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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 6, 2009

Mike Weir

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Q. After South Africa there was a lot of buzz about The Presidents Cup, fans and players, even the Americans were talking about Presidents Cup; are you hearing that same kind of buzz now from the players?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I am. Sitting in the locker room, I think everybody has been -- from both sides, has been excited about it.
Like I said, even though the score I guess wasn't reflective of how competitive it was in MontrÃ©al, I think both sides really enjoy the event. The fan support, everything there was first-class.
So I think the event keeps continuing to get bigger, and I've heard rumblings that they like it maybe even more than The Ryder Cup, some of the Americans, I've heard that sometimes.
I think the spirit of the competition, I think is what guys like. It's to play hard and fierce, but it's not -- what's the word I want to use -- it's not do-or-die. We are competing hard, but as the old guys, Bobby Jones and the old guys, you still shake hands and say good job.

Q. Does any of that stem from the fact that there does not seem to be the negativity in there that there is in The Ryder Cup? The losing captains especially in Europe get scrutinized where that doesn't seem to happen here so much.
MIKE WEIR: That's a good point, a possibility that that's it. But I see the sportsmanship even more, not that they don't do it in The Ryder Cup, I'm not saying that. I think it's gotten better in the last few years that they have played it.
But the captains, starting with Jack and Gary and Peter Thomson, these guys that maybe are of that generation where that was really important, they have kind of really tried to push that home for this event. I think it's really stuck, and I think that's good for the game.

Q. Is the enthusiasm for this event in a different way -- inaudible.
MIKE WEIR: I don't particularly look at it that way. I look at it more as I said up there, being on a team like this, having 11 other guys that they rely on you and you are relying on them and you kind of come together and it ends up being a special week to all pull together like that on a team.
It's different in golf to have that. I guess that's what I look forward to and that's what makes it very special, just the group of guys that you get with.

Q. Their superiority in foursomes is maybe due to them getting experience every year instead of every second year; what can you do about that?
MIKE WEIR: We have talked about it a lot. Bottom line is, I think we just need to play better. I mean, I don't know what else there is. I mean, there might be a little more experience, like you said they are playing every year and they maybe get those pairings more down pat and maybe they don't have as much movement in the players on their team; where we have a few more different players moving in and out.
But that said, you still have got to get it done. You still have to drive it in the fairway and hit solid iron shots and make putts. We just haven't done that.

Q. Does this feel like a taller order than some other years? It looked on paper as if the International Team should be right there, or if not superior; it looks like the Americans have so much going for them.
MIKE WEIR: It does look like that for them. And in other year, it is looked like that, that we have been the hot team, players come playing well coming into this, and this year we are the opposite spectrum. And we are trying to use that as maybe that's a good thing that we are not the favorites this time. I think the other four times, I can't say that we felt like we were the underdogs. We all felt like the favorites in our rooms, but maybe this year, we do feel like maybe we can come from behind and play that underdog role maybe a little bit.

Q. How is the course setup?
MIKE WEIR: I think it sets up fine. I think it sets up -- these guys have heard me talking a lot about Augusta, it sets up for a player that can shape the ball both ways. There's lots of doglegs to the right, there's some to the left and you just are to be able to work the ball around. It's not -- you just can't get away with just hitting straight. You have to work the ball a little bit. Left-to-right or right-to-left, you have to be curving the ball right to get it in the fairway.

Q. Like on the driving range where you have to hit the ball a mile -- inaudible.
MIKE WEIR: It's great to play something that gets you to -- big old trees like this and you have to shape the ball around them and limbs, when you're on certain edges on the fairways, limbs cover over and you have cutover that actually cover parts of the greens. So you have to work it around some tree limbs and things like that. That's a little different than we play on TOUR. We don't play a lot of that. It's fun to play a golf course like this. It's a great public golf course.

Q. How challenging is it for you when you're playing a week-to-week event and you can set up your own schedule of how you want to practice? This week you don't get that luxury. Talk about some of the things that you're sort of giving up or things that you sort of have to change in the way that your routine goes, in order to play your best, come Thursday?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it is a little different that we are traveling together, and you need to get your practice time. You have got to make the most of when you're out there on the range and on the golf course to get done what you need to get done because there is a lot of functions going on; you're being shuttled around here and there.
For example, you wish maybe that you had more work to do on the short game, if there was more time to do that; or there's not a fairway bunker to practice out are, things like that. You get that work on done the course. You might drop a few balls in the fairway bunkers, hit those, where maybe at a regular event you could spend time on the range doing those things.
All of those things, you have to play in the back of your mind, how does this golf course -- how does it suit my game and what do I need to work on and figure out a way to kind of do that on the golf course to figure out a way to play a practice round, because it's hard to do that. It's a makeshift driving range that they have converted for the tournament, and you know, not probably what we see every week on TOUR.

