MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2024

Mike Weir

Quick Quotes

Q. How was the all-Canadian match out there?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, we had a great time. Always fun for me to catch up with the guys. I only get to see them a couple times a year. I'll see them a little bit more now because I'm traveling out to a few more events, but yeah, always fun.

Q. Was there any Presidents Cup discussion out there?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, a little bit. We talked a little bit about that. Numerous things about the Presidents Cup. But yeah, hoping they all make it.

Q. It's a very busy year for you. How much have you put some of that aside for this time to get yourself ready to play this tournament?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I'm trying to put it aside, but there's still a ton of international players here that I'm catching up with and chatting with. It's always fun to watch them.

But yeah, I'm trying to focus on my own game this week, and then in a couple weeks I'll go to Dallas, I think it's called the CJ Cup that they play there, so I'll be out there early in the week to catch up with some of them.

Q. How much do you look forward to tonight's dinner every year? Is it the highlight of the year, and what are you expecting tonight? It's a little different, the first LIV Golf champion.

MIKE WEIR: I don't look at it that way. Jon is a great champion. I think the dinner will be wonderful, and the menu, I've seen bits and pieces of what's going to be served tonight. Looks great. It's always a night that makes the week really special.

Q. What's the toughest part of being the captain?

MIKE WEIR: The toughest part? I don't know. There's a lot of busywork leading up to it, but the toughest part will be some of those phone calls. There's some great phone calls that you make, the players that make it, and there will be some tough phone calls.

In talking to former captains, they always say that's the toughest part. That's just part of the job.

Q. Over a long career, obviously two things you have the most pride in would be here this week and the Presidents Cup captaincy. Have you thought about what a year this is and especially this week having them both on the plate?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, yeah. It's wonderful. Never thought playing in my first Presidents Cup, I think it was 2000, I'd be standing here 24 years later as a captain of the team. I never thought that would happen. That was never in my wildest dreams.

Super honored. I always love coming back here, honored to be a champion here and come back here. Two great things.

Q. Did you play a match today?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, we played a little match. It was only a nine-hole match because a couple of the guys cut out after nine holes, but Corey and I nipped the West Coasters, and the Ontario guys got them on the front nine. We had a fun match out there.

Q. You have so many good players out on Tour. How do you see that? Is that a reasonable expectation?

MIKE WEIR: I think so. Could be any of them. They're all that good a players. That could just be a roll of the dice who's going to win one, but they're very capable. You watch them play. They're long, hit it solid, great short games. They've got all the tools. You've just got to have one of those magical weeks.

You've got to have your head in the right place, and you've got to obviously putt very well around here. Be great to see -- I'd love to have someone else on Tuesday night up there with me.

Q. The words of wisdom you might pass on, are they at this point about the golf course or what it might take the player to break through at one of these events?

MIKE WEIR: We talked a little bit about the golf course and maybe some different angles and things like that. We talked more about that kind of stuff on the golf course.

I think the guys know that it takes a certain mindset to win a major championship, and they've just got to get themselves there. I can't really help them with that. I can talk to them about certain things like that, but you've got to be in your own little bubble, in your own little world out there. A lot of things happen out there. Good things and bad things happen in the course of 72 holes, and you've got to be able to shrug those off.

You can hit some wonderful shots out here that you can just be a yard or two off here and you're catching a slope and you end up in difficult spots. You've just got to roll with that.

Q. When you look back at your career, was there kind of a mindset shift that allowed you to break through at a major even the bigger tournaments you won?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I think so. I think cumulative of winning a tournament on the Tour and winning a World Golf Championship event and TOUR Championship and putting myself in contention in majors and then the belief system got up higher, so I showed up feeling like I was one of the favorites and felt like I could do it. It was kind of an evolution.

But once I did get my game to that level, then it did become more of the mental side of being able to stay very present for 72 holes. You can get distracted, the what-ifs, and if I play well tomorrow, all that kind of stuff, that just gets in your way.

You have to be really -- that opening tee shot, that's where your attention needs to be, and on the 72nd hole that's where your attention needs to be, not about the what-ifs. This is a skill. It's a learned skill of doing it and getting yourself there all the time.

Q. 20th anniversary of you wearing the green jacket. Do you remember that moment?

MIKE WEIR: Yeah.

Q. And what do you remember about how it felt, the jacket itself?

MIKE WEIR: Well, we played college golf against one another, we're the same age, and Tiger put the jacket on me, and then had to put that on Phil, kind of sandwiched between two of the better -- two of the best players of our generation for sure. That was really cool.