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TSN Senior Reporter

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It appears that Mike Weir will get a little more time to see if he can get his golf game back in form.

Thanks to a PGA Tour exemption category that isn’t used very often, Weir could get another eight tournament starts on his year.

Currently, the lefthander is currently playing on a medical exemption that gives him eight starts. Four are in the major medical category, while another four are in the minor ranking, meaning they are further down the priority ranking. He was awarded those after he left the Tour last year to deal with family issues.

But Weir’s agent, Danny Fritz, said they discovered a category reserved for veteran players who made at least one cut in the previous year and finished outside the top 150 in the FedEx Cup ranking.

While tournament entries are based on a priority ranking based on previous years, it could mean an extra eight tournament starts for Weir. If all goes well, he could play as many as 16 tournaments on the PGA Tour this season. He’s also been awarded a sponsor exemption into the French Open on the European Tour.

“I haven’t been playing as well as I want to yet,” said Weir, who is playing this week at the Valspar Championship in Tampa, Fla. “But I can see progress and I’m going to keep working hard at it.”

After this week, Weir will tee it up at the Shell Houston Open, the Masters, and hopes to play at The RBC Heritage, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Under the new category, he could earn spots in tournaments from June through August. He would, of course, play at the RBC Canadian Open. 

Weir has been seeing noted teacher David Leadbetter to try and get back the swing that led him to eight PGA Tour victories, including the Masters.

So far this year, Weir has missed the cut in two PGA Tour events and two on the European Tour.