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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

October 9, 2015

Songdo IBD, Incheon City, Korea

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We'd like to welcome three members of the U.S. Presidents Cup team, J.B. Holmes, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson.

If we could start with opening comments.

J.B. HOLMES: We played well today. Me and Bubba did good team work. He played a little bit better than me on the front and I was able to help him a little bit more on the back.

They made some putts on us early but we were able to hold them off and hit some key shots here at the end. It was a fun match.

PHIL MICKELSON: Zach and I had a very uneventful day. We talked away with a tie. (Laughter).

BUBBA WATSON: Yeah, with J.B., we had a good match. The other team played so well. They fed off each other. One guy would play the hole great, the next guy would play the next hole great. Made a lot of putts. Me and J.B. just hung on. We made a couple birdies early to keep the lead and we hung onto the lead down the stretch all the way to the last hole. It was a hard-fought match and somehow we and J.B. got the victory.

Q. What made you think about a one-ball rule on the fairway and not the tee, and what kind of balls were they in?
PHIL MICKELSON: We had been talking all day -- you know, yesterday Zach and I were changing balls every hole. And today, I was talking with Bones about what holes I should use a harder ball to try to get there at 7, the par 5. I used a firmer Callaway that would go a little bit longer and try to get there in two and ended up hitting off the tee.

Didn't really think much about it. We've never had a one-ball rule that I can think of in these events, or at least that I was aware of. But it's never been an issue, either.

But I was walking down the fairway and I was talking with Jay, and I just thought, gosh, I'm going to ask. I'm sure it's not an issue. But hey, by the way, I hit a ball -- I hit a different ball here. And it turns out that there was a one-ball rule and it was an issue.

But I have never, also -- so that's my -- obviously as a player, you need to know no that. You need to know the rules and if you have a question, you do it beforehand.

The weird thing was I've never heard of a match adjustment penalty. Never heard of that. I just thought, okay, well if I hit the wrong ball, no big deal, Zach will cover me this hole, I pick up, put the right ball in play the next hole. But obviously that was not what happened, either, so.

Q. You can't fathom basically losing two holes in one hole?
PHIL MICKELSON: I couldn't.

BUBBA WATSON: In junior golf.

PHIL MICKELSON: I couldn't see that happening. I didn't know that would happen. That's the first time I've ever heard of that happening.

Q. The rest of the story is the Match Committee made an error in telling you to pick up your ball and not informing you that you could, in fact, complete the hole. Your reaction to that; and I guess just take us through the rest of that, your reaction to it and how you were able to pull yourself together after that.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I didn't -- again, I didn't find out about that until the end of the match that there was a mistake that was made.

And the way I see it, is I was able to reach it in two, the par 5, and very well would have made a 4. That was kind of the game plan, and probably could have salvaged one of those two holes, I would think.

But it's the job of the player to know the rules. I mean, it happened with Dustin at Whistling Straits years ago. It's the job of the player to know the rules, and it's not the committee's fault.

I know they made a mistake and it's disappointing, but they should not have been put in that situation. It wasn't a hard thing to just play the same ball throughout the round.

Q. For the other two guys, it got to the point in the day, Bubba and J.B., where the blue numbers were going up. Just talk about finishing your match and getting the one full point for the U.S.
BUBBA WATSON: The way I was looking at it, the way we were talking about it on the course, we just have to take care of our point.

Again, great golf. We could have easily lost. They make one putt or two more putts, we lose that that much. For us, we were just trying to take care of what we were doing. Now, we were hoping and wishing that other points would have came up on the board for us. But at the same time, if we don't control our match or try to win our match, then we can't worry about other people until we secure ours. And ours took all the way to 18 to secure it. So we should have been focused on ours, and that's what we -- we tried to do that.

J.B. HOLMES: Said very well.

BUBBA WATSON: Thank you.

PHIL MICKELSON: (Turning to J.B) Let's hear what it sounds like in Korean, go ahead. (Laughter).

J.B. HOLMES: Like Bubba said, we were looking at the board and paying attention, but we were just saying, we have to focus on what we're doing and that's all we can control. That was the round.

Q. Would you have any interest at all in talking about the bunker shot you holed on the 12th?
BUBBA WATSON: (Laughing).

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah. Yeah, it was nice (in modest tone). It was fun. It was fun, making bunker shots. This one was a longer shot than yesterday.

Q. How far?
PHIL MICKELSON: 142.

Q. Pitching wedge?
PHIL MICKELSON: Pitching wedge, yes.

Zach was in there 12 feet, and so I hit an aggressive pitching wedge. It kind of drew with the hook-wind and landed five or six feet left of the hole and just side-spun right in the hole. That was nice, because Jason and Adam were down there with a short wedge in; that they very well may have hit it close and had kind of a free run at it. Knocking it in gave us the hole and some momentum.

Q. First of all, you said you used different balls yesterday. Did you use the harder Callaway ball on the 7th hole yesterday, as well?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, I was teeing off with Zach's ball so that he would hit iron shots with his own ball, and he was teeing off with my ball on tee shots I was hitting my ball with the irons. Because our ball flies differently with the irons.

Q. Do you feel like you cost your team half a point?
PHIL MICKELSON: I feel like we spotted the Internationals's best team two holes and they still couldn't beat us. Just saying.

Q. I know they told you that you were out of the hole, you were disqualified. Was there any discussion about if you felt like you could finish the hole or were you set from the very beginning that, okay, I'm going to pick up and Zach's going to go from here?
PHIL MICKELSON: I was just told to pick it up and it's Zach's hole. So I did.

Q. Jay Haas said that the reason he played you yesterday and was going to play you today if you played well yesterday, was because he wanted a chance to play you in maybe four matches. So tomorrow, do you feel good enough to go at least 18 holes tomorrow in one of the matches?
PHIL MICKELSON: Sure, yeah. We'll end up playing tomorrow in the afternoon.

Q. Is that fourball or foursomes? We don't really know.
PHIL MICKELSON: I thought it was fourball because I thought they were going to continue foursomes, fourball, foursomes, fourball. But I don't know. I guess I should probably always double-check those things (laughter).

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: J.B. Holmes, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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