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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 14, 2005

Phil Mickelson

SPRINGFIELD, NEW JERSEY

JULIUS MASON: Ladies and gentlemen, you just heard that announcement. We've got a couple of other players hopefully coming down and joining us. We're going to try to make this nice and quick for everybody because you have deadlines and players have a lot to think about tonight. Some thoughts on the day today, Phil. A lot going on out there.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I'm having a great time. It's a fun final round, and I'm really enjoying myself.

I wish we could finish today obviously, but we'll have to finish tomorrow, and I'm probably going to be a little limited on what I say tonight because we're still in the middle of a round, which is unusual to be here during a round. But fire away.

Q. Was there any choice in your mind about taking the putt to finish up the day, or when Davis leaned over, what was your thinking process going on over that point before play came in?

PHIL MICKELSON: The five or six footer that I missed? I didn't think that there was any threat because I put the trust in the meteorologists and the organization to get us off the course if there's a threat of weather, so I wasn't even worried about it. I ran the putt a couple feet by and was getting ready to putt again when a lightning bolt struck pretty close by and we got off pretty fast.

Q. In your mind it was a no brainer to come in at that point?

PHIL MICKELSON: Look, I love this championship, okay (laughter), but I want to live, man.

Q. For the second day in a row you nicely reversed the slide, yesterday and then again today. Can you talk about how you did it today, and is that the key to your leading at the moment, reversing those two slides?

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't feel like today was a slide like yesterday. I thought the course was playing tremendously harder. Every bogey I made, I put myself in the proper spot to get up and down, whether it was 6, leaving it right in the bunker, I had a good chance at up and down; whether it was 7, leveling it short right to get up and down; whether it was 9, leaving it right of the pin to get up and down, and I just didn't get up and down on some of those holes. 10, same thing, after the drive I was trying to be short left to get up and down. So I gave myself chances to do that.

So I don't feel like there were any spots where I wasted a shot or where I couldn't save par, and I've hit a couple of good shots now on 13 to make birdie, hit a good shot on 14 and just missed that putt, starting to hit some good shots and we've got some birdie holes coming in.

Q. Could you just describe your emotions, gaining the three stroke lead, losing it and then coming back and all the while riding the emotions of the fans who are living and dying out there with you?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the last thing I'm thinking about early in the round is the lead. I'm trying to make pars, and I'm just trying to make pars through the first seven holes, and obviously I did a good job the first five and then 6 and 7 made some bogeys. I had no desire to look at the leaderboard until really the back side. I started looking right around 12 when I made that four or five footer for par on the par 3 and made birdie on 13 to know that I was tied for the lead. I've been kind of watching.

Q. What about the fans, your reaction to what the fans were doing out there, living and dying with your every shot?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's just an amazing feeling. I'm really having a lot of fun if you can't tell.

Q. Are you surprised that things backed up a little bit? Can you talk about today, were the conditions more difficult and talk about the dynamics of the final round, pressure building, that type of thing?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the course is significantly harder. The difficulty really is on the greens because they're so fast that the wind is moving at about an inch or two per foot, so if you have a six footer, I'm having to play six inches of break for the wind, depending on what it's doing. That's a big difference, especially on downhill putts. I shouldn't say that, uphill putts it's not quite as much. That's been the biggest challenge and why we haven't seen as low a scoring, plus they're a lot firmer.

Q. Could you take us through that walk to the minivan to get off the course with the fans following you? Were you in fear for your safety or anything? What were your thoughts as you were walking?

PHIL MICKELSON: Gosh, you know, it's just fun. I just am having a lot of fun and the people here have treated me and my family so incredible. We're having an amazing time and I'm kind of glad that we're going to prolong it one more day.

Q. In the heart of a competitive final round to win a major, what's the challenge of having to stop and wait this long to get back out?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, this is a tremendous advantage, I think, because we get a few extra holes to play and hopefully calm weather after hopefully some rain, maybe soften it up a little bit. That gives me one more hole over my competitors, maybe two, to possibly make birdie, as well as play without wind. Now, we may come out without rain and the wind hey be howling and I'm not really hoping that happens (laughter).

Q. The conditions, advantage aside, this forecast had kind of been expected. Are you surprised they didn't decided to tee off earlier today and try to get it in today?

PHIL MICKELSON: I had certainly asked to maybe go an hour earlier to try to get it in. I thought that last night was a bit of a struggle the last three or four holes seeing in the light, and when we had a delay before we teed off, I knew that there was no chance of us finishing, or at least I didn't think that there was.

JULIUS MASON: Thanks very much for coming down, Phil. Sleep well.

End of FastScripts.

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