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BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 11, 2004

Mike Weir

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome the 54-hole leader of the Bell Canadian Open, Mike Weir. Congratulations on your play the first three days. Maybe we could talk about today, obviously a great reception out there for you. You played well, have a three-shot lead going into the final round.

MIKE WEIR: I couldn't ask to play much better. I could have putted a little bit better, but I played really solid today. It was what I was looking for, to hit a few more fairways, which I did. It felt like I played better than maybe the first two days, just didn't score that well, but I played a little better, and the fans were awesome out there today again.

Q. Even though you never -- I mean, you were off to a lead early and you never lost the lead. When the birdie chances started getting away, did you have a sense that this was getting away from you, and how important was it to make the one on the last?

MIKE WEIR: I didn't have any sense that it was getting away from me. You sometimes get in those lulls where you're hitting it well and striking it solid and nothing happens, and that's when you've got to stay patient, and that's experience. Last hole, for example, I'm right between yardages, right in between -- I probably can't quite get a 3-iron there and 5-wood is going to be back where Jesper and Vijay are, and I don't want that. I'm usually a pretty good wedge player, so I'll lay it up and make birdie that way.

But that's experience. Knowing when things are flowing your way, maybe I would take a chance to go at that. Things weren't really happening for me today, so why take the chance at it. The worst thing I wanted to do was end with a 6 or something like that. It was not really important to end with a 4, but it was nice having a 4.

Q. Just some bizarre events in the whole group throughout the round. Just your comments about the sequence of events at 11, and as the lone player that had it on in regulation, just waiting to see what happens with the guys going back and forth and how you sort of maintained your focus there, and the second part is 30 putts today, and you increased your lead. It's just a bizarre game. I'm wondering if you could talk about how bizarre golf is like that.

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, the guys hit it in the water there. The wind is tough, swirling around in the valley a little bit. I don't know if the wind gusted back in their faces when they hit their shots, but Vijay was hitting out of the rough and Jesper was hitting out of the bunker, and you don't want that when you're going into No. 11.

Golf is a crazy game. You know, sometimes you can make everything you look at. I'd rather play like I did and just keep making pars and pars, and the birdies are going to fall when you're playing solid like that than scrambling all over the place and having to save par all the time.

So on the other hand, it was a very calm day for me. There was no stress. I was hitting it solid and just waiting for it to happen. Sometimes you've just got to wait for it. I had to wait all the way to 18, but it was good to make one.

Q. When you won The Masters, you talked about how you as a kid sat on that putting green and dreamt about winning it. Did you do the same with the Canadian Open?

MIKE WEIR: I did so, yeah. I just remember being here a lot, coming down here as a fan and as a kid and watching the tournament. But I'm definitely trying to win the Canadian Open. I remember watching Jack Nicklaus, how much he wanted to win the Championship in the eight times he finished 2nd in the thing. I can remember being on the putting green having to putt to win the tournament.

Q. Can you talk about that birdie on 18 where it looked like you had a five-stroke lead at one point and it looked like that lead was kind of evaporating, and to get that lead going into the final round, how big that was?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think I had a five-shot lead at any point today, did I?

Q. I guess the distance between you and Vijay playing together and Jesper was kind of dropping off.

MIKE WEIR: I honestly don't pay attention to that. I don't. I think that's just the experience I have now, if he's making a bunch of birdies, I can't play defense against the other guys. I've got to keep playing golf and things happen out there. Vijay made a triple, then made three birdies in a row. That shows his mental toughness, how he came back. I didn't think much about it at all, my lead evaporating. I wanted to play solid today, and if I was in the lead at the end of the day or ahead or behind a little bit, I'd deal with it no matter what happens.

Q. Just talk about going into tomorrow and I guess mentally how you approach going in. I guess the nation is fired up for you to win this thing, but I guess how do you embrace it as opposed to the pressure where some people can crumble under it? How do you welcome it?

MIKE WEIR: I've enjoyed myself the first three days, and no matter what happens I'm going to have fun out there. We all know this game is a crazy game. You never know what can happen. I'll be focused and enjoying it and looking forward to the challenge. It's going to be a tough challenge.

It's not like winning a regular event out here. For me it's as much or maybe even more so than winning a major championship, and it has been since Thursday. That's the feel I have for this tournament and the respect I have for this tournament, so consequently it means more to me.

Q. I know it's a little bit different situation than what you faced Sunday at Augusta in 2003, but will you draw back on what that day felt like, waking up and knowing you're sitting on the precipice of something great but trying to keep your focus until it's all said and done and you can finally let the release out at the end?

MIKE WEIR: Oh, sure, I can definitely draw on that. That's the most pressure-packed day that I've ever had in the game and I went bogey-free, so I can really draw on that experience. I can draw on I had a five-shot lead in LA this year, and Shigeki Maruyama made a run at me and I was able to hold him off. That's golf, and I wasn't playing that well that day. Consequently, you get different experiences, different situations, and you draw on all of them when you're faced with winning any tournament.

