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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 20, 2011

Mike Weir

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Mike Weir to the 2011 RBC Canadian Open. Mike, this is your 21st time playing in the event. If you could just talk to us a little bit about playing here, obviously, a home-field advantage to it. If you could talk about that and we'll open it up to some questions.
MIKE WEIR: 21 years, yeah, that's hard to believe. Yeah, this is a great city. I have great memories here in this city. I won my first Canadian Tour event right up the road in Richmond, and my first PGA TOUR event was in Surrey.
So I love the city, love the area, great golf fans here. It's a great golfing province. Lot of great champions come out of here. So I think all the players and all the buzz around here, everybody decided to be here. It's a great golf course as well. Probably the toughest set-up we've seen so far this year of any TOUR event. So it's a real championship feel, national championship feel.
So I'm excited to be here. By the talk of the other guys, I think they are too. So looking forward to a good week.

Q. You've probably come into this one with the least amount of expectations in the past 10, 15 years for you personally. Does it feel different to you coming in this year with maybe not as much expectation as you have coming here in the past?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, possibly, I think. My expectations are even as poorly as I've played, I still like to think that I have a glimmer of hope if I can find the fairway a few more times than I have been.
I'm excited to see some of the younger guys playing better, and have a few more guys get in there with a chance to win. But for myself, it hasn't been great to -- I haven't had great success on the golf course, but at the same time, you get here and I kind of prepare that if I can get some momentum and have great crowd support behind me, hopefully it will turn into something good.

Q. Can you just talk about your game, where it's at, and where maybe it hasn't been as good as in years past? What's changed and where you're at now?
MIKE WEIR: Well, what's changed is I was injured last year and developed some bad habits. Talked about this ostensibly, but I'm fighting my way out of that.
I'm at a time right now where I'm trying to work my way back into form and gain some momentum, just string some solid shots together. And hopefully I'll lead some good rounds and some good tournaments, and build it back up that way.
That's, you know, that's what I know to do. Just keep grinding, keep working hard. And, you know, I've been through -- it took me, I believe, 7 years to get on the PGA TOUR. There were a lot of lean times, so I know what it's like when it's tough and you're struggling.
It's a little different now than when you're coming up. But, at the same time, my mindset is still keep working hard and try to find answers to the problems I'm having. So just keep at it.

Q. You're back working with Mr. (Indiscernible) and Mr. Bennett. How are you approaching that at this point given that you've been away for a couple of years? Do you fall back into that kind of mindset or that kind of approach easily? Do you get the sense that this week back working with them, do you just see this sort of as a step in progress or how do you view it?
MIKE WEIR: A little bit of a step in progress. Just trying to simplify it a little bit more this time around. Being away from those guys, they've done a great job of simplifying their method for myself. It makes a lot of sense just applying that and keeping it simple for me.
Whoever they work with, Charlie and Dean, they may have different things that work for them. I've got to find what's right in that technique for me because I do like it. That's kind of what I'm pushing here to find, one or two things to concentrate on and keep it simple as I can.

Q. When you left him the first time, you talked about lacking a bit of feel in it. How do you think it will be different the second time around? Do you have a different mindset or different approach to that?
MIKE WEIR: I think just keeping it simpler. I think you lose the feel when you're really technique bound and simply concentrating on technique all the time, maybe you lose that feel for your shots in the game.
So that's why I'm trying to identify one or two key things that are going to help me fix a few things. Then I just get back to playing golf and not think about it so much and not worry about it so much.
That's with any teacher, Mike and Andy or whoever. You've got to kind of break it down and use the one or two little nuggets that you get from whoever is teaching you, then go play with it.
So I think to my own fault maybe last time I was with those guys, I tried to gather too much information and tried to understand it all the way and make it perfect. And now I'm not trying to be perfect. I just want it to be manageable so I can just go play.

