Weir kicks dirt off at Heritage after disappointing major week

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HILTON HEAD, S.C. -- Mike Weir had forgotten how narrow Harbour Town is and how tight some of the pin positions can be. He negotiated things pretty well on Thursday, though, posting a 66 that left him just off the lead.

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"When I played yesterday, the pro-am, it definitely came back to me," Weir said. "... I'm usually a pretty good iron player. I usually keep it in play pretty good. So it did come back to me."

Weir started on the back nine and turned in 33, but was a tad frustrated because he had left a few birdies out there. That's why the 8-iron he holed from 145 yards for eagle on the first hole, his 10th of the day, was such a "great momentum booster," the Canadian said.

A couple of holes earlier Weir had used his 8-iron on the 164-yard par-3 17th, with his ball landing an inch from the hole.

"The 8-iron was good to me today," Weir said.

Weir hasn't played in the Verizon Heritage since he tied for 10th in 1999. With the exception of the RBC Canadian Open, which follows the British Open, he generally doesn't play after a major because he's usually "wiped out."

This year, though, Weir had several reasons to play at Harbour Town.

"For one, it's a great tournament, and I know that it's important to play this event because it's been a stalwart to the TOUR," said Weir, well aware that this is the last year of Verizon's sponsorship. "I wanted to be involved with that."

Secondly, Weir turns 40 next month while his brother turns 50 and his parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. So he plans to take a few months off in the summer for the "family anniversary" festivities.

Weir tied for 43rd at Augusta National last week, shooting rounds of 76-77 on the weekend before flying home to Utah on Sunday night. The 2003 Masters champ took several days off -- even taking in one of his daughters' soccer games on Monday -- and didn't arrive in South Carolina until Tuesday night.

"I was pretty disappointed in the way I played last week, but at the same time I've been really seeing improvement in my game," Weir said. "So I was excited to get here, and kind of kick the dirt off after getting beaten up last week, and get back to it this week.

"That was kind of my mentality coming in this week."