Weir ready to defy the odds

by Lorne Rubenstein

Mike Weir has prepared like he normally does for the Masters, or any major tournament. Hard. Now all he needs to do is take his practice to the course. That's never an easy assignment.

Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, will turn 40 next month. Six of his seven PGA Tour wins were before 2005. He won again at the end of the 2007 season. His best finish at the Masters since he won is a tie for fifth place in 2005. He tied for 46th last year. Weir still finished 26th on last year's money list with nearly $2.4-million (U.S.) in earnings.

The game has changed in the seven years since Weir won here, and so has the Augusta National course. Players are hitting the ball longer than ever, which is why the club has built a new range that stretches 400 yards. Weir, a mid-length hitter, has been working out as much as ever to stay strong so that he can compete off the tee and hit shorter irons into greens. He acknowledges his challenges while welcoming them.

This time around, Weir has been at Augusta National since Sunday with his swing coach Mike Wilson. He played that day with his friend, the comedian George Lopez. Weir said yesterday he laughed all the way around. But it was also work, and it's been more work in the three days since leading up to the first round today.

Weir has learned not to tire himself out, though. He played just nine holes each of Monday, Tuesday and yesterday. He played with Dustin Johnson and Camilo Villegas yesterday. Johnson, 25, and Villegas, 28, are two of the longest drivers in the game. They hit the ball miles high when they want to, and so their games are ideally suited for PGA Tour courses. The game there is most often a power game where the idea after the drive is to carry the ball over hazards so that it lands near the hole. It's power golf, not creative golf, which is Weir's forte. It's shot launching, not shot making.

Johnson and Villegas have each won three tournaments since 2008, coinciding with Weir's fallow period in the win department. But Weir, who played the Par 3 Contest yesterday afternoon to round out his pretournament practice, has one thing over them here: experience, and, of course, that dramatic win that had Canadians coast to coast on the edge of their seats seven springs ago.

That year Weir faced a course that was soft because of rain and more rain. He had to hit many long and mid-irons into the greens. Nobody thought he had a chance on a course playing so long, even though he had already won twice on the PGA Tour that year. He came in so far under the radar it was as if he weren't considered part of the field.

Anybody who knew Weir, however, realized that was a foolish attitude.

He bridled then as he bridles now at suggestions the course was too long for him to contend, let alone win. Weir's precise iron play allied to a deft short game and a reliable putting stroke put him in a playoff with Len Mattiace, which he won on the first extra hole.

These many years later, Augusta National will be difficult not only because it can play as long as 7,435 yards, but because the relentless heat has started to bake the ground. The course will play firm and fast, barring any serious rain. That could play into Weir's hands, because he will get some run on his ball.

But the conditions could also help for another reason. The wind started to blow yesterday, and is expected to continue. That means players will need to be creative, and very patient. Weir has always loved tough conditions. He welcomes them. He thrives on them.

"There's not a tougher course in the world to play in the wind than Augusta National," Weir said yesterday. "It can be a real survival test. You just have to grind it out and get it in the hole."

Weir hasn't been as successful this year as grinding it out as he would like, perhaps, he said, because his mind has wandered too easily. He placed sixth in the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. to start his year, but his best finish since in a stroke-play event is a tie for 26th, which he's had twice. He's had trouble on the weekend, and hasn't posted a round in the 60s on a Saturday or Sunday since the Hope.

One problem, as Weir said, is that he's been almost too confident in the work he's done with Wilson since going back to him after working on the Stack & Tilt approach. Weir has been going after pins in tight locations on the greens when maybe he shouldn't have been. He's unlikely to make such mental mistakes here, because the penalty can be so severe for missed shots. Double bogeys sometimes, that is, not bogeys.

In the end, Weir's chances will probably come down to his putter. He switched earlier this year to a putter he used as a kid. At first he switched simply because, he said, "I wanted to get a little more swing into my stroke," a la Ben Crenshaw, perhaps. But he used it in competition and shot some good scores, including a 64, 66, and 67. But he also shot 77-74 on the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando two weeks ago, where he shared 46th spot.

"The putter is especially wonderful on these greens," Weir said here.

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