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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 12, 2004

Phil Mickelson

IRVING, TEXAS

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm looking forward to the U.S. Open this year. It's not because I won't have to answer the question of a guy who's never won a major. It's because I have a lot of confidence now, a lot of belief that I can break through and win the big tournaments. I feel like because I'm driving the ball in play, I'm able to do better playing the more penalizing courses like at Shinnecock where if you miss the fairway, the rough is so severe it's tough to advance it. I feel like that instead of being a disadvantage, it's becoming an advantage, and I can't wait to get up to New York and to play.

Q. Talk about being back here in Dallas.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I enjoy this tournament immensely. I love what Byron Nelson has done for the game of golf, and as a professional we all look to him as a role model and inspiration as to how we want to give back to the game, how we want to represent the game. Byron Nelson is what everyone wants to emulate. To have him associated with this tournament is a huge draw for the event. Guys come here solely to be a part of this and to be near him. It's always a great golf course, a great tournament.

The Salesmanship Club does an incredible job raising money for charity, getting the golf course set up and accommodating one of the largest crowds that we have on Tour, but we have Byron associated with this, we just love to play.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the field here at the Byron Nelson is one of the best we have on Tour. Many of the top players are here, and I think a lot of it has to do with the way The Salesmanship Club runs the event.

We have one of the largest purses here, we have some of the best practice facilities. We have two golf courses to use that allows us to tee off at a reasonable time between 8:00 and 10:30 as opposed to having a really early time and a really late time. The Four Seasons being on-site makes it so easy for the players. Everything about it is just first class, so all the best players really want to come here.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, nothing off the top of my head.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I've had a chance in the Pro-Am to play with a many interesting individuals. A couple years ago I was able to play with the AD, DeLoss Dodds, and a couple of the coaches, Coach Brown and Rick Barnes from the University of Texas, and Bill Duvall, and those relationships have developed over the last couple of years. I've become a Texas fan. I watch them and pull for them, and I had a chance to be very fortunate to play with some wonderful guys, very interesting CEOs, very interesting guys in sports, and I feel very fortunate. I look forward to those days.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I really don't feel too differently. I signed a bunch of Masters flags the last couple of weeks, but that's the only difference. I haven't been asked to sign Masters flags in the past, but I seem to be asked to do a lot of that lately, which is a good problem to have.

Q. Talk about the crowds at Bethpage and the New York Stock Exchange.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I love playing in New York. One of the most exciting times, especially for not winning the tournament, was at Bethpage and the reception that people gave myself and my family, and walking on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and seeing the way people were and how our economy runs and seeing everything happening is exciting. I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of it. I can't wait to get back to New York and play the Open at Shinnecock.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I look forward to coming home at night a lot more than I used to before I was married, and I enjoy having an incredible life partner and three wonderful kids, and life is certainly a lot more fulfilling being married and having children.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I doubt it.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, right after Augusta I took a week off to take advantage of a lot of opportunities that I had that I don't normally get besides the sports world, besides golf, ringing the bell at the Stock Exchange, going on shows like Leno and Letterman, but I enjoyed doing that, did that for four or five days.

Then after that I stopped doing requests because I wanted to start playing again and I wanted to be ready to play. So when I came back to New Orleans, although I didn't win, I was very close and lost by a shot and came within two last week.

So I really right now just love playing, I love being with my family, they've traveled every week, and I'm trying to take advantage of this year before my oldest starts school this year and won't be able to travel as much.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, this year has been a lot of fun, and I could really sense that it was going to be a different year before the year started at The Hope. I really wanted to make it a different year, a special year, and I'm off to