Weir aims to bounce back in 2011
Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:43:06
by SHAWN JEFFORDS
Despite battling a serious elbow injury and losing his longtime caddie, Mike Weir says he can once again battle for major tournament championships.
"I'm 100% confident that I am going to be back as one of the best players in the world," Weir said during a conference call with reporters Thursday.
"Now whether that takes the first five weeks, the middle of the year, by the end of the year, or next year, I'm confident I will be healthy. The elbow is going to be good and I'm going to be back where I feel like I belong."
Weir is coming off a ligament tear that saw him pull the plug on his season in August. It gave him time to rest and reassess things.
"Being off for that length of time does a lot of things. It gets you thinking about what you need to work on. It gets you very motivated. It gets you to appreciate the game."
Weir said he's been hitting balls again over the last month and is feeling only a little soreness in the elbow. He will pace himself, playing only as much as he feels physically comfortable with as he eases back into the PGA tour.
"For the most part I'm not thinking about the elbow," he said. "That's what I'm trying to get past, having any hesitation."
Weir lost Brennan Little, his caddie of more than a decade, when he took a job with competitor Sean O'Hair. Veteran caddie Pete Bender will hold Weir's bag as he embarks on the new season.
Weir will have a five-event major medical exemption to make up $227,885 US that separated him from the 125th-ranked player, and if he does he will be exempt for the rest of the 2011 season. He said the pressure doesn't bother him, it just reminds him of his struggles to make the tour in his early days.
