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FRYS.COM OPEN

October 22, 2008

Mike Weir

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

DOUG MILNE: Mike, thanks for joining us. I guess you're defending champion at this course, defending champion of the Fry's Electronics Open, this year the FRYS.com Open. You started off the year with a Top 5 in Hawai'i, you've racked up a pair of runner-up finishes at the Memorial and most recently Deutsche Bank and then coming off a Top 10 last week in Las Vegas. As you head into the week here to defend your title at Grayhawk, kind of assess the state of your game.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it's been a pretty solid year. I would say it hasn't been great, but it's been steady. You know, I would love to -- this will be my last tournament on the TOUR to try to get a win and make it a very good year.
But overall it's been steady. Not quite what I was after, but been pretty steady.
DOUG MILNE: Obviously here last year the winds were quite a factor. You have a history of being a solid wind player, and on the way in you commented that the course is playing long this year. A couple comments on the course.
MIKE WEIR: Yes, the golf course is playing much different than last year with the overseeding. Much longer; the ball is not running out. There's actually some rough up there. Last year if you hit it with that wispy, dry stuff that was off the fairway, you could get pretty much any club through it. Now with some deeper green grass over there, you don't want to miss too many fairways going into these greens.
Wind was a bit of a factor today, Wednesday. It was gusting out there pretty good. I just noticed that the course played much longer. A hole like No. 9, which was my last hole today, was kind of a driver, 3-wood and a mid-iron, and today it was a pretty good driver and a rescue club. That was pretty significant on a lot of holes out there. Holes that you were hitting drivers to 8-iron were 200-plus yards this year. So quite a significant difference.

Q. It looks like since the Memorial, Top 10s at about half your events. Was there something that happened around that point that kind of turned things around for you?
MIKE WEIR: I would say, yeah, maybe just a little more emphasis on my short game. Spent a little more time trying to dial in my wedge game, 125 yards and in. Got a lot better with that. I started making some putts; that was a big difference. I wasn't putting well early in the year, and I started putting a little bit more consistently from probably Memorial on.
I think that was the biggest difference, because I felt like early in the year I had some really nice ball-striking but really didn't -- I wasn't capitalizing on that good play because I wasn't getting the ball -- the few fairways maybe I missed, I had to get the ball up-and-down to kind of keep the round doing and I wasn't doing that, and when I was hitting it close I wasn't making those.
That's how you get under par; you have the odd hole that you don't play the best but somehow you manage to scramble around and make a par and keep the round going, and I wasn't able to do that. I've just done a better job of that, not wasting shots around the greens.

Q. With this course playing, as you said, a little bit longer than it did last year, how much emphasis does it add to the long game?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I think it does. I think still that it is playing a lot longer. There's going to be probably more greens missed than maybe last year, so there might be even more emphasis on short game. You're really going to have to -- when you're going in there with 3- and 4-irons a lot, you're not going to hit a lot of those close, so your lag putting is going to have to be good.
And then par-5s aren't as reachable, at least with the wind today it wasn't as reachable, so you have to score with that wedge in your hand. It might be a little different scoring than maybe last year.
I think if you really got it going last year you could shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under if you really got it going. That would be a heck of a score the way the course is playing right now.

Q. When you came here last year you weren't actually in as good as position as you are right now. What did winning here mean? Did it revive any confidence, or was that always still there?
MIKE WEIR: I think it definitely restored some confidence, I think. I was still confident in my game and I was playing well. You know, I had had a pretty good week the week before in Vegas but hadn't broke through in three years to win.
To get that feeling again, to have to do something down the stretch, I had to make a nice putt on 17 and had to do it again on 18, had to make a great save. When you're able to do that, come through, it just reminds you that you can still do it when you need to and have to do it. It was just a thrill to be in contention again like that, to have the chance to do that.
So coming into this year, yeah, I'm playing a lot better, but I still haven't won this year. I'd like to get myself right there again, see if I can do it.

Q. Was this tournament last year your final event of the season?
MIKE WEIR: It was.

Q. So that made it kind of a more relaxing off-season for you?
MIKE WEIR: It did. It was a much nicer off-season finishing with a win like that. You know, I did go overseas and play and represent Canada in the World Cup in China last year, but outside of that, it was a nice, relaxing, very satisfying off-season with the way I finished the year with the Presidents Cup and winning here.

Q. Do you have anything lined up for the off-season this year?
MIKE WEIR: I have not. After this week I'm going to have off until Tiger's event in California, but outside of that, I'm just going to try to be at home. I'm hoping for it to snow hard so I can get some skiing in before the season starts up in January.
Other than that, I'll just be down in California a little bit at Taylor Made's facility trying to get my equipment all sorted out to get ready for next year and just try to get -- I've got a few little nagging injuries, rest those up a bit and get them rehabbed and just get next year off to a real good start, try to get ready for that.

Q. You're not in a position where you really need to make a big climb, but do you think this kind of a setup is a pretty good idea for some of these other guys who are here playing, to try to come up a few spots?
MIKE WEIR: Sure. This is a big time of year for a lot of players, whether it's trying to secure their card, trying to get in the Top 70 to get in the invitationals, trying to win. There's a lot of different scenarios for a lot of different players, and this time of year makes it very exciting. We're playing a really good golf course; we've got a great sponsor in Fry's here that really stepped up to help the TOUR out.
I think these last few events are going to be very exciting for the TOUR. I remember being in this position many times. My first year on TOUR, I remember being right there to try to keep my card. It's a nerve-wracking experience. I remember making a putt to make the cut right on the nose, about a ten-footer at Disney, which is our last event that year. And I thought, I made that putt and I made it to make the cut, and I thought that was enough to probably keep my card. A bunch of guys played good on the weekend and passed me, and I finished 130th on the Money List, I think. I still remember that pretty vividly.
A lot of guys are going to be going through that. You're going to have to make a big putt to make the cut or maybe to have a Top 10 or a chance to win. So there's a lot of different scenarios, like I said, that guys are going through out there.
DOUG MILNE: Mike, as always, we appreciate your time.

End of FastScripts

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