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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 24, 2008

Mike Weir

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: Mike Weir, thanks for joining us in the media center here. Opening round 65, currently tied for the lead. To get it started, talk about how the course played today condition-wise?
MIKE WEIR: Obviously, it was very wet. It played probably about as easy as Glen Abbey can play given the ball's not running out through the fairways on some of the doglegs. You just kind of hit it to the corner and it's just stopping there. Usually at this golf course you have to curve the ball a little bit to keep it in there.
Obviously, with the greens being soft, you can fly the ball right to the hole and it would stop. So you want to take advantage of today, because it's only going to get a little firmer and faster. Maybe not, with what's coming, maybe not (laughing). But it is playing about as easy as it can play.

Q. Can you have envisioned a better start to the tournament?
MIKE WEIR: No, not really. Just hope to go get off to a solid start. See what happens. I hit solid shots right out of the gate. Hit the ball close to the hole quite a bit today. When I did make a mistake, I recovered.
I missed a couple of greens. I missed number 1, I guess was the first green I missed. I think it made a nice up-and-down there, and I made a nice up-and-down on 7. So there are a couple of greens I missed with nice saves and kept the round going.

Q. We all know you like this place. But I think had you it in your own head, you said look, we're going to play here X-number of years. I've got to get past that. Have you done that in your own head? Do you know you're coming here now to do some business?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I just kind of got it in my head that we're going to be playing here. Plus, like I said yesterday, I think my game's more suited for this place compared to ten years ago or 12 years ago when I first started coming here as an amateur. And on the Canadian Tour I really hit the ball low then. Maybe with technology and equipment, and the golf ball I can hit the ball a little higher now and that helps around here.
But, yeah, I did need to get over the struggles I had around here. Finally shooting some good rounds in 2004 helped me get over the mental hurdle that I can shoot better than 70 out here. I don't think I hardly ever broke a 70, I don't think. So, yeah.

Q. Your thoughts on Anthony Kim as well is 6 under today. I understand you played with Anthony. In your mind, is he the next one?
MIKE WEIR: It's tough to tag a guy that. But if there's anybody that has a talent, Anthony does. He's a great kid. I played with him in Phoenix. And I was playing terrible, but he was playing great.
He's very talented. He's won a couple times already this year. He's got his confidence going, and he's going to be a great player for a long time. He's really got all the game and all the shots.

Q. I know you talked about how you put the Vijay thing behind you. But it has to be nice to come back the way things finished up last time. It had to be good to come out and get a couple birdies early on and get on a roll?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I wanted to get off to a good start, no question. You know, this year I felt like in particular my first rounds hadn't been where I wanted to be to get in contention. I had always been fighting back. Even at Memorial, I was 3 or 4 over par early in the tournament and brought it back.
So my idea was last week to get off to a better start. I did get off to a great start last week. Didn't keep it going, but, you know, another good round at the start which I've wanted to do. I've wanted to get off to better starts here.
I started a little better than what I thought. I thought somewhere in the 60s, but to shoot 65 is a little better than what I thought.

Q. You planning ahead for the soccer game tonight?
MIKE WEIR: No, I'm not going to the soccer game, no. I'm still on that other time zone. I can't stay awake past about 9:00. So yeah, maybe that's the age, too (laughing).

Q. Did you talk about your decision to skip Firestone?
MIKE WEIR: Yes, I just felt like with the schedule coming up, obviously, a major last week. This is like a major here, and the PGA is a major. It's a golf course I've never played that well. Of the tournaments coming up, if I was going to skip one, that was going to be it. You know, I really wanted to be ready for the PGA. The PGA is close to home for me as well. It's just across the border from Sarnia, so I want to be ready for that one.

Q. How much of an advantage is it to you to be in and through with your round before all this weather delay and knowing you're not going to have to go out and finish your first round tomorrow in all that mess?
MIKE WEIR: That's a good point. It makes a difference. It really does. When you get called off the course with three holes to go and you wait around all day. Especially with my round going today, I wanted to keep the momentum going. That would have been tough to come back and try to get that energy level back to where it needs to be.
So, yeah, it's nice to be done and just wait. I probably won't be waking up at 1:30 or whatever it was supposed to be. It will probably be quite a bit later than that tomorrow. So I'll just be hanging out with the kids tomorrow morning.

Q. Anthony talked about how impressed he was with the grounds crew and how they brought the course back. Are there a few holes or what are the holes that still hold the most concern right now out there?
MIKE WEIR: I agree with him. I heard in the locker room somebody said they were here until 3:00 in the morning last night. I'm sure they were a couple hours of sleep and right back at it first thing.
They've had their work cut out and they've done a great job. It exceeded my expectations what I thought I was going to see out there, especially getting down in the valley. I thought down there would be almost unplayable.
I was trying to think a few years ago we played a tournament where we played lift, clean and place, and we were having to move the ball 50, 60 yards, and I only had to move my ball once today. I had to move it off casual water once and that was on 7. On the left side of 7 I was right in a little trough there that was catching all the water.
Outside of that, they did an outstanding job. As far as what the trouble holes are out there, you know, I think down in the valley. They're going to hold the most water down there. The par 5, 13. 11 fairway, 13 fairway, 14 is not so bad. But I'd say 11 and 13 fairways are the key.
You get so much water in the bunker that it can become unplayable. They're already really compacted down now. They're really damp and wet, wet sand. So you get a little more rain and the grounds crew is going to take a few hours -- once even the rain stops, it will take a few hours to get it back. Any amount of water now is going to really bring the bunkers right back up.

Q. What do you think playing in front of the crowd that you do here does for your game?
MIKE WEIR: Well, what's it do for my game? I think when I get on a roll like maybe like today, you can sense the energy. I think Tiger, you know, that's what Tiger gets a lot. When he's, you know, I was trying to think -- someone was asking me about how does he make these putts on the last goal? He believes he can make it. The crowd believes he can make it. It's all the right stuff going in the right direction. It's nice to have that one time, you know, one week.
When people are pulling for you, sometimes there is a feeling like you feel like you just can't miss. I use that example of the 17th hole at the President's Cup.
I felt like with everything going o I heard Johnny's comment, "Mike, you don't even have to hit this putt. It's just going to be willed in." And there is something to that when you have that much pull from the crowd. Sometimes you just feel like you can't miss them.

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