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FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

January 29, 2016

Phil Mickelson

San Diego, California

Q. What was the difference today compared to yesterday's 69 for you?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't have a good explanation. I had a good round going, I was 1-under par and had some birdie holes coming up and I don't know, it just kind of slipped, I wasn't really mentally as sharp as I need to be.

But it happens. I'm not overly concerned about it. I'll just kind of play it off and move on to Phoenix and keep working on what I'm working on.

Because yesterday when we talked I thought, wow, it's really starting to feel good after that round yesterday on the South Course. I thought I'm going to go to the North Course and really light it up. I think I tried to force the issue a little bit. When I wasn't way under par early, I kind of started to press a little bit. But that stuff happens.

I feel like I'm not worried about where the ball striking is, I'll spend a little time on short game. But other than that, I wish I was playing, because I feel like the more I play the better it's going to get.

Q. So just to clarify you're going to chalk this day up as just a bad day. You're going to leave the grounds without many questions about the stuff you've been working on?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't think so. I feel like that I still hit a lot of good shots and still feel confident with how I'm swinging the club and where the direction I'm headed.

Scoring wasn't quite on today or this week, but I'm looking forward to playing Phoenix and getting back in the swing of it because I just feel like it's starting to come together.

Q. Obviously disappointed. Just start us off with the day?
PHIL MICKELSON: I bogeyed the last three holes to miss the cut. That's not fun. But I had a good round going and then had that double on 18 and a few other mistakes. Bogeys from the fairway with wedges. Just some dumb things. I don't really have a great explanation.

But I still feel very confident with how I'm swinging and where my game's headed so I'll move on to Phoenix, spend this weekend working on it and try to it get dialed in.

But yesterday I really thought I was on the cusp of coming out here today and really lighting it up and it just didn't happen. I might have forced the issue a little bit and that could have been a problem, but it doesn't feel bad at all. The game feels good, body feels good, I'm looking forward to playing and hopefully going to Phoenix and playing well, because it doesn't feel far off.

Q. You said you weren't as mentally sharp as you thought you should be. Could you explain what you meant by that?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I don't have a great explanation, other than I was just making -- I was just hitting the ball in the wrong spot. I would have a pitching wedge in to 4, from the middle of the fairway, and made bogey. Hit it long right, where you can't hit it.

I had an L wedge into 7 from the middle of the fairway and kind of fatted it and made bogey.

It's just dumb little things like that that I just wasn't quite sharp.

But I still felt like the swing was pretty easy, I hit a lot of great drives around my second nine and I don't really know what to say, because it doesn't -- the score's not how I feel like I'm starting to play.

Q. You always find an obstacle that makes the round interesting today. Talk about the one out there today.
PHIL MICKELSON: I had a few obstacles. The one on 18 was unusual. I got lucky that it was barely in bounds. But still made a double. So, it happens.

I really don't know what to say about today's round, because I felt really good coming out, I struck it well on the range, got off to a good solid start. Hit some really good shots and thought that it was going to be a day that I lit it up. It just didn't go that way.

Q. Could you have hit that shot on 18 if were you a right-hander?
PHIL MICKELSON: No. No, it was underneath the fence.

Q. You went on the other side?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah.

Q. So the way it was up against the post, you couldn't have hit it right-handed.
PHIL MICKELSON: No, it was underneath the fence. So it didn't matter what side of the ball you stood on, you would have to go from the other side. You could have been right-handed and done exactly what I did.

Q. But not hit it right.
PHIL MICKELSON: Right.

Q. Final 18 on the North Course, maybe not the way you wanted it to go tonight, but just what kind of memories do you have of the 18 on the North Course?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I have a lot of fond memories of just Torrey Pines in general, both North and South. And hopefully we'll make some more. It's such a great site and I think that Weiskopf's going to do some really good things to the golf course and make it more enjoyable and we'll all have more memories out there.

Q. In all the rounds you played, all the hundreds of rounds you played on this course, is it maybe the first time you took a shot from outside in the parking lot?
PHIL MICKELSON: Probably not.

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