There are a lot of tried-and-true ways to prepare for a major golf championship. Contracting a case of pneumonia is not one of them.
Unfortunately, that's how Mike Weir spent the past week cramming for the United States Open. As if his game hasn't been giving him enough frustration lately, he fell miserably ill last week at the Buick Classic and only now is starting to regain his equilibrium.
"I got it from one of my kids," he said yesterday after hacking (as in coughing) his way through nine holes with Justin Leonard at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., warming up for tomorrow's first round of the Open.
"I'm coming out of it now. I've been trying to get my work in the last couple of days but it takes awhile to get your energy level back. I've been a little foggy."
There are those who will say that Weir has been in a fog ever since he won the Nissan Open at Riviera in Los Angeles in mid-February. Since then, he crashed out of the World Match play in the second round; missed the cut at both the TPC and the Masters; played poorly at BellSouth and finished 21st at Wachovia; at the two tournaments in Texas (Nelson and Colonial) he finished tied for 61st and tied for 59th; and then missed the cut last weekend at the Buick Classic.
These are not exactly the kinds of results you expect from a player ranked in the top 10 in the world.
"Golf's a game of momentum sometimes and it's always a game of perseverance," Weir said. "You're not going to be focused all the way along, especially over a 20-year period. There are going to be rough points and you've got to realize that.
"Obviously the past couple of months have been one of those rough spots. But if you keep working hard and keep your chin up, you'll eventually come out of it."
Golfers are different than most professional athletes in that their paydays directly reflect their performance. When they play poorly, no one suffers except themselves. Still, fans have an emotional investment and more and more we are hearing unkind thoughts directed at Weir. There is a body of thought that he should be playing more, rather than less, but Weir disputes that.
He's already looking forward to his next off-season when he can regroup and spend an extended period ironing out his problems.
"It's always good to get away from tournament golf for a while and really focus," he said. "When you're working on things and playing tournament golf at the same time, you don't want to get too far away from play mode.
PAY OFF
"That interferes with the changes you're trying to make that will pay off in the long run."
This being an off-year for the Presidents Cup, Weir essentially is assured of being idle from the end of the first week in November when the Tour Championship is played, until the first week of January when the 2005 season begins in Hawaii.
That doesn't mean Weir has written off the rest of the season. Far from it. If he can hit some fairways and his short game is on, as it often is, he can manufacture a score better than most. He has a good feeling about Shinnecock. He'll tee it up tomorrow at 12:20 p.m. and on Friday at 7:20 a.m., along with playing partners Joey Sindelar and New Zealander Michael Campbell.
"Last week I hit a lot more fairways than I have been, but I didn't putt very well," Weir said. "Before that I had not been striking the ball very well and scrambling on almost every hole. Now I feel like I'm not far off.
"I really like it here. It's kind of a links course and then again, it's not. It's not a links course because you don't play a true links course with that kind of rough. A true links is also kind of flat up to the green. You don't have big slopes in front.
"Anybody who wants to contend here this week will have to play with a lot of feel and imagination around these greens because nobody is going to hit them all. The winner is going to have to make a lot of scrambling pars."
That is always one of Weir's strengths and he will have to rely heavily upon that aspect this week. And when it's over, he might even be able to celebrate.
How does a round of antibiotics for the house sound?
