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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2005

Phil Mickelson

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Q. What might have been, my friend.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it was a fun round today. I had it going and made nine birdies and it was a good time. I felt like starting the round if I could shoot 9-under that it might be good enough. You just never know.

But without the wind it wasn't playing as tough. I got to 9-under through 15 and I felt like I needed to get one or two more to have an outside chance if Sergio backed up a little bit and unfortunately didn't finish well on 17 and 18.

Q. What did you hit on 17?

PHIL MICKELSON: 17, I hit a 7-iron today.

Q. Finishing there, what was the --

PHIL MICKELSON: I blocked it. I had been blocking it on that hole three other times, so it was just one of those things.

Q. You had such a fun run going there. Can you describe the feeling that goes through your head when it goes in the water?

PHIL MICKELSON: When it goes in the water? I'm not going to let one hole ruin my day. It was unfortunate. I had a chance to win, but those things happen, and for whatever reason, that hole just gave me fits this week.

Q. Does that ever happen on a day like today, you pick to a spot you want to get to with the guys who are in front of you?

PHIL MICKELSON: Not really. When I'm 13 back I'm not thinking about winning it, but I was trying to shoot 9-under to have a good round, and it's just one of those things where you never know with one guy up there. If there were ten guys up to 12-under, it would be different, but there's always that outside chance.

Do I think he'll back up? No, I don't. I think he's playing too well and driving it too well to come back, but you never know. When I got to 8-under for the tournament, I thought if I could get one or two more, get to 9- or 10-under, at the time he was 11, you just never know. But he's made a couple birdies since then. Looks like he's going to walk away with it.

Q. Do you remember playing one course where one hole gave you so much trouble?

PHIL MICKELSON: I remember Shinnecock in '95 that 16th hole gave me fits. I remember playing that hole 6-over and it cost me the tournament. There's a good chance playing that hole 7-under those shots may have gotten me over the top this week, but you've got to play all of them. You've got to play all 72. That one just gave me a hard time.

Q. Does that work on your confidence when things like this happen?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it really helps to shoot 9-under and make that many birdies on a tougher course when the greens are hard and fast. Yeah, I'll try to turn that momentum into the Nelson, that's for sure.

Q. How about on the flipside? Does that shatter confidence when you say, gee, that hole is killing me and I had a shot here?

PHIL MICKELSON: One shot at a 66 is pretty good.

Q. Was it feeling as good as it felt all year through 16, because it looked like you could have made a few more?

PHIL MICKELSON: Actually I played well today. I think I had a couple better rounds this year, the 60 at the Phoenix Open, that was nice; the 62 at Spyglass, that was nice, too. So although this is turning into a good one, I probably needed to get the last two or three to have it be one of the better ones of the year.

Q. What about on this course, though?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's a tough track.

Q. How much fun is it when you get it going like that? You seemed to be riding the momentum there.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's fun to be making birdies. It's not fun to finish the way I did, but it's fun to make birdies and start hitting some good golf shots. I didn't play well the first three rounds. I wasn't hitting it solid. I actually made some decent putts. I made some putts to save par and keep the round going the first three rounds. Today I really started to put it together, made some good shots, hit some good putts, and the ones that didn't go in caught the lip. It was a fun day.

Q. 16 looked like you caught kind of a bad break. You caught a downslope a little bit, caught the fringe a little bit.

PHIL MICKELSON: I didn't hit it far enough. I knew when I hit it I wanted to fly it at least to the hole, and then I thought it would be about six feet behind it, and I didn't hit it hard enough, caught the downslope. But I still thought I made that putt. Looked like it was going to go in.

Q. What's your schedule before Pinehurst?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'll play next week at the Nelson, Memorial, Booz Allen and U.S. Open.

End of FastScripts.

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