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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

February 14, 2009

Mike Weir

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA

MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Mike Weir to the interview room. Mike is currently standing in second at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Mike, if you'd start out and give some general comments about your round and your thoughts about where you're at at this point.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, today's round wasn't quite like my first two rounds. My first two rounds I played pretty error-free golf, just down the middle and on the green and had a lots of birdie putts. Today was a little different. My first nine holes was a little scrappy, missing fairways, missing some greens, but made some nice up-and-downs.
Then I got to my front side and just started playing a little better, started stringing some better shots together. I made a nice putt on 5, the par-3, and that got me going. I made about a 25-footer there.
And then the last four holes I hit unbelievable shots, some of the best shots I've hit. I hit a good drive and a rescue club up the hill on 6 to about eight feet and missed that.
I hit a driver, 3-wood on the par-5 to about six feet for eagle, missed that.
8, I hit a drive and a 5-iron to about eight feet, and I missed that.
9 I hit a driver and a 3-iron to about 20 feet and made it.
You know, it was nice to see that putt go in the last hole because I had hit some unbelievable shots my last few holes and would have been maybe a little frustrating not to get one of those in.

Q. Do you walk off the course happy or a little bit --
MIKE WEIR: Totally happy. I hit nice putts. The greens, obviously with the moisture, they're in good condition, but late in the day they are what they are. You hit a good putt where you think it's going to go, and sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't.
You know, that putt on the last hole made it a little nicer to finish. But like I said, the front nine, I could have been 3-over par and I was even. It was good to hold it together there. It could have been. I missed a bunch of greens and could have easily been over par.

Q. You've got an uphill climb a little bit. Dustin has a pretty good lead going into the last day, but nobody knows about the weather. How do you go about things? Of course you've played this course and have played well here over the years.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I have some good memories to draw on. I've played some good rounds at Pebble Beach, and as far as the weather goes, we'll see what we get tomorrow. This week we've been lucky. Most days they've called for a lot of rain and we've gotten away with it. So who knows.
You know, if it's calm at Pebble Beach you can score. If it's windy it's as tough as anything. We'll see what we get tomorrow.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MIKE WEIR: I don't know. I mean, I'm really -- I don't think it matters. I'm just going to go out there and play hard. I don't think it really matters too much.

Q. You've been enough in contention. I'm thinking of the year you were tied with Arron where you can get some wild swings in scores quickly.
MIKE WEIR: You can, yeah. The golf course lends itself to that with tough conditions and wind. You get playing well, you can get it under par. If you're a little off with your game in strong winds, it can get away from you. You know, it can. In other years I've come from behind in this tournament and got real close to the lead from shooting a good score on the last day. You can do that out here.

Q. How were the elements out there today? I know there was a little bit of rain.
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, we didn't have the umbrellas out on our course, at Spyglass, so it didn't rain on us, but it was tough. The wind was up-and-down and it was gusting pretty darned hard out there. You know, 205 yards and I'm hitting a full-out rescue club on 6 as hard as I can hit it. A shot like that is probably playing close to 235 with the wind into you. So it was a factor out there.

Q. What would you normally hit?
MIKE WEIR: That would maybe be a 4-iron or something up the hill like that. It was definitely a two-club wind at most points if you were straight into the wind.

Q. It's been tough on the amateurs, huh?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it was a tough course for the amateurs today. My partner George played great. He chipped in for a net birdie on the last hole, so we made the cut as a team, so that was a big bonus for us.

Q. What will it be like to play with the amateurs tomorrow?
MIKE WEIR: You know, it doesn't make a big difference as far as your mentality competing to try to win the tournament. I'll be still trying to help my partner do well, George, but I'll be trying to win the tournament, as well.
A few years ago when I played with Wayne Gretzky, I was in the final group, Davis and I, and Wayne was there, and it didn't -- there was no difference. I was still trying to win the tournament the same as if he wasn't there.

Q. What's the worst weather round you've ever played in?
MIKE WEIR: Oh, boy. That's a hard one. I mean, the British Open last year was very difficult. There was a number of rounds on the Canadian Tour I played on Prince Edward Island I remember at the Links at Crowbush Cove, I think it would have been in the early '90s. That rounds sticks out to me because I remember we were warming up and we were hitting sand wedges to see if we could get them to go over our head because the wind was blowing so hard. They were getting close. They were getting within about four yards of us. We were just hitting high floppers and they were getting right to our feet. That was maybe the strongest wind we've ever played in.

Q. How strong was it?
MIKE WEIR: I don't know exactly, but it blew over merchandise tents, just took them right down.

Q. Was it raining, too?
MIKE WEIR: It did rain. It rained.

Q. Where did you finish?
MIKE WEIR: I can't remember. I think I was probably right in the middle of the pack if I remember right. As a matter of fact, I think that particular day we got started maybe about -- I remember playing five or six holes and then they called it for a couple hours and then we had to go back out after it slowed down a little bit because balls were blowing off the green and all kinds of stuff.

Q. When you're chasing a guy that's got a big lead like this, young and inexperienced, and he said that he probably hasn't had that big a lead since he was in college, does that change your approach at all?
MIKE WEIR: Not really. You know, Dustin, I've never played with him before, but obviously I know he has a lot of power, and he won last year, so he's obviously doing the right things.
You know, I've won seven of my eight tournaments from behind, and I don't change my mentality when I'm behind, really. I try to stick to my game. I don't have -- I'm not the type of player that has a second gear where I can say, I'm going to bomb this one out there. My game is just down the middle, playing smart golf, trying to make a lot of putts and wedge it great. That's my game, and sometimes it's good enough, sometimes it's not. Hopefully it is tomorrow.

Q. Are you, if not right there, close to where you were in '03 in that stretch when you were playing well and you won the Masters, et cetera, and then of course you slipped a little bit and I know you had putting problems. Have you worked your way back where you feel the game is there?
MIKE WEIR: I didn't really have putting problems, I was a little injured. But my game is coming back. My last couple years I've worked my way back. Yeah, I mean, golf is golf. I didn't play great today. I played a series of great holes at the end that really got my round together, but I held it together with a great short game. It wasn't phenomenal ball-striking or anything, but I'm playing nicely, yeah.
MARK STEVENS: Thanks a lot, Mike.

End of FastScripts

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