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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 17, 2014Mike WeirIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We will get starred. I would like to welcome Mike Weir. Another solid round, 9‑under, 1 off the lead going into the final round. Talk about what went well today and your thoughts going into the final round. MIKE WEIR: Well, I think similar to the first two rounds, I think my iron play was very good, hit a number of shots close to the hole today and my putter was good, converted most of those. I think overall that aspect was probably the strength of the game today. Q. And your thoughts going into tomorrow? MIKE WEIR: Yeah, great position to be in, that's where I wanted to put myself starting today was either be in the lead or around the lead to have a chance tomorrow. Looking forward to that challenge. That's what I've been working toward the last few years to get myself back here in this position and looking forward to that challenge. Q. Mike, the run you got on, I guess, starting at 8, talk about how important that was for your round today. MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it was. It was a nice little stretch there. I felt like there was a couple of things that didn't quite pan out, I hit some pretty good shots on the first seven holes and found myself just off just a little bit, a little bit awkward spots, the bunker shot on 7 was in a funny lie, that normally would be an easy up and down, hit a nice shot right at the hole on 5 and 6 as well, and just things weren't kinda going my way at the start of the round so to see some momentum, hit a great fairway bunker shot to 3, 4 feet on 8, and I did the same on 9, hit a fairway bunker shot to, probably, 15 feet, made that one, nice drive and a wedge to about 15 feet again, and then, you know, kinda got a lucky one on 11. I hit it in the rough and I had kind of a funny lie and it was a little luck and a little good execution. I was trying to land it short like that and have it bounce right like that and go up there into to tap‑in range, that was a lucky brake, it was a nice little run of four in a row. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: It was a funny stance and funny lie and like I said I was just trying to get that ball tumbling on to the green and I would have been happy if it was 50 feet on the front but it tumbled all the way to the hole. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: I saw that shot in my mind but that's what I envisioned. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: Exactly. Q. Mike, is there anything change a putter or technique, anything that you've done differently this week that you attribute your putting success to? MIKE WEIR: I think one thing is, you know, I went to a smaller grip on my putter and I feel like it brought a little feel back for me. The other grip was fine but‑‑ and it was stable and I loved it too, but I just felt like I wasn't make being anything. I just wanted to make a change and I thought, well, I like the putter, I just wanted to change the grip to give it a different feel and I went back to the normal size grip. I putted well with both but I hadn't putted very well in the last couple of months so I wanted a change. Q. With so many guys up there, bunched together, how do you plot strategy for tomorrow? MIKE WEIR: You know, my strategy is really just‑‑ I know the way I'm trying to approach this golf course. I'm not really‑‑ it's a little cliche, I know, but I'm not paying attention to what anybody else does. I don't bomb it like these guys, I can't cut corners and reach the par 5s like they can and that's not my game and hopefully it's good enough. You have to keep putting well and have good iron play and my iron play has been good and hopefully I will be able to chew that up tomorrow. Q. Mike, I'm trying to get some perspective on how low it got. Certainly a victory tomorrow would mean a lot but in 2012 it looked like maybe you bottomed out. Was there a moment‑‑ you talked about wondering what you were going to do. Was there a memory, a talk with your wife, a "come to Jesus" moment? MIKE WEIR: I've had plenty of talks with my family about that. I was telling the guys in here yesterday that I think as you get older, you know, use Strick as an example, you want to cut back, you miss things with your kids and you want to be there for them and when you're playing poor golf it makes you reflect and say do I want to do this? I've accomplished more in my career than I ever dreamed I would coming from the mini TOUR guy, Canadian TOUR guy, for six or seven years and do I want to put nice through this? Because I was working very hard, not seeing anything. Definitely was difficult and had plenty of talks and my kids are old enough now, they're 16, 14, they're like, "dad, get out there" and if they would have said we want you home, I probably would but they want me out there, they're encouraging and I'm having fun and enjoying the process right now, but I don't know, I don't know how long I will. It is a grind and I'm having fun right now but I would probably in the next few years suspect that my schedule will probably be cut back significantly. Q. (No microphone.) MIKE WEIR: A little bit, yeah. She got some glimpses, but I would still like to do some good things while they're older now and I remember when D.T. won at Colonial a few years ago I thought that was special that his son was there. So I think that's pretty cool. Q. David do you value also saying I want to prove to my kids that I used to be pretty good! MIKE WEIR: Yeah, that has something to do with it. Q. Mike, did you get a chance to talk to your kids last night? What did they say? MIKE WEIR: No, they were‑‑ Friday night, sleep-overs, youngest one, friends, texted a little bit. They just texted me now, I'll talk to them here in a little bit. Q. We talked the other day about the strengths and the weakness of this golf course and how it brings out the best. Apparently today you found the best, you were out there and striking the ball well. Talk about the striking and you talked about the par 5s but talk about the other holes and how it helped you get that run going. MIKE WEIR: What I find is the tough part of this golf course, that south, southwest wind makes‑‑ a lot of the golf course are crosswinds, so when you have firm fairways and the wind is blowing straight across the fairway to curve that ball to get it to stay in the fairway when it's really starting to bounce it's challenging to get the ball in the fairway. All three of us had a tough time finding the fairway today but I think that's the strength of the golf course. I think around the greens is difficult if you're just off the edges, the chipping can be difficult so you got to plot your way around and play some smart shots on the certain points and then there are spots that you can attack a little bit. I think it's a fair, really good golf course. Q. Who have you been working with on your golf swing, anybody mentally? MIKE WEIR: I still work with Dr. Rich Gordin. We've worked together for a long time and I've been working on my swing on my own. I spent a little time this week with a guy, Joe Mayo helping me find a good driver and shaft combination for me and I think I didn't have a little bit of the right lie angle, we adjusted it a little bit in the shaft and that seems to be helping a little bit but for the most part at the start of this year I decided to work on my own and try to simplify and strip away the things that I didn't need, and the extra bits that I didn't need. I felt like I needed to get out there and play and that's finally starting to pay off. Q. Did you see this coming you played well in New Orleans, right? MIKE WEIR: Wells Fargo I played pretty well, I played some good golf early in the year, I can't think of the number of tournaments‑‑ Pebble Beach in particular this year, I really played really well the first round I remember hitting 14 fairways and 18 greens and shot 1‑under, had 37, 38 putts, things like that. It was frustrating because my ball striking was coming around and now that part of my game is start to go get sharper this week. Q. You work with a variety of instructors the last several years. What was the determining factor to decide to go your own because not a lot of guys do that? MIKE WEIR: I've worked with a few guys, I guess. I guess the thing for me was I didn't want to be bound by a certain way, now I learned great things from those guys and things that helped me but there comes a point where you just gotta get out there and play. I worked with Grant Waite the last year and a half and he helped me tremendous amount, but it's just time to go play, and that's how I used my first instructor. I worked on it and then I went and played. I found I was becoming more dependent on somebody and then that led to questioning myself on the golf course. Now not everybody is like that, some people need that, some people want to have an instructor there and it works well for them. I just found that after a while, I didn't want to keep asking questions anymore, I just wanted to get out there and do it. I had the answers. I knew what I need to do work on my swing and now it's a matter of just getting out there and doing it. THE MODERATOR: Thanks for your time, Mike. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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