Weir Does Bulk Of Masters Preparation This Week
02/04/2009 03:00
The week of the Masters has become one big routine for Mike Weir.
He'll follow the exact same practice schedule as in years past. He'll attend the champions dinner on Tuesday and participate in the par-3 tournament on Wednesday. And he'll stay at the same house that he's been renting for a couple years.
Weir will play in his 10th Masters next week and figures the most important tradition of all is finding time to relax during some of the busiest days of the season.
"I try not to overwork," he said Tuesday on a conference call. "I try to get a lot of my work done before I get there because it's such a long week and such a grind mentally. A lot of guys kind of burn out by wanting to practice so much. You get tired in majors.
"That's what I've learned over the years is that you do your prep work -- your real hard practising -- the week before you get there and you kind of ease into the week."
That work is currently being done at Weir's home base in Utah.
The Masters tends to be won and lost on the tough greens at Augusta National so he'll be focusing a lot on his putting stroke. A little ingenuity allows him to do that from the comfort of his own home.
"I have some fast carpet in my basement that I'll be working on quite a bit because those greens are so fast and so different from what we've played the last few weeks in Florida," said Weir.
It's been a pretty solid start to the season so far.
Weir made the cut in six of seven events and had a good chance to win two of them -- finishing second at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and third at the Bob Hope Classic.
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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
It would be really nice to see Mike Weir do well at the Masters again, although I must admit that I will be cheering for Tiger Woods.