With distractions out of the way, Weir is hoping for better showing

With a little less pressure, Mike Weir is hoping for a better showing at this year's Masters than last year when he competed as the defending champion.

The first of golf's majors begins Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club. Weir tees off at 8 a.m. MDT with former PGA champion Rich Beem and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson. On Friday he tees off at 11 a.m. MDT with Jacobson and Justin Leonard.

The 34-year-old Weir, who lives in Draper with his wife, Bricia, and two daughters, feels his game is in better shape this year and says he won't have the distractions he had last year as the defending champion.

Weir, who won the 2003 tournament in a playoff over Len Mattiace and is playing in his fifth Masters, addressed the media at Augusta National on Wednesday morning.

"I'm as excited as ever, probably more so than any other year, and I feel like my game is coming around," he said. "I had a nice week of rest last week and a week to work on my game. I just feel good about things, so I'm excited to be here. I played a couple practice rounds. The course is fantastic."

Weir says the course is playing firm and fast, which is how he prefers it. He also said he hopes that the tournament committee will set up the course with more accessible pins, as it did last year, which brings more excitement to the tournament, in his opinion.

Last year Weir got off to a horrendous start with an opening-round 79, only to rally with a 70. He bogeyed the final hole, however, and missed the cut by one shot. He had just come off a poor showing at the Atlanta tournament after missing the cut at the Players Championship.

"With everything going on, I didn't have the preparation I needed to start Thursday and probably was a little anxious, a little irritated because I didn't get that done," he said. "So that was a little bit frustrating, where this year I came in, had a week off last week and played pretty well at the Players and felt like I didn't need to work on my swing and just preparing for the course. There's a big difference there. I wish I would have had this feeling going into last year, but I didn't, and I feel good about it this year."

Also playing in this year's Masters is 1970 champion Billy Casper, who recently moved back to Springville. The 73-year-old Casper hasn't played in the Masters since 2001 and hasn't made the cut since 1987. He tees off in the first group of the day at 9:11 a.m. MDT with former champions Charles Coody and Tommy Aaron and at 6:05 a.m. Friday.

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