Weaver golfs in AT&T National
To qualify for the field, Weaver, the 2007 British Amateur champion, received a sponsor's exemption in May, and made it his third professional tournament appearance this year. He previously competed in the Masters and the Memorial.
Weaver used the experience and confidence gained from those first two tournaments to post his two lowest rounds in his pro tournaments this year, a 75 (+5) on Thursday and 71 (+1) on Friday. After getting off to a dreadful start, +6 through his first four holes, Weaver played the last 32 at even par, which left him in good standing.
"Those last 32 holes were very encouraging," Weaver said. "That is some of the best golf I've played. Honestly, my first two pro tournaments didn't leave me with a lot of confidence going in. I made a conscious effort to re-evaluate my game beforehand, and set some new goals. I really just focused on staying patient and positive out there. All of the players are so good, it is important to stay patient to compete."
Weaver's slow start on Thursday began with a bogey on his first hole, the 10th. Weaver again found trouble on 11, and recorded a triple bogey, his highest single hole score in a professional tournament. The struggle continued on the 13th hole, where Weaver again gave strokes back to par, this time two of them, a double bogey.
"It was a pretty miserable start," Weaver said. "Probably the worst start you can imagine. Being six over through four holes really forced me to try and regroup; get a clean head. I just had to start over, and take it one shot at a time."
Weaver did turn it around, both mentally and with his golf game, and finished the last 14 holes of his round at one-under par. On his final hole of the day, he dropped in a perfect exclamation point to his turn around performance, by holing a 30-yard shot from the greenside bunker for birdie
Round two on Friday greeted Weaver with another slow start. After bogeying the second hole, Weaver would find the water hazard on the 520-yard, par 4 sixth. His next shot from the drop area landed six inches from the hole, hit the pin and unluckily spun back ten feet. The ensuing putt would narrowly miss, giving him a double bogey.
Again though, Weaver would mentally regroup, and finish his remaining holes under par.
Three birdies and a bogey in those last 12 holes, gave him a one-over-par 71 for the round, his best score in a professional tournament.
The 16th hole on Friday gave Weaver his first up-close experience with the large galleries that attend PGA tour events, and perhaps it was a little too close.
During the backswing of his approach shot to the par 5, 16th, one of Weaver's contact lenses became blurred, causing him to completely miss hit the shot, sending it into the gallery, striking a spectator's wrist.
"I walked over there and his wrist was the size of a baseball. Weaver said. "It must have burst a blood vessel. This shook me up a little bit, but I was able to regroup and make par."
Still with an outside chance at making the cut, Weaver chose the wrong club on his approach shot to 17, sending it over the green, and wound up making bogey.
"Despite missing the cut, I'm still pretty pleased with the result here," Weaver said. "This was very different than the other two tournaments. I got off to a really bad start, was able to steady myself and play the last 32 holes at even par."
"My ball striking was much better, I kept giving myself birdie chances and only had some slight misreads on the green. In the end, I made a good run at it, and it was positive experience for me."
Up next on Weaver's schedule will be this week's Players Amateur, held at the Belfair Golf Club in Hilton Head, S.C. His next PGA tour commitment will be from Aug. 14 through Aug. 17 in the Wyndham Championship located in his home state of North Carolina.
The following week Weaver will also stay in the state, and will compete in the U.S Amateur at historic Pinehurst.
Another Hokie golfer continuing to make news this summer and add to his accolades is Jurrian van der Vaart. van der Vaart was named Virginia State Player of the Year by means of being the only unanimous selection to the 2008 Virginia State Golf Coaches Association All-State team.
Weaver also joins van der Vaart on the all-state first team, while senior Nick MacDonald was selected to the second team.
