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MERCEDES-BENZ CHAMPIONSHIP

January 5, 2008

Mike Weir

KAPALUA, HAWAII

DOUG MILNE: Thanks for joining us. Congratulations on a great 5-under 68 round 3 of the Mercedes-Benz Championship today. If we could just get some general thoughts and kind of keys to the round from you.
MIKE WEIR: I think the key was really just my consistency. I don't think I missed a fairway today. I missed No. 1 just driving it through there a little bit, but I don't think I missed a fairway, and that was probably the strength of my game today. I putted well. I just did everything pretty solid. Nothing great, but I did everything pretty well. I took advantage of the par 5s, and that was really where I made all my scoring, except for No. 12.
DOUG MILNE: Your putting was great today. You made some really good clutch putts just inside of ten feet.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I made two, one on No. 4 and one on No. 13 that were great par putts. I rolled the ball really nicely. The ones that didn't go in were going right over the edges, so I felt really good with the putter today.

Q. Good two-putt on 4 notwithstanding.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, that second putt, exactly.

Q. You gave yourself a lot of nice chances on the back nine that were, as you said, just grazing the edge. Was there part of you that was getting anxious a little bit about missing those or part of you that was thinking I can separate myself a little bit here?
MIKE WEIR: Not really. I just felt good, so I was a little -- it was a little disappointing. You obviously want to get as low as you can because it was obviously scorable for a lot of guys out there. I saw the board, a lot of good scores. I wanted to keep making some birdies. Yeah, it was a little disappointing to see a few of them not go in, but at the same time I felt good about it.

Q. It would be worse if you were missing it by a foot?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, exactly.

Q. Setting up for a wild Sunday here?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, there's a lot of guys close, so I'm going to have to shoot a good one tomorrow. There's a lot of guys behind me with a lot of experience. I'm sure I'm going to have to shoot somewhere, 5-, 6-, 7-under tomorrow, depending what the day gives us tomorrow, but I'm sure I'm going to have to shoot somewhere in that range to pull this thing out.

Q. What do you attribute that to? I don't think it's ever been this wet before on this golf course in the ten years it's been here.
MIKE WEIR: I would say maybe the dampness. I think maybe some of the longer guys can't separate themselves as much because the ball is not traveling out there as much. You see a lot of guys in the same areas. That's what I think, more than ever before, that's probably why the scores are a little more bunched in.

Q. You see some of the guys in the same areas like --
MIKE WEIR: Like tee shots, exactly. Where in years past guys were whipping it way down on 18. I remember Ernie being down there by that cart path on 13. Even if it was dry, there would be a 50-yard gap there, where maybe if he was playing, you know, some of the longer guys, the gap is only 20 yards because the ball is plugging.

Q. Is it a common perception when it gets this wet that it's going to help the bombers because it's going to play so long?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, you'd think so, but the course isn't playing super long even though it's -- I think the first day with the wind it played pretty long. The wind has been down the last couple days. So the into-the-wind holes that play generally pretty long aren't quite there. So that's probably the difference.

Q. I think I saw on TV that you're 10-under on the par 5s. Is that a key for you here?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it is. I was looking at my stats last year and they weren't very good par 5s. I thought a little bit about that in the off-season. Luckily this week I'm playing -- I think what I looked at was probably my short game because I'm not going to reach a lot of par 5s in two. It's good wedge play, pitches around the greens and making some putts. My pitching around the greens has been very good. I spent a lot of time early this week working on that.

Q. I wonder if you could talk about the one on 18, which was a delicate little shot.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, that was a nice shot there, 62 yards. I was just trying to pick a spot about eight yards short of the green there. The key was the contact, to get it right with the right spin, and it just came off really nice, and luckily it landed correctly. It could have easily not done what it was supposed to do. I thought that's what it was going to do, but you never know when you're playing to land it in soft stuff. But I did take a look, it didn't look as soft as --

Q. Did your heart race for just a second when it landed?
MIKE WEIR: Well, it just had the right touch on it. When I saw the first bounce do what it was supposed to do I knew it was going to be good, but I just didn't want to see one of those splats landing on a wet spot over there.

Q. Did you think you had another eagle on No. 9?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it looked pretty good from where I was. I couldn't tell from down below if it was releasing but it looked like it was curling in there. It ended up about four, five inches short. I was kind of looking over the edge.

Q. When you studied your year in numbers, anything else really stand out to you?
MIKE WEIR: Last year was a few things. Par 3s usually I'm a little better at than what I did last year. But I think it's just mainly the -- what I saw, the glaring thing, was just really short game, not getting the par 5s. My scoring average needs to get a little lower, and that's just saving shots around the greens. You can strike it great every day, and if you're not saving those one or two shots here or there, it's eight or nine shots in a week, and it adds up.

Q. Did the crowd keep you up?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it was a great crowd today for Stephen and I both. It was fun.

Q. It seems like the weather has gotten better each day. What are you hoping for tomorrow?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I heard tomorrow we might get a little bit of the same thing, might get a little more roll on the ball, which would be nice. The course actually did dry out for as much rain as we got last night. On 18 there it was pretty dry. They probably did the smart thing to play it lift, clean and place, but they could have easily have played it down, it dried up that well. I think you'll see the ball chasing out a little bit more. You might see some guys reaching 18 with a couple good shots. There are probably a few guys that reached it today, but you'll probably see a little more of that if it stays dry.
DOUG MILNE: As always, we appreciate your time. Best of luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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