course is firming up and how much more the ball runs in the fairways. And clubs that you might hit to lay up short of the bunkers, you might have to take less of one, because the ball runs out an extra 15 or 20 yards. So all those little factors play in your decisions when you're hitting the ball out there.

Q. Did it get progressively more difficult out there with the wind picking up?
MIKE WEIR: No question. It definitely got tougher from about -- you could feel it on 9, how it really started to pick up. It was starting to clear up and then that wind started to pick up. And 9, the last three hours there it was very hard and a heavy wind. As I said, if you mis-hit one out there it is really affected.

Q. The way scores are today, does it feel like your round was going to be lower than it was? Did it feel like a 65 or 66 out there?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it felt like that. The way I struck the ball the back nine, yeah, it felt lower than only making three birdies. Yeah, it felt more like a 65. But I'll take 68.

Q. You've got to like your position coming into the weekend.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, sure, I'm there. I wanted to give myself a chance. We have two more days. It's a long way to go. It hasn't even begun yet, but I didn't do anything crazy to get myself out of it, I put myself in position and now we've got to go to work tomorrow and hopefully be right there for Sunday's round.

Q. No one's done that on the back nine so far. It's a really difficult stretch, why do you think you did so well?
MIKE WEIR: Because I was just hitting it so well. I just drove it -- it was right in the middle of the fairway, hit long, and hit my irons very solidly, hit it on the smart side of the hole and I made some nice putts, too. So all aspects of my game were good. Even though I was hitting the ball really solidly, I had to make a couple of 7, 8 footers for pars, which I was able to make, and those kind of keep your round going. I made a few of those.

Q. Was it a case of cutting out those couple of early blips again?
MIKE WEIR: I hope so, yeah. I birdied No. 1 again and found -- today I found two fairway bunkers again. And those are like penalty shots, I had to pitch those out. I've got to hopefully stay out of that. Hopefully I can eliminate that in the next couple of days.

Q. The stuff that you've been working on for the last few years (inaudible)?
MIKE WEIR: For one, I don't have any back issues. I don't have any upper back or neck issues. I've been very healthy with the changes. I've been able to practice a lot harder, which I haven't been able to do the last year and a half. But the biggest change is, really, I'm -- I feel like it's more efficient. It's a heavier strike of the ball. It's a little bit longer. And like everybody, you can have up-and-down times, but when it's on it feels very good. Anytime you make a change you're going to -- start to feel more comfortable.

Q. We all write a lot of stories and file a lot of reports about this guy has won a Major championship, he can do well, this guy hasn't. How important is it for you? Maybe we overestimate it and use it too much?
MIKE WEIR: I don't think you overestimate it. I've heard Tiger say it many times, and reiterate what he said, that until you've done it you don't know you can do it. You think you can do it but until you do it you don't know that. When you have that in your back pocket in the last nine holes of a Major, it's like extra ammo. You really know that you can get it done. Whether you can do it or not is a different story, but you've done it before and that gives you kind of an extra edge.

Q. You are the top guy out there with a Major championship, is that the extra ammo you're talking about?
MIKE WEIR: I don't know, the other guys that are up there are craving for one, as well, and are good players. Like I said, there's a lot of golf, there's going to be a lot of movement on the board still. There will be some guys that will have some major experience up there when it's all said and done.

Q. If it's ugly tomorrow, you had a great round in the mud and the gales here in '99. Are you going to be thinking about that?
MIKE WEIR: I'll probably draw upon that and the Friday round I played here in really tough conditions. Yeah, I definitely will.

Q. So if it's ugly it's not going to bother you as much as it will some other guys?
MIKE WEIR: I don't think so. It's not good for anybody, but I think if you have the right mentality going into it and you know coming over here just by packing what you're throwing in your suitcase with what you can get over here, you can get the sun or you can have your ski gear on underneath. So you've just got to be prepared for it.

Q. Ski pants today again, was it?
MIKE WEIR: Not today.

Q. Do you feel you left anything out there?
MIKE WEIR: I did early, yeah. I had about a 6, 7-footer for par on No. 4 that I missed. I hit a great shot into No. 8 from about 8 feet on the par-3. I missed that one.
Then I made nice putts. I made a nice par saving putt on No. 9. That helped me a little bit. I had about a 7 or 8-footer there. And then I rolled in a 25-footer for birdie on 10. I made some, too. I definitely made some putts.

Q. The weather coming in this weekend is almost like starting over?
MIKE WEIR: I haven't heard the forecast.

Q. It's supposed to be pretty bad.
MIKE WEIR: You know, it will be different for everybody. It's not starting over. You feel like where you are related to the field you feel like you obviously have a head start on some people. You've just got to battle it tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297