MASTERS TOURNAMENT MEDIA DAY

February 15, 2005

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, thank you very much for having me, and I'm looking forward to this year's tournament at Augusta. As I do every year after the PGA Championship ends in August, I look forward to the Masters. It's quickly approaching.

PHIL MICKELSON: Really? No.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, Jerry, the biggest thing for me was last year, I had to get very precise from 150 yards in. You've heard me say it a bunch, but when I did that from '03 to '04, I went to a softer ball that was a little bit better with the wedges but I sacrificed a lot of distance off the tee. And when I switched in September, the reason I switched was because Dave Pelz and I had done some extensive testing and found that the ball I'm playing now is more precise with the short irons. It flies straighter, it's tighter off of the center line, and it also goes 15 yards longer, or I got my original distance back and actually picked up a couple more yards from what I was playing in '03. So the fact that I'm able to get my distance back and give myself many more spots shots, many more wedges and shots from inside 150 yards, it's led to a lot more birdies.

PHIL MICKELSON: Exactly, exactly. So it took a little while to set in and I think that some will -- some are going to attribute it to taking awhile to get adjusted to the equipment, but what I attribute it to is when the PGA ended in August, I was mentally and physically kind of tired or ready to end the year and this wasn't really a wheel that was put in the works that was necessary, so now that the season in '05 has started up and the excitement, it was a nice break and now I'm practicing at home like I should be and the scores are starting to show it.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, last year I was swinging as hard as I possibly could at Augusta, trying to drive it as long as possible, and I was still 15 to 20 yards shorter than a couple of the guys that I was competing against coming into some of those par 4s and 5s. Getting my distance back is going to be a tremendous help there. Now, I will still hit little cuts, I will still hit softer tee shots on a lot of tighter courses like the U.S. Open. I probably won't hit as many drivers if I'm hitting the ball longer now, but at Augusta National specifically, I'm going to be going after the driver as hard as I can just like I did last year trying to get as many short irons, or at least shorter shots into those par 4s and difficult greens; and I think that it should enhance my opportunity and my possibility of repeating.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think that after having gone such a long period of time, 12 years, without winning a major and having won so many other regular TOUR events, I think that I appreciated that first major championship more than I ever could have, had I had it come quicker. After those three close calls after the Masters, it just made me believe that I'm very, very close to breaking through and having an exceptional career in the majors, as opposed to the one that I have right now.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yes.

PHIL MICKELSON: One of the things I mentioned in the book I just wrote kind of recapping last year's tournament pertains to that and it pertains to shot dispersion, one of the things that Dave Pelz and I have discussed when we map out course management. As a left-handed player, when I come out of a shot the ball will go short left of the pin, and as I hook a ball it will go long right. Well, that sets up perfectly for the 12th hole. If I aim at the middle of the green or I miss the shot a little bit to the left, it goes shorter left, but still lands on that part of green. If I pull it, it goes long right and end on the back right pin. Conversely, the 16th hole is the exact opposite. It sets up perfectly for a right-handed person's shot dispersion, so if I go at the pin and come out of it, I'm going to be short left in the water. And if I pull-hook it a little bit, and take it long right and stay up on top of the shelf, which is what happened Thursday when I made double-bogey it's a much more difficult shot for me on 16 than it is on 12.

PHIL MICKELSON: It really was because I had to clutch up and hit a real good 8-iron and I had been fading most of my shots, but that particular shot sits better or feels better with a draw started that out iron out over the water, drew it back, caught the slope and gave myself a good uphill putt at it.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it won't be easy, but I would say this: My excitement that I had or confidence that I had going into the Masters last year is the same feeling that I have about the entire year for '05. I'm really, really excited about this year after now having spent last 13, 14 months on working on my game with the proper things with Dave Pelz and Rick Smith's guidance. I had some immediate results in the first few months where I won the Hope and I won the Masters and had many other close calls in the majors. But after doing these drills and these routines for over a year after studying course management with different statistics in mind for each shot and evaluating courses on and looking at them differently, I'm really excited about this year, the entire year, just as I was so excited about last year's Masters.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think, Scott, the biggest thing is last year I started working on 150 yards on in, and my distance control got much, much better. I've heard great players in the past saying the key to good golf is being pin-high, and last year is when I really started to notice that become strengthened in my game. So to answer your question directly, I'd probably say yes, but I feel like it started January of last year and has progressively gotten better to this point.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I don't know how much this matters. It would be cool, but I have not thought about the World Rankings for the past 14 months because I knew after my '03 season and knowing that the rankings are based on a two-year scale that my possibility to be up on top of the World Ranking list is two years away. So I still have about another six to eight months of having to play some really good golf to be able to even be considered for the top ranking.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the backswing is pretty long and I'm certainly going after a lot of shots. It leads to trying to drive the ball a little bit farther, now that I have some stuff that gets the ball popping off the face. But if you notice the finish, the finish is still in balance just like it was last year, and even last year when I was trying to hit more control cuts in the fairway which I'm still doing this year, the backswing was still just about as long. It's not like it's a conscious effort to shorten the backswing but you'll notice there's a much better balance in the finished position than in previous years.