Q. How do you find yourself preparing differently now compared to when you were playing your first team event?
MIKE WEIR: I just know to prepare for that; I get up in the morning, stretch it out, this is my time line, this is what I'm going to do today, these are my goals today what I want to get accomplished. Before I just kind of go with the flow and get done what I get done, and if I didn't enough short game practice I might feel a little antsy, like I didn't get it done. But now I kind of have a plan.

Q. Are there any team traditions or superstitions?
MIKE WEIR: I can't think of any if we have any. Not really.

Q. (Inaudible.
MIKE WEIR: That was Canada. We gave a couple of the hockey jerseys -- I gave the team hockey jerseys one year, all the guys. Other years I've given them wine.
This year I have given them International Team sunglasses is my gift to all of the guys this year. They are supposed to be here. They got held up in customs I think.

Q. What do they look like?
MIKE WEIR: They just have our logo on the side of the glasses. Any traditions that we have, not really. I guess the biggest thing is guys like to have their own beer in from different countries. We have beer from Argentina coming, South Africa, Australia.

Q. What is yours?
MIKE WEIR: Molson. Have a few Molson in here.

Q. It's like some of your teammates could be your son -- inaudible -- (regarding Ryo).
MIKE WEIR: That's a good the point. I was talking to Adam Scott about that last night. I said, I started dating my wife two years before he was born. (Laughter) So that's kind of scary.
But you know, it's great. I can't imagine that 18 years old being -- I think he's the youngest player ever to be in the Top-50 in the world. He's got a great head on his shoulders. I was very impressed. Just like at the British Open, we had a little team meeting and he came over and introduced himself to everybody. Even though he doesn't speak the greatest English, he tries and that's even getting better from the last time I spoke with him. I'm impressed with him, 18 years old.

Q. A little different dynamic for you this time, not having to carry the weight of the nation?
MIKE WEIR: It's a lot different. It's a lot different. You know, it's a different role. It's more of a veteran trying to lead maybe a little bit more. In MontrÃ©al, no question, there was a lot of pressure there. I was a pick by Gary, and to play that well and then get paired against Tiger on Sunday was a thrill and to play that well was a thrill.
So it's a little different atmosphere for me here. It's almost a little more relaxed and relieved compared to '07.

Q. Would you like to be a captain one day?
MIKE WEIR: I would love to. I would love to. I think it would be an honor to be a captain.

Q. You have a certain amount of fame obviously in your home country. Can you imagine the type of fame that a young kid faces, the media following him, even here? It's overwhelming at times. It's got to be for such a young guy; right?
MIKE WEIR: It does, and he handles it well. But you know, the Japanese love their golf, and you know, my era, even ten years ago, with Maru, and Hidemichi Tanaka had his own cartoon over in Japan he would tell me. They had all of these keychains of themselves and they had their numbers, and they are just fanatical about golf. The media following that these guys get is phenomenal.
So to have a guy like Ryo in the Top-50 in the world at 18 years old, you can see why they get excited about that and he's not disappointing so far. He's won four times this year, so he's really doing some great stuff.

Q. Can you think of a sport where an 18-year-old kid could play a 41-year-old guy?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, I can't think of one, at a high level like that. I was going to say tennis but no way.

Q. How many captains have you had?
MIKE WEIR: I've had -- this is the third one.

Q. I know it's early but just curious if there's a contrast with Greg Norman's leadership style to Gary's or Peter?
MIKE WEIR: Yeah, it was Peter before --

Q. Is there a difference between the leadership style?
MIKE WEIR: I think Greg's more -- I think both those guys really each left it up to the players a lot, and you know, not speaking of Greg, but Peter and Gary left it to the players to go and get it done. Greg has taken more of an active role. He's asked us for our opinion but he's the captain.

Q. Has he encouraged more input from you guys?
MIKE WEIR: A little bit of both. A little bit of both. He wants our input, as well, but he's just very detailed. Greg is a very detail-oriented guy, and every thing that we can think of, oh, I have that covered, I have this covered. There's not any base that's uncovered with Greg.

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