	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 8, 2015

Songdo IBD, Incheon City, Korea

Q. You came out and you were saying to everybody, it's so much fun; that's why you wanted to be here and why you wanted to be a captain's pick.
PHIL MICKELSON: This is the most fun we have all year, and to spend and share time with each other, to play with each other, it's just so enjoyable and I'm so appreciative to be on this team, to be a part of the team and now to be contributing with the points.

Q. You mentioned a couple times that you wanted to play with Zach. Did you have any specific conversations with Jay?
PHIL MICKELSON: The thing about Zach and I is we actually can play our best and get other people to play their best with a number of guys on the team now and in the past. For the better of the team, we have played with other partners to bring out the best in them and the best in us, but together, we were also able to play some of our best golf, and I think that we are going to get even better as the week goes on as we spend more time with each other.

Q. Probably see you guys again?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think so. I would hope so. I don't know what Captain Haas has in mind, but we are even better suited in fourball than we would be in foursomes, and it fit very well in foursomes.

Q. How much fun is it to compete in something like this?
PHIL MICKELSON: This is the best. Zach and I have been on a number of teams together, and we've been wanting to play together for some time, and it has not worked out pairings-wise and it did this week and we were so excited. We just had so much fun.

I think that we have even better golf in us. I think that it was a good day. We hit a lot of good shots but I think Zach and I, as we start to spend more time together, can even play better.

Q. Can you explain the handshake you guys were doing throughout the day?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, keying on, what I played with the last three team events is very excited and energetic and Zach's never really been one to overly celebrate. So we came up with just a very subdued handshake to celebrate our successes.

Q. A lot of people were enjoying you people playing those 18 holes. You guys don't play the same kind of game, so how were you able to put it together?
ZACH JOHNSON: Well, it's a strange dynamic in the sense that -- and our personalities probably to differ in a lot of ways. At the same time when it comes to just being athletes and being competitive, there's a lot of similarities. There's a manage sis many there in the sense we both want the ball, we both want the shots and we both read putts similar if you want to get down to specifics and we just feed off each other.

It's not science or too extravagant. Like you said we wanted to do this for awhile. Fortunately Captain Haas allowed us to do it and we had fun with it. Our goal was to take a lot of shots and see what happens.

We played two guys playing high level. Especially you see a 40-footer going in on 17, the beauty of my man right here, he said, Jason is going to make it and we'll make it on top of him. He made a putt that should have gone in. But we didn't dwell on it, went to 18 and hit two quality shots. Fortunately made a few more putts and that's the way it ended up.

PHIL MICKELSON: We're like magnets. We are opposite charge. I would be the positive charge and he would be the negative (laughter).

We really have been wanting to do this for some time, and it worked out this week. And quite honestly, I think we're probably even better suited in fourball, but in foursomes, it was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up, and I think that as we spend more time together, I think we're going to get even better and better together.

We had some opportunities today that as we get to understand each other better about reading greens and shots selection and so forth, we really started to mesh towards the end of the mash and I think we have some even better golf in us.

Q. You guys are veterans and vocal leaders in the team room. What do you tell your teammates now up 4-1?
ZACH JOHNSON: 0-0. We have Friday tomorrow. Today was Thursday. We have another day ahead of us. We are playing against a team that has depth and talent and there's no reason why we should get caught up in it. We just have to go out and execute again tomorrow. That's what he's been telling me the whole time today. The last hole is the last hole. We have to stay forward.

PHIL MICKELSON: When the pairings come out, I get nervous. I think we all get a little bit nervous because then it's for real. You know who you're playing against, the anxiety of looking forward and anticipating the match coming upsets in, and there's a nervousness there, but it's also that nervousness that keeps us sharp.

If we can stay sharp and stay focused, we can continue to play some good golf but five points out of however many, 30, we have to stay sharp and keep playing well.

Q. Talk about the wedge you hit, almost holed one coming in.
ZACH JOHNSON: I didn't see it. It was a blind -- I could see the pin. I couldn't see the hole. It was a -- Phil, he actually backed off on his second shot and chose a different club, which was nice because he put me in a position that was perfect for my wedges. Granted, I did have a bank board and that's what you've got to utilize in that situation, especially when J-Day put one up in the fringe. Good number. Good execution. I had 77 yards, playing low 80s maybe and I was thinking maybe a nice low 83, 84-yard shot and probably ended up about 80 and went up and came back down. I assume it was close. I didn't really see it. You know you have to execute against those guys and they rallied really hard the back nine and clearly on 17, that put a kink in our strategy. But today was just a lot of fun.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 8, 2015

Phil Mickelson

Zach Johnson