Q. When the Blue Jays won the World Series, a lot of good young Canadian baseball players came through. I'm not suggesting you're old and you haven't finished it, but there are a lot of good young golfers that look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps. How does that make you feel like you're a trailblazer? And, B, when you look at the youngsters, who maybe sticks out in your mind as the next thing to come along in Canadian golf?
MIKE WEIR: I think to answer the first part of your question, it makes me feel great. I had Dan Halldorson and Dave Barr and Zokol to look up to when I first got on the TOUR. And those guys played a few Canadian Tour events and I got to know them a little bit, and I know Zokol from my BOU days.
So I had someone to talk to so I had someone to talk to and ask about TOUR life and how to get better. So like I said before, I hope the guys embrace that and come talk to me if they have questions. I try to be as available as I can for that.
But identifying one guy, I would never put that pressure on one guy. There are obviously a lot of talented players here, and you never know who's going to pop up. McQuillan had a great week a few weeks ago. I think Graeme's got a great career ahead of him once he gets healthy and feeling good.
We know Jon Mills and David Hearn are good, solid players. Matt Hill, Nick Taylor. These guys are coming up. Might take them a few years. They might get out there next year, who knows. There's talent in this country.
I've always believed don't get comfortable playing around here. Get overseas play and get experienced like that. It makes you tougher. So hopefully the guys will do that, and a lot of the guys are doing that a little bit more now. I expect a lot more guys coming out here and doing well.

Q. Knowing how involved you are in your business and everything that goes on relative to that. I'm just wondering with (Indiscernible), and everything that's happening and going on there, are you finding now that you're more focused away from your game, less focused? Is it about the same it was before? Where are you in that correlation between business and what you're going through now?
MIKE WEIR: I'd say more focused on my game than maybe I ever have been. I have great people. I have my brother, and great team at IMG helping me look after a lot of that. I trust them and they do a great job so I can focus on my game.
When they need me, I help as best I can. But it's all about golf right now for me.

Q. Mike, you've been through a caddie change this year, but it's a fairly fragile relationship. Are you aware of the latest change, Tiger and Steve Williams are done?
MIKE WEIR: I just heard that. Somebody just mentioned that to me.

Q. Does that surprise you? How fragile a relationship is that? You've had a long relationship and they've had a long relationship. Two of the longest really on TOUR, I would say.
MIKE WEIR: How fragile is it?

Q. Yeah. It can be. There seems to be a lot of changes, a lot of players or caddies don't last as long as you guys did?
MIKE WEIR: Most guys don't last that long. You're with each other so much, you know. You're on the golf course and together all the time. So I think sometimes those relationships can dissipate, and sometimes there can be some strength in that too.
If you look at the history of the game, some guys use different caddies weekly. It's just what fits you best. I don't know what Tiger's mindset, what he was thinking about that. But I'm sure he appreciates the relationship he had with Steve, and I'm sure they're friends, and maybe he just felt like he needed a change.

Q. How did you come to Don this week? I know he's worked with some friends of yours.
MIKE WEIR: I've known Don a long time from those relationships. Actually had dinner with Notah a few weeks ago. And his brother Clint is a good friend of mine too. I said what is Clint doing for the week. He said Don's caddying for me at the Canadian Open but I want him to caddy for you. And I said, well, I don't want to take your caddy he said it would be a great experience for Don. He's always wanted to caddie in the Canadian Open. So I said if you're okay with that, I'll do it. So that's how it happened. So that was nice of Notah to offer that up.

Q. Here's another old question, sorry about that. I've been trying for three years to get the answer. Your preshot routine, is that related to Hogan's hand action at all?
MIKE WEIR: It's not, actually. Well, I developed that many, many years ago. It was mainly more of a club face position flaw that I felt like that really helped me correct in my swing. I did that in 1998. I started that in 1998.
So it wasn't really -- I mean, there are some swing plain feel in there as well, but not really Hogan he is being. It was kind of my own deal.

Q. And not hand action into the ball?
MIKE WEIR: No, not into the ball, away from the ball a little bit, yeah.

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