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ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPEN

July 10, 2016

Phil Mickelson

Inverness, Scotland

PHIL MICKELSON: I love the golf course here, and to come in with a good final round feels good. Feels like there's a little bit of momentum heading into next week. I always love playing here. Castle Stuart is one of my favorite golf courses anywhere.

Q. No one really relishes playing in wind and rain, but I take it it's the ideal preparation for Troon, isn't it?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't get a chance to do it very often. Back where I live in San Diego, the weather is so nice. So I would have to make an effort as a kid, and even today, to go out when it is raining. Seems like you don't have to make much effort here; it's a daily occurrence. I enjoy the challenge of playing in these conditions.

Q. Do you feel, therefore, that the game is in very good shape ahead of next week?
PHIL MICKELSON: It certainly feels better after today's round where I had a good score. But it also helped me identify some areas where I need to work on for next week, this week did. My lag putting really cost me two, three shots a round the first few rounds because I wasn't getting it close enough from long distances on the ground. That's an area that I'll have to work on because it needs to be sharp for next week.

You're going to be putting from off the green and from long distances on the greens, and you've got to get those close to make easy pars, I really made it difficult for me this week and that's why I didn't have a chance heading into the final round today, but it was still a great week.

Q. Is it the pace of the greens or British greens?
PHIL MICKELSON: Wasn't anything wrong with the greens themselves. It was just my touch. I just didn't have very good touch from long distance. And even today, on the 12th hole, granted, it was 90 feet, I left it 12 feet short. And you have to get those within preferably inside three feet but certainly inside five or six feet, to have a reasonable chance at 2-putting those.

I got away with it because I ended up making the 12-footer, but you can't do that in major championships. You've got to leave yourselves easy pars. And that's an area that I'll really focus on the next three days, because it's been a strength of my game the last decade. It's allowed me to compete in majors because I've given myself so many easy pars, but this week it was not sharp and I need to work on it.

Q. Don't know if you've seen the forecast, but you might be in for more of the same as you've had today.
PHIL MICKELSON: It's really great. I love playing in these conditions. I love the challenge of it. I've learned a few tricks over the years that have really helped, playing with those two All-Weather Gloves has been very helpful for me because I don't worry about losing control of the club. And so that's really been a big thing that's helped me perform in these conditions.

Also, keeping the ball -- I'm able to get the ball out of the air and on the ground a lot easier and I'm driving the ball a lot straighter. I really drove the ball quite a bit straighter this week.

Q. How long have you done that, the two gloves?
PHIL MICKELSON: I started it the year that Darren Clarke won and I made that run on Sunday. That was the first time I really did that, so I had instant success, and it's been kind of a staple for me. I always carry a pair of those, and any time it rains, I put them on. Any time it rains, I like to do that.

Q. Given these kind of conditions, I know you say it's fun, but is that positive mind-set a key? A lot of players have been moaning and groaning, and you have to approach it in a good frame of mind.
PHIL MICKELSON: I've just always accepted and relished that it's part of The Open Championship. I prefer that we play in that because it seems like that's what the history of the tournament is known for.

But you still need some luck. You still need some luck of the draw. You have to have a good end of the tee times, because those three- or four-shot differences, sometimes the opposite end of the tee times makes, is often times the difference in the tournament.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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