Q. You've been paired with Tiger before and heard those cheers for him. Was it reminiscent today of what he receives at other Tour events?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it was great. I mean, to have that kind of -- so loud out there, the fans, it was awesome. I've played with him a number of times. Obviously when he first got on Tour and the buzz was huge around Tiger, the crowds were rooting -- they still pull for him hard, but there's a little bit of that going on here.

Q. You've been around the revamped Glen Abbey layout a few times. What's your opinion of it now, and were the pins in your estimation fair today?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I thought the pins were fair. They were difficult, in some tough spots to get at on some holes, but the course was playing very fair. If you played solid you could shoot a score. If you're a little bit marginally off, this course can jump up and bite you. That's the mark of a good golf course, and it's played well. The rough is very deep and the greens are starting to firm up and roll out a little bit, so the course is playing a little bit more difficult. It's starting to play how the RCGA and the PGA TOUR wanted it to play.

Q. I noticed your little smile on 18 just because the scene must have been so overwhelming, but I kind of draw the parallels between now and when Laurel Kean won the last du Maurier. She went up 18 and the crowd was the same way. Most of the people sort of look at you like they could walk up and say, "Let's go sit down and have some beer and wings and watch the hockey game." They treat you that sort of way. Does that make you feel not that much more special and that much more at ease when you're moving around people?

MIKE WEIR: I guess so. I don't look at myself any different than anybody else as a fan walking in the crowd. In that regard, I feel comfortable around people. Yeah, it's great that they -- what you said. If that's the sense you're getting, it's pretty cool.

Q. Because there's three guys within three shots, maybe are you looking at the scoreboard a little bit more and do you switch into match play kind of mode?

MIKE WEIR: Maybe a little bit. I'll probably keep an eye on the scoreboard a little bit tomorrow. There's a couple chances you may have to take, 13 or 14, the par 5 -- 13, the par 5, sorry, and 18 are two critical holes. When we come to those maybe I'll keep an eye on what's going on out there. Outside of that, it'll be kind of the same game plan. I can't really do much else about anything else but those two holes in particular.

Q. You seemed to switch from doing your own thing into the match play mode like that against Shigeki --

MIKE WEIR: He birdied both, 15 and 16, and it did seem to be totally match play at that point. It did kind of switch modes there for sure.

Q. Do you know Cliff very well? Did you ever see what happened to him at Q-school and have you ever made fun of him for it?

MIKE WEIR: No, no and no. I don't know Cliff at all and I don't know what happened. I have no idea. You can tell me later.

Q. Fairly philosophical, but the Masters and your performance there speaks for itself, but you've also had a number of wins, be it Tour Championship or Valderrama or at the playoff where you've really focused great coming down the stretch. Where does that come from?

MIKE WEIR: Probably years of playing smaller tours and having to battle and Monday qualify for a lot and qualify -- go through the qualifying process all the time. You have to be in such a good mental state all the time.

It just seems like I've always been under the gun, been able to do well when it needs to be done, so I think it's probably just practice, being there and wanting it badly and wanting to do well. I'm not afraid to do well. I'm not afraid to be in that situation. That's the one thing that walking up -- for whatever reason, I want to be there and I like it, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Do you think there's a lot of guys out here that are afraid to do well, afraid to be in that position?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know. You know, you'd have to ask them. I don't know, but all I know is what I feel. I know that I want to be there. When I go through a stretch of time like I have this year where I haven't been in contention as much, it makes me want to work harder and makes me want to get there for sure.

Q. Have you got a number in mind that you think you've got to shoot to win this tomorrow?

MIKE WEIR: I really don't. I just want to go out there again and just play solid. I know it's cliche, one shot at a time, but that's the bottom line in this game. You have to go up there and just execute. As I said, last night, with the crowd getting excited and everybody getting excited, I have to really watch that because it's very easy to lose your focus, get caught up in what's going on. It'll be a good challenge for me tomorrow to really stay with it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could touch on your two birdies, one bogey, and then we'll take one final question.

MIKE WEIR: First birdie on 8, hit a nice drive and a wedge short left of the green and chipped up from just off the edge.

Drove it in the fairway bunker on 10 and hit a 6-iron just a little heavy just in front, chipped to about ten feet and missed it.

Between clubs on 18, I had 225 yards, a little bit into the wind, and laid up with an 8-iron, hit a sand wedge to about four feet, five feet.

Q. A lot of other guys that have come in this room talked about the significance of their countries' national championships. How do you equate that and the opportunity to win your national championship with some of the other great things you've done so far?

MIKE WEIR: It's right up there. I mean, it's as big as anything really. I'm not going to say it's as great as winning a major championship, let alone The Masters, but it's right there. I mean, it is right there with winning that tournament. I mean, it overrides the Tour Championship, overrides the American Express World Golf Championship in my estimation for me by a long shot.

I'm not sure how the other guys sense that. I know 20, 30 years ago when Trevino and all these guys played, they definitely held it in that regard, and hopefully I feel like we're getting back there right now, moving it around the country. I think this golf course has turned out to be a good challenge this week and we're going to a great course next year, so I think the status of the event is going up big-time.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Mike Weir, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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