|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 16, 2014Mike WeirIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We're happy to have Mike Weir with us, after a 4‑under par, 66, Mike, good playing out there. If we can get some comments on your round? MIKE WEIR: Sure! This is what media center looks like! I've forgotten what it looks like! (Laughter.) My round was solid, I played well, I putted really well. I feel like I haven't been making bombs or anything, but inside of 10 feet I've been putting well and that continued today. When I did have any opportunities for birdies I converted them and was able to scramble when I was out of position on certain holes and keep the round together. All in all it was a very good day. Q. How much different was it out there today compared to yesterday? Was it easier? MIKE WEIR: You know, the wind wasn't as strong but as light as it was, it did have a little swirl to it today where yesterday afternoon even though it wasn't really strong yesterday it was more consistent. So I still found it fairly tough out there today. It's just a bit of an awkward golf course with the angle and things, it's a demanding golf course, so I felt like it was fairly tough out there. Q. I know you haven't finished anything yet and it's only halfway through but how satisfying is this after the long road you've been on are over the years? MIKE WEIR: It's nice to get myself into position, and that's the work I've been doing over the years is to get myself back into this position and now I've got to see if I can handle it and get momentum going and play well on the weekend. It's been tough, and it's been difficult to play and not be in contention, it's tough, when you're missing a lot of cuts and you're on the road and things aren't going as well it makes the game‑‑ you don't love it as much, I guess, and I think now that I'm starting to see some signs, the enthusiasm gets greater and you grind it out a little bit more. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: I don't know. I don't know if there was. I'm sure there was at some point, but, you know, couple of years ago, probably. Now I've been healthy. The low point was really when my elbow was bothering me and not being able to practice and got in some horrible habits with compensating for that. Been past that the last couple of years. Been a slower process than what I would have liked to get back but at the same time it is what it is and playing a little better. Q. When you look at the top of the leaderboard, fellow Canadian, Graham is up there and when he was in here earlier he talked about looking up to you and what does it mean when you see young players and having success that say they've looked after you as a guy to watch, what do you know about his and his game? MIKE WEIR: I think the world of Graham as well and he's obviously a great young talent and doing great things. He will break through at anytime here. Who knows, may get a chance to play together tomorrow, but it means a lot. I'm at that age I guess that some of the younger‑‑ a couple of the younger Canadian guys out here, when I won the master's, they were in their early 20s and trying to establish their career. I remember when I was that age, it was Richard Zokol, Jim Nelford and Dave Barr, those were the Canadian guys that I looked up to that were on TOUR and Dan Halldorson, guys that I scanned the newspaper to find their names so it's kinda cool to hear that now. I don't feel like I'm at that stage but I guess I am and it's kinda neat. Q. When Graham was in here he was talking about how hard you've been working and you mentioned it, too. Did you see this coming? These two rounds? Did you feel like it's been a progress that doesn't really surprise you, what you've been doing so far? MIKE WEIR: Doesn't surprise me a lot. I've been playing a lot of good golf but not scoring well. Really early in the year I had a lot of good rounds and I putted quite poorly and I would shoot 71 or 72 that could have been a nice round and I didn't putt very well. So my game felt good but the short game was spotty, so to see a few more putts go in, that's what the difference has been the last month to the last two days, was really just making a few putts. So I have seen some signs the last couple of months of playing better golf. Q. Mike, a few weeks ago you were at the Masters where you're still an honored guest there. When you go there is that motivational to remember how great you used to do or is it depressing because you go back and then you're not there? What do you come out of the master's thinking? MIKE WEIR: Well, this year after two rounds I was in contention, I was right in there, so I guess I felt good about things this year. Anytime you go back to the masters, especially as a past champion you have this‑‑ you're welcome there and you feel from the crowd and you feel it from the crowd, you feel it from all the members. It's just a wonderful feeling to be a past champion and to go back and feel welcomed. Q. Do you bring that on to the TOUR? When you leave there, can you bring that forward? MIKE WEIR: I guess you probably can. It's such a different feel, that one week, so I guess if you get momentum out of there you can carry that forward. I don't know if I did this year or not, but I guess you see players do that who have had success at Augusta and carry that forward. Q. Mike, you talk about this course being difficult or challenging but certain courses bring out the best in players or strengths and some accentuate their weaknesses, which is it for you here? Does it show your strengths or accentuate a weakness on this course? MIKE WEIR: I think what accentuates my strength is probably my short game. You have to be creative. There is a lot of run‑offs on the greens, your ball goes down there it's tough to get the ball up and down, and I've always been pretty good at that and I've done that for two days and maybe it does show my strength of that part of my game around this course. Q. Who has helped you keep a positive mind‑set? Can you share an anecdote about what has been said to keep you feeling that way? MIKE WEIR: I think my family and close friends, I get a lot of support there. My support psychologist I work with, Dr.Rich Gordin I've worked with at Utah State we continue to talk and work through that and bottom line it comes down to me having a belief. It just came down to me accepting that I love this game still and I want to compete and I still want to keep going and see if I can get back to the level that I was or who knows, if I can, or exceed that or if I don't that's fine, too, but I love the game and I love to compete, I love being out here. So for me that's good enough to keep positive and keep working hard. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: No, not really. Nothing of late. I think just the way my career has gone. I have had up's and down's I didn't get on the TOUR for six years out of college so I played a lot of smaller tours, Canadian tours, a lot of missed cuts overseas. I try to keep that perspective that just because I reached a certain level on the PGA TOUR I didn't forget where I came from and what it took to get me here and now that I have had a downturn I was able to remember that I was able to dig myself out of that and persevere through that, so I always kept that in the back of my mind. Q. Mike, you seem like a positive person and hard worker but did you experience the emotion of bitterness at any point in this process? MIKE WEIR: I don't think bitterness. No doubt about it, I was down. There was plenty of times I was very down and maybe wondering what I was going to do next. You start to question the‑‑ if you want to keep doing this. Especially, you know, I have two young daughters that are teenagers now and being away from home gets harder and you see that with guys around my age, Steve Stricker, and you don't like to be away from home and you don't like to do it when you're playing bad golf. If you're playing good golf that's one thing but if you're playing bad golf and missing cuts that's another thing. But there were plenty of times I questioned, but again to have family and friends support and talk through that with and to feel their support saying," Hey dad, get out there and keep working." That made me keep going too. Q. Mike, David Duvall was on the leaderboard yesterday, today, along with yourself Retief and Padraig Harrington are up there. Anything that you can attribute that to? MIKE WEIR: Good point. Great to see those guys up there, they're colleagues of mine, right in my era, glad to see them playing well. I don't know, that's interesting why this golf course has brought that out in us and maybe, you know, Padraig has a great short game and I know David does, too, and those guys still have plenty of length, but I think that short game is number one around this course, I think you have to be creative around the greens. Q. You've played this tournament long enough that you remember the days when Byron Nelson was sitting out there. Do you have a favorite story from getting to know him a bit? MIKE WEIR: I think my favorite story was probably I got a nice note from him after I won Riviera in 2003, I won the HOPE earlier and then won the Riviera and I got a nice note from him and coming to this event and having a chat with him and him telling me how much he enjoyed my game and my swing and how much I was competing and we had a chat and maybe more than that would be the Champions Dinner that I hosted in 2004 where I got to sit between Mr.Nelson and Tom Watson on my other side and he mentored Tom and just to hear their stories back and forth and they're great stories and Mr.Nelson's memory of how Augusta has changed and he was telling me about the different angle of holes and how he played certain holes, that was special to hear that. That was probably my favorite story. THE MODERATOR: Mike Weir, thank you, sir. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|