Of good Fridays and half-grapefruits

ORLANDO, Fla. – Okay, it's Friday, still a couple of hours away from Mike Weir's tee time as this is written, and if Weir continues his recent pattern, this could be a good day for him.

He shot a five-under-par 67 Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which left him one stroke off the lead. That lead has moved away this morning, Davis Love III shaving off three more strokes to turn at nine-under, but we'll see how everyone stands by dinner time.

Weir has been hitting the ball well on recent Fridays. He shot 64 at the Honda, tying the course record along with a few others that day, and posted a 65 at Doral in the second round. On each occasion, he then backed up on the weekend to 26^th place.

"The last two events I've played really well on Fridays and stumbled on the weekend. I think I'm trying too hard on the weekend," he said here. "I'm within three or four (strokes) of the lead and I'm just trying too hard. I've been working so hard on my game. I think I need to relax a little bit and let it happen.

"I haven't quite put four rounds together," he said of a season in which his best finish is sixth at the Bob Hope in his 2010 debut. "I've been fighting myself a little bit. Got off to a nice start (Thursday) and see if I can put four rounds together."

Weir plans to take next week off and work on his game for the Masters, although he hasn't scheduled any early practice trips up to Augusta.

"I'm not really thinking about Augusta yet. I'm trying to do well this week. I think the best preparation is just playing well, gaining confidence going in there.

"If you're marginal on your game, it gets exposed at Augusta more than anywhere."

On a totally unrelated matter, earlier this week, hanging around the practice tee soaking it all in, I watched a guy named Kevin Streelman work on his game. I don't know him at all, but was fascinated by his training regimen. For openers, he was hitting balls while balancing on these rubber-ball types things. Think of a half-grapefruit, about the size of a catcher's mitt, with a round bottom and flat top.

He had the round side down, one under each foot, and was balancing himself on the flat parts while hitting. Never saw that before.

He also had a rig, a hockey stick-shaped piece of plastic that attached to the club shaft, just below the grip, and bent back almost on to his wrist. If he cocked his wrists wrong on his backswing, the plastic would hit his wrists. Again, it seemed sensible, but you don't always see pros getting this tricky.

Anyway, at the ballpark Thursday, watching the Jays and checking the Bay Hill scores, right up there on the leader board, tied in fifth after shooting 68, was Kevin Streelman. So who ever knows, right?