Mikes PGA Championship Preview

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:54:06

"It's the last major of the year, the PGA Championship and for me, it's another big week in what has already been a wonderful year. I arrived here on Sunday and have had a chance to see the golf course a few times now. It's a heck of a golf course, that's for sure. It's an old Donald Ross layout - there are no tricks to it, it's just a solid golf course. It's narrow and has big trees lining every fairway.

It also has very deep rough at the moment that's wet and heavy so you're going to have to hit a lot of fairways; that will be the key this week. The greens are also quick tricky. Pretty much all of them are back to front so keeping the ball underneath the hole is a pretty good strategy all week. The last three holes are really solid - it's just a really good golf course.

I've taken some time away from the Tour since the Open Championship last month. I had a number of commitments ranging from attending the wedding of my caddie and good friend Brennan Little, to playing in the Wayne Gretzky and Friends tournament in Calgary and my own charity event back in my hometown of Bright's Grove.

But in the last couple of weeks, I've been hard at it with my coach Mike Wilson. I worked pretty hard last week at The International and I feel as though my game is coming along pretty well, feeling a little bit more comfortable. I haven't been doing too much the last couple of weeks since the British Open so it's starting to feel more and more comfortable and come Thursday I'll be ready.

Every year at this tournament, there's always a lot of talk about where it fits in compared to the other three majors. I don't worry about where it fits -- it's a major; it's a great event. There's always a great field here on a quality course so it ranks up there pretty high. Obviously there's a little more glamour to the other three but this would still be a nice feather in the cap to win this one.
There's been a lot of talk in the last few weeks about Player of the Year honours and to be included in the debate at this point is nice. It would be a great honour, obviously, but to tell you the truth, I'm not really thinking a whole lot about it. I'm really just trying to find my game and find my form. I'm more concerned at the moment with really trying to get back in contention here and finish off the year strong.

And it might be a bit premature. Although this is the last major, the season doesn't end here. Obviously the Bell Canadian Open is only a few weeks away and that's a major for me. There are also a few World Golf Championship events left and I want to play well in all those, as well.

At the end of all that, if I'm lucky enough to win an award like Player of the Year, I'll sit back and take it all in, but there's still a long way to go and a lot of great players still in contention.

Speaking of more tournaments, this fall and winter will be an extremely busy one for me. I've got a handful of Tour events left and, of course, in November, there's the Presidents Cup in South Africa and the PGA Grand Slam in Hawaii in early December. I may play Tiger's tournament later in December and then the Mercedes Championship comes up early in January so 2004 starts very quickly (or maybe 2003 doesn't really end!).

For now, however, I'm concentrating on this week and this tournament. It's a significant one and on a course this tough, I have to be totally focused.

As always, thanks for your support.

Mike Weir
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