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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 20, 2015Phil MickelsonST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND Q. What was it about this week that you feel like you struggled with? PHIL MICKELSON: Just scoring. Just scoring. I felt like I played well. I had a fun week. Family was here two weeks, it was really enjoyable. I hit a lot of good shots, and it doesn't feel far off. I'm just not quite shooting the numbers yet, but the game feels pretty good. I'm striking it better than I have in a long time, and I got rid of one of the areas of weakness, which was a big slice off the tee. I've been able to eliminate -- significantly eliminate that shot, and I think in the long run it's going to get better and better. But I just need to be a little bit patient right now as I try to get back to playing the way I know I can play. Q. (Inaudible.) PHIL MICKELSON: You know, it was a good late move. The front nine I let a lot of shots go. I had a lot of opportunities I just couldn't capitalise on, and the back nine I thought if I could get two more coming in, hit a really good shot on 16 -- hit really good shots on 14, 15, 16, made the putts on 14 and 15, and the putt on 16 I thought I had it, and it just kind of went back out at the hole. Then I tripled 17. But the good news for me is that as I stood up there, I trusted the swing. I hit a good, solid shot. It just over-drew a little bit. I was trying to draw it around the corner. It wasn't like it was a horrific shot, I just overturned it. And the good thing about that is that usually when I get in that situation the miss is way left, and I like how I'm starting to hit it a little bit more solid. Q. As a student of golf history, how closely will you follow the next few hours? PHIL MICKELSON: I'll probably watch some of it, but we're leaving. We're going to head back home. So we're going to pack up and head out shortly. I would have -- if I could have posted 11 or 12, I would have stayed and probably watched, but with the weather coming in, you just don't know. You add the rain to a 15, 18 mile-an-hour wind, and it could be a difficult day to break par. Q. So you think they're going to see a decidedly different course? PHIL MICKELSON: Certainly than we had it, yeah. Yeah, we had an opportunity -- there was an opportunity today to shoot 10-, 11-, 12-under par. The conditions were calm and nice. Now that the wind is picking up and the rain is coming in, it's a different golf course. Q. (Inaudible.) PHIL MICKELSON: No idea. Yeah, no idea. He's playing well, though. Q. Do you leave Scotland more encouraged than when you got here? I know you were working on different things. PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I've noticed in the last two or three months some significant improvement in ball-striking. A huge percentage of -- I've decreased the number of way-left shots. The golf swing feels much more in control and in balance, a lot more on plane, I'm hitting a lot more good shots. I'm encouraged with where my golf game is headed. I've just got to be patient because the scores aren't quite coming yet, but they're not that -- it's not too far away. Q. Whistling Straits? PHIL MICKELSON: Hopefully by then, yeah. I'll go to work -- I need to play well in Akron, but I'll go to work these next two weeks and just keep working on it. Q. Do you like that course? PHIL MICKELSON: Whistling Straits, I do, yeah. I like it a lot. Q. How about chipping and putting? PHIL MICKELSON: Putting, it was okay. I felt good. I hit a lot of good putts, and made a lot, but I also missed a lot that were makeable. It was okay. Q. (Inaudible.) PHIL MICKELSON: I think centre shaft has no head rotations, so you have to take it straight back and straight through, which is not the way I like to putt. I like to have a slight arc. Q. Do you feel a bit out of luck on this course? PHIL MICKELSON: No, I love the golf course. I don't feel unlucky on it. I think that it's a very fair test, and you hit good shots, you get rewarded, and you hit shots like I did on a few holes, you get penalised. It's just a good golf course. Q. (Inaudible.) Probably want a crack at playing that shot. PHIL MICKELSON: I've tried hitting shots from some crazy places. I don't know if I would have climbed up to do that, I don't know. Q. (Inaudible.) PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, or I could have just hit it a little more left and been in the fairway. Q. (Inaudible.) PHIL MICKELSON: He's a very solid player. I didn't watch too much. I was more trying to get really into my game, but I thought he's a very good, solid player. Q. Do you know much about Paul Dunne? PHIL MICKELSON: I don't. I don't. Q. (Inaudible.) What kind of effect did that have? PHIL MICKELSON: I think it would -- I think that it would allow us to play in the weather -- we would have been able to play that day. Q. What would happen if they were that speed on a day like yesterday? PHIL MICKELSON: We would shoot really low probably. Q. So it would affect scoring? PHIL MICKELSON: I think so. I think so, yeah, because at that speed there's no break. You're playing everything inside the hole, and so there's no curving. The ball is arriving at the hole at such a pace that it doesn't have a chance to take the subtleties, so every putt is right centre, left centre or straight, from inside five, six feet, and I just think it would allow us to get the ball closer a lot easier. Q. Do you think it's getting to the point where it's still okay or is it out dated? PHIL MICKELSON: I know there were changes made. I didn't really notice them too much from five years previous. It plays the same. Every shot plays the same. You're still trying to hit it to the same spots. There were some holes like 15 played longer today. I did notice 15 playing longer. It was 260 something to carry that bunker in the fairway there, and it usually was 230, so it was never an issue. You could always take it out. But I couldn't carry it today into the wind. I did notice that hole played longer. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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