Weir ready to play at British Open

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Two weeks in Italy was tonic for the tired golf mind of Mike Weir — red wine, pasta, hot sun, family and very few golf balls.

But good preparation for the British Open at St. Andrews, in the rain and wind?

Probably not.

So for Canada’s lone entry in this week’s Open — Calgary’s Stephen Ames didn’t make it into the field from the alternate’s list — whatever comes out of the gate Thursday morning at 9:53 local time will be a surprise, one way or the other.

“I think I did need a break,” Weir said after a Tuesday practice round on the Old Course with Spaniards Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alejandro Canizares, and American Jerry Kelly.

“I’ve been working, probably, too hard — every day hitting a lot of balls, grinding on it. I was a little frustrated after the U.S. Open so I had (teacher Mike Wilson) come up to the Skins Game and felt like I got a couple of things worked out, especially the second day when I hit the ball really well, so I was in a real nice frame of mind going into the two weeks off.”

Weir won the Skins Game at Bear Mountain in a closest-to-the-hole playoff.

Tuesday, he came out “a little refreshed, a little rusty,” he said. “I’m ready to play, no question. Big stretch of tournaments here — I think I’ve got eight or nine tournaments left this year and a lot of big ones.”

It’s not as though Weir didn’t practise at all during his time off — “My dad and I found a little golf course, about 45 minutes away from where we were staying, that was kind enough to let me hit a few golf balls,” he said — but after the U.S. Open, where he played the final three rounds 24-over-par, he needed to get away mentally.

Links golf on the Old Course, though, will get his attention again in a hurry.