PHIL MICKELSON: Not specifically, no. Last year we wanted to get a little bit better balance and I was able to accomplish it more because of the off-season program and the martial arts which I continue that have allowed me to take even more aggressive swings and still stay in balance.

PHIL MICKELSON: I'll give you one out of 100 examples just like this one. The average -- when you miss a green in a bunker, the average distance that you are from the pin is about ten yards. If you think about it, when you miss a green, you're going to attack a pin and you'll just miss on short side, usually in a bunker about ten yards away. When I practice bunker shots now, I practice from ten yards. I don't practice a long 30-yard bunker shot, maybe a practice an eight- to ten-yard bunker shot, because those are typically what I'm faced with on the course. So by sitting and practicing from the distance that I'm most likely going to have on the course, my bunker percentage last year went way up and I was in the top percent -- I don't know, ten, 15, 20 guys; whereas before I was like 70th or 80th. So something as simple as that, without doing any type of technique change or anything can improve my bunker play immensely.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't view it like that. In fact, I view it just the opposite. I felt like to play well at Masters, it's important for me to have a great West Coast and play consistently well each week. And last year I thought that was the key to my victory at Augusta because when I arrived at Masters, I had played well every single week throughout the West Coast. I knew I was playing well and it wasn't this question of, will I have it this week or won't I. It was, I know I'm going to play well because I've played well the past three months. It was that type of mindset, so I view my run to Augusta as starting right now.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, there's always room for improvement. The thing I'm most excited about is the way I've scored, the way I've been playable to apply all of my practice and have it carry over to lowering my scores. But the areas that I would most want to work on will be -- I will continue to drive the ball or try to drive the ball more accurately while not having to sacrifice any distance now. And the longer and straighter I'm able to drive the ball, the strengths that are going so well right now, which are distance control, short irons, putting, those areas, I believe will be more enhanced because I'll have many more short irons in.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it certainly feels great to win, not for the reason you stated it just feels great to see hard work pay off. I think the biggest thing I learned coming out on TOUR is finding out what works for each individual, what works for me, because what works for me is not going to be what works for other players. Some guys feel like they need to have extra practice rounds where I find that I need to be fresh for a tournament. Some guys like to play the week before a major, some guys don't. I find that for me personally, it seems to help. I also find that for me to play my best golf, I need to be mentally fresh and excited about playing. I need to have some good practice sessions with Rick and Dave to get my game sharp, and so I'm trying to be fair to myself and give myself every opportunity to win each event that I possibly can because I'm only -- I'm very limited on how many events I can play, which is right about 20 right now, is kind of where I'm hoping to be able to play.

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm definitely going to play Atlanta and I love -- well, I love coming to see you, Glenn, but I love the tournament and the way they set the course up, trying to make it as similar to Augusta as possible.

PHIL MICKELSON: Absolutely the most important thing I was thinking was, I've got to hit this fairway. If I hit this fairway on 18, it's a birdie hole. If I don't, I'm fighting for par. So the most critical thing for me was to get the ball in play which is why I took out a 3-wood and made an aggressive swing at it. I didn't want to try to make an easy swing with the driver. Took out 3-wood and let it rip and was able to get it in play, and after I got it in the fairway I started to think about trying to win and trying to make birdie.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I don't feel like the mentality to win the second is really any different than trying to win the first. Certainly my pre-tournament press conference is a little bit more enjoyable for me. Other than that, I think that it's still the same challenge of trying to bring my game out and get ready and prepare for each particular course. I found that -- what I have found is that the preparation that worked well at Augusta also worked very well for the other three majors is and what I'm keeping up this year to get ready for the four majors, but it doesn't feel mentally like it's any different than trying to win my first.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's the last thing on my mind right now. The total number of wins that I have and trying to get in the Hall of Fame, that's the last thing on my mind. The way I look at it right now is that I'm 34 years old and I have committed myself for the next six years, until I'm 40, to unquestioningly play as hard and practice as hard as I can and try to get as much out of this game and my career as I possibly can on the course. I want to try to win as many tournaments and as many majors and I'm working very hard even on my weeks off to get my game sharp and get ready for those big events. So when I'm 40, I'll analyze what I want to do and start thinking about stuff like that but for the next six years unquestioningly, I want to be committed to winning tournament, but I'm not thinking about the end result or the Hall of Fame or total number of wins.

PHIL MICKELSON: Absolutely. Obviously, I love Augusta National, I've played very well there and Love that as our open major championship site. And I'm also excited to get back to Pinehurst where I feel that I came so close in '99 and had such a great chance; had such a great tournament, I've love to get another shot there because that golf course. The way it was set up in '99 sets up very well for me where it brings the short game back into play. I also am ecstatic about playing St. Andrews because it's the home of golf. And Jack Nicklaus once said that until you've won at St. Andrews, it's hard to feel like your career is complete, so I'm going to be trying really hard to do well there. But Baltusrol I'm very excited to play but I did not play in the '93 U.S. Open when Janzen won. It will be the first time that I play there. But I certainly remember watching it on TV in 1980 when Nicklaus won and beat Aoki and I'll be looking forward to competing there for the first time.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think the concept of a big four is probably not entirely accurate right now because I feel like there's a number of top players outside of the four guys. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be referred to as one of those four. But with Retief Goosen playing so well and Sergio Garcia making some nice strides and playing so well and winning a couple of times last year, with Todd Hamilton stepping up and winning the British and Padraig Harrington and Davis Love playing so well; we have so many guys that I feel it's not really fair to single out just four because there are a lot more than four that are playing at the highest level.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it's historically been my best plan of attack to play the Scottish Open the week before the British. So although I'm reluctant to commit to it this early in the season, I'm certainly planing on playing like I did last year on my way to missing out on the playoff by a shot, so I'd like to plan for major championships and my intentions are to play the Scottish, yes.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think it's terrific preparation because it gives you a chance to get acclimated to the time schedule as well as get into a competitive frame of mind, only three days before the British Open starts, as opposed to ten or 12 days if I don't play the week before.

PHIL MICKELSON: One of the things in the past before last year's successful year, I feel, was that my lower body strength, my leg strength and flexibility has not been such to accommodate some of the swing changes I've wanted to incorporate. So what's happened is the training with martial arts and the training with the physio ball, which is a lot of core strength and rotational speed, but mainly the lower body strength and balance that is required for martial arts has allowed me to swing the golf club at a faster speed while still maintaining my balance and control.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I won't be hitting the ball -- I actually hit the ball very close to this distance in 2003, only I didn't have the type of control and distance control, and I think it's probably a little premature to say that. I think Augusta is one of the longest courses I've played. In fact, when I went back there and played it in October, I was hitting a lot of 5- and 6-irons into most every par 4 because the fairways were wet and soft and didn't get the run that we normally see in April. So I don't think that the length of Augusta needs to be adjusted any at this moment, no.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's about as perfect a place can possibly be, so I don't think that there's any recommendation that has not been already addressed.

PHIL MICKELSON: No question I will. In fact, I've already felt it from when I went back in October and played. It feels awesome to drive down Magnolia Lane as a Masters Champion and be able to go in the Champions Locker Room. I think the greatest feeling that I take home from last year's tournament win was after the tournament was over, Amy and I hopped in the car just the two of us and we drove out Magnolia Lane as Masters Champion, and that was one of the coolest feelings right there. So when I walk on the premises knowing that I'll be back there every year for the rest of my career, it's a very special feeling, as a player, to be a part of that history.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, Mark, my main goal right now is to try to get that lonely jacket a little buddy to hang with. So my whole goal right now, it's been hanging in the closet since that whirlwind week after the victory and the whole goal in the off-season to try to get a little friend there to sit alongside.

PHIL MICKELSON: When I was asked how I would look at my career if I didn't win any majors my response was always that I had not thought about it and I don't think I'll ever have to be faced with that; and I think I would probably respond to your question the same way in that that's the furthest thing from my mind right now is having to look at that as being a possibility. I just feel like I've been too close in too many tournaments and I can feel my game get really a lot better over the last 14 months to where I believe I'll continue to contend in the major championships and hopefully walk away with a few more victories.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, it wasn't any different, I still felt the same nervousness and excitement as always. Just wanted so bad to win those and play well, and I've got to tell you, even though I didn't win, it was still a lot of fun to have so many chances and come to close and to be making the shots and hitting the shots on Sunday with a chance to win, it was really a lot of fun, even though I didn't break through, even though I didn't get the victory like I did in the Masters, it was still just as fun.

PHIL MICKELSON: I haven't noticed -- in all honesty, winning the Masters really has not changed things for me. Certainly not the way winning the Tucson Open did in '91. Winning that tournament had a much bigger impact on me than I think even the Masters. Even though it's been terrific and a lot of fun, things haven't been really any more chaotic or really that different. It's just been more rewarding, certainly, to finally have won a major and release some of the things that I had been dealing with before I won.

PHIL MICKELSON: For me to have won 22 tournaments at the time and not have won a major was certainly disappointing to me. And I just felt like I had had so many opportunities in the majors that I should breakthrough, so that when I finally break through, it was really an ecstatic feeling. I was just really excited and it was nice not to have to face another major without one.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think I may -- yeah, I think I know what I'm going to do with that. I'm very basic and I've got a little bit of an Italian background, so I'm going to go with a little lobster ravioli in a cream-tomato sauce, a little garlic before he had and Caesar salad. Pretty basic.

PHIL MICKELSON: That's exactly it. That was the strategy last year, that will be the strategy this year and fortunately Augusta sets up perfectly for right-to-left shots, and I'll be able to hit a lot of fades off the tee but because I'm hitting fades I'm at a slight disadvantage distance-wise from some of the other guys because it doesn't quite go as long as a draw, I'll have to hit it or go after it as hard as I can, but I did that last year, too. So I might be able to get a little bit closer to some of the greens and have some shorter irons in and maybe attack some pins and make some more birdies than I did last year.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, it's a huge concern. Accuracy is a very key part of Augusta. It's very underrated, everybody talks about how open it is, but driving it on No. 7, if you miss that fairway, and it's a tight little fairway, you're faced with a probable bogey because you'll be in trees to an elevated green with bunkers in front; you won't be able to get it on the putting surface. So I drove the ball very well on the 7th hole and was able to attack and make birdies last year and that was because of accuracy, not necessarily distance, but there will be some key holes where distance will be a factor and it's nice to have that little extra yardage.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I enjoy the challenge and the opportunity to compete against guys like Tiger and Vijay and Ernie and Retief and Sergio and guys who are such wonderful players, and Davis. We in golf don't have the direct head-to-head type of atmosphere like we have in tennis, let's say, where everything is a head-to-head match. We only get it at, let's say, The Match Play like we have in the coming week, or at the Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup. We don't have as much of that head-to-head competition; that needs to come about through the stroke-play events which typically we have different players each week to go head-to-head with. So it's just a little bit unique in the golf environment where it's not really as conducive for those rivalries as another sport like tennis would be.

PHIL MICKELSON: Things are going pretty good right now, so I'm not really concerned with that to be honest. It's nice to have the yardage back, and it's nice to know that I have a little comfortable cut-driver that I'm able to find in the fairway or get in the fairway when I need to.

PHIL MICKELSON: Will you repeat that one more time? I might have misunderstood that.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think that the earlier premise of what I was talking about, being committed to playing golf might have been misunderstood. What I meant by that is that I was going to be dedicated to trying to play the best golf as I can and win as many tournaments as I can, and that's no different than in 12 years since I've been out on TOUR. And I don't think it's very difficult being able to pick and choose which tournaments we want to play in. If I get physically fatigued I'm able to take some time off and so I'll plan on going hard through the majors, and I might have to take a little bit more time after the PGA off to recuperate and get ready for the upcoming year.

PHIL MICKELSON: Exactly.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, again, up to the PGA, my schedule really has not been -- or up to the PGA my schedule is pretty set but after the PGA is really hasn't been, so I don't really know either way. I'd probably say 50/50 right now if I had to and answer that directly.

PHIL MICKELSON: The best part about doing this book, it's a book on short stories and stories that Amy and I have had happen to us or jokes played or what-have-you, and the best part was being able to reminisce and remember all of these fun stories for Amy and I, because we did it together and to look back and remember all of the things with our kids or things where we met when we were dating or little stories from the Tour that we just laughed for the entire time we were doing this. It was just really a lot of fun for us to do it together.

PHIL MICKELSON: It was a pretty special Sunday.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's been fun for Amy and I to look back and see the highlights of the show or watch the telecast. We've done it about two or three times now. I love reminiscing about that, and you know what I'm going to reminisce about that win for the rest of my life. It's not one of those things that just goes away, I'll look back on that for as long as I live. I will take to my grave my belief that the cameras just did not catch me at the apex of my jump and believe that it was always higher than people saw. But it was certainly a special week and something that I'll always remember.

PHIL MICKELSON: It will be very similar to last year where I'll go in beforehand and study the course and map out a game plan. I plan to stick to that for probably quite some time because it was so successful for me last year.