Whitewater Weir relaxed and playing well after getaway

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Mike Weir fired a 4-under 66 in the first round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

IRVING, Texas -- No cell phones, no television.

Falling asleep under a blanket of stars. On a riverbank. After a day on the river, the no-shaving scruff going, a little "river golf" and a whole lot of chillin' out.

What's not to like?

Well, maybe the Level 5 -- the highest one -- part of the whitewater rafting, but not if you're Mike Weir. To Weir, five days of the above is heaven. This five with seven of his Utah buddies.

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"It was,'' he said, "intense.''

As in 25-foot waves in Cataract Canyon in Southern Utah. And a journey down the Green River, which merges with the Colorado and flows into Lake Powell.

He took one with the guys last year, too. Came back and finished tied for second at the Memorial Tournament. Two years ago, the former Masters champ took a not-so Level 5 one with the family. He won the next tournament he played -- the 2007 Frys Open.

And here? Weir opened the 2009 HP Byron Nelson Championship with a 4-under 66 and had a share of the clubhouse lead until leader Ken Duke shot 65 (James Nitties matched Duke late in the day).

Not bad for a guy who got away from the game for a week.

"I guess maybe in that mindset I didn't quite know what to expect,'' said Weir, who shaved off his scruff rather than going with last year's FedExCup Playoffs scruff look. "As I got into the round, I felt good about it, felt good about my golf swing. After I got off to a nice start, I kind of settled down a little bit.''

Weir didn't touch a tournament-ready club last week, but he did grab two clubs out of the "river golf'' bag -- the only two left-handed ones in it, an old 5-iron or 7-iron.

"We bring these clubs down and we play with these plastic balls, and every time we'd see a little nice camp of a beach, we'd pull our rafts over and set up a bucket somewhere and we'd play over these rocks and hit these little plastic balls trying to get it into the bucket,'' Weir said.

"I told the guys, I got my ninth victory last week. I beat them. They couldn't even beat me at river golf, those guys, so they were upset with me. But it was fun.''

So much fun that Weir was still relaxed and easy after 18 on a toughened Las Colinas course. He didn't play last year, so this was his first chance to see the changes D.A. Weibring's group made to the layout.

"It's definitely a challenge,'' he said. "This is the first year I've played it since they made the changes, and I notice on some of the tee shots visually are pretty intimidating. Plus with the firmness of the fairways, if you don't get the ball curving the right way it's just going to bounce through into that rough, and it's very unpredictable out there. You could really jump or come out dead.

"Yeah, I think they did a great job. I can see why there's not many low scores out there. I can see why 4 or 5 under, 6 under is going to be leading at the end of the day.''

Weir's game was almost flawless in the opening round. Although he finished in the top three twice early in the year (a a tie for third at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer and a second at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), he has struggled with his irons much of the season.

"I've been driving it good but been leaving myself a long ways from the hole sometimes,'' Weir said. "I've been trying to get more creative with my iron play, just working the ball a little bit more, which I've always felt is probably my strength, just little fades, little draws, and I did that well today.

"...That's one thing I've been working on -- really more in touch with my irons and being a little more creative with my iron shots. I worked pretty hard this week on that. I hit some really nice ones. ''

He was 2 under on the par 3s and, starting on the back, birdied the 13th hole from just under 5 feet, the 14th hole (7 feet, 7 inches) and the 16th hole. On the front, he hit a 7-iron to 12 feet at the fifth and had a 32-inch putt for birdie at the seventh.

Weir said the round was "significant'' in the whole scheme of what he's been working on this year and as part of the run-up to next month's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.

"I was hitting the shots I wanted, carving the ball in there, like I said, on that par 3. Thirteen, that 8-iron with a little bit of cut on it that got close to the hole,'' he said. "The very next hole, a low 8-iron that got in there about 6 feet from the hole. The long one, 15, I had a 5-iron that shaped the right way, right to left, right at the hole. Those kind of shots tell me that I'm doing the right things.''

Weir is playing the two weeks following the HP Byron Nelson, then taking a week off before the Open. In 2002 when it was held at Bethpage, he was one of those who couldn't make the forced carry of close to 255 yards at the 10th hole.

"I was one of the guys that teed off on 10 Friday morning early when the wind was in,'' he said. "I couldn't make the fairway. It was unbelievable. Nick Price was playing right in front of me, and I got to the tee and I watched him hit it. The thing just disappeared. He hit it right down the middle of the fairway and it just disappeared. I thought, well, this is going to be something today.''

Weir hit into the rough and chopped it out. It went about 15 yards.

"It was an unusually cold morning and it was probably a 15 mile an hour wind right in, so that 255 was about 280,'' he said. " I suspect probably half the field couldn't reach that. I don't know how long that lasted that morning with that wind. I can't remember. But I'm sure there was the first few groups that went through there that unless you were really long you weren't getting in there.''

Six inches of rough at the bottom and fescue on top. You were lucky to find the ball if you missed the fairway. Price, he said, walked away muttering. Weir got it up and down and made 6.

"I spoke with Mike Davis (of the USGA) actually at THE PLAYERS, and he was telling me a little bit about how he didn't shorten the holes but he brought some of the fairways back towards the tee boxes,'' Weir said. "There was a couple of those forced carries, 10, 12, they're still the same length to the hole, but they're not 255-yard carries into the wind sometimes.

"So I think he's done a great job since he's taken over. I think he's really nailed it I think the last few years, and I suspect it will be tough like they all have been the last few years, but it's at least playable. The way he sets up the courses, if you're playing great you can shoot around par or something. If you're not, it's still going to punish you.''

We would suggest another trip the week before the Open, but... there are eight of them and it's tough to organize at the last minute. "Four are pretty experienced (whitewater rafters)," said Weir of the gang. "I'm alright.''

Maybe so. But here? If he plays as easy the rest of the week as he did Thursday, you might see his ninth PGA TOUR win. If not this week, maybe in the next three.

His next river golf title? That, another week under the stars, no cell phones, serious chillin' and more scruff will just have to wait -- but just until the annual Weir family whitewater trip this summer.