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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2016

Phil Mickelson

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. A love/hate relationship with this place?
PHIL MICKELSON: I like it. I haven't played well. It's critical you strike the ball well and I didn't do that off the tee, I drove it not poor or not very well. Pretty poorly. But I like the golf course. I think that it rewards great play and I think it punishes poor play. I think you it's a sign of a great golf course, I just didn't play my best.

Q. Is it surprising you, given how well you have played here before, that now this is four straight missed cuts here at Sawgrass?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know if it's surprising, it's a challenging course, it's hard to recover. I've got to make -- I've got to make some adjustments on the course and I just didn't drive it well. Yesterday I hit two fairways, you can't do that around here.

Q. Your momentum from last week, this is a hard place really to judge overall where your game's at, isn't it?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think that it's a great golf course to identify how well you're playing. And it tells me that I've got some work to do still.

I've been driving the ball much better this year, but I drove it terrible this week and it's, it will eat you up. So I think it's a really good place to play to find out where your strengths and your weaknesses are.

Q. What do you feel like you need to work on most coming out of this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: Driving the ball in the fairway. Yeah, I mean, I know that's a common theme, but I've driven it pretty well this year, I've driven it in the fairway more than I have in the past for the most part and my misses have been smaller. But this week they were terrible.

Q. What's it like to wake up in the morning and have your first shot in the morning be on 17 here?
PHIL MICKELSON: I didn't mind it, because I had nothing to lose. I needed to make a birdie. But when you are up near the lead or have a chance, it's daunting, because the only thing that can happen really is bad. There's not -- I mean a two isn't going to do for you that much good compared to what a five or six could do negatively.

Q. Do you hit a lot of drivers here compared to other courses typical tournament golf courses? Is it the normal amount would you say?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think it has a good mixture. You don't have to hit driver, but you have the option to hit driver. I think that's a, I like that. I like that you have options to hit different clubs off the tees. I think it's a strategic course, I think that the greens are small and you have to, you have to hit them and I actually think the more I play it the more I go around, I think it's really good.

Q. So lengthening it you don't think would be, would change that dynamic you're talking about if they were to lengthen like Pete Dye is only going to lengthen about five holes, they're going to be ripping up the course and that may happen.
PHIL MICKELSON: I can see where he would want to do that. I don't know what holes he's talking about, but I know like 5, where the green is big, it's wide and it's open in front, I think that hole was designed to come in with more of a longer mid iron so I could see where that would be a hole he would want to lengthen.

But you wouldn't want to lengthen holes like, I don't know, like 15. Because even if you lengthen it, you're still hitting the same approach in. Because it's not really a driver hole, it cuts you off, so you're hitting 3-wood or driver, depending upon the length, you're going to be hitting to the same spot anyway. So I don't know if that's a hole you would want to lengthen.

I could see where you would want to lengthen 14. Again, that's designed to be a long tough hard hole, the front of the green is fairly open and I could see where that would be one of them.

But I like, I like the golf course. I think it's really a good test and it's a great place to, again, identify where your strengths and weaknesses are.

Q. Big picture, do you feel like you have the same confidence momentum that you had early in the season on the West Coast?
PHIL MICKELSON: Not after missing a couple of cuts, but I feel like last week is a little, last week I had a good week, I feel like my game's not far off. But I'm not overly concerned because I missed the cut this week. I feel like I may -- I don't know, I just want to get out and play and compete. I feel like that's the best way to kind of work myself in it.

But from a ball striking standpoint, this is, not talking about these two days, because I struck it terribly, I've been hitting the ball better than I have in a long time and I just haven't quite put it all together yet. But I've been hitting it well and I've been putting well and it's, I'm excited about the prospects of the summer. But I do need to start putting it together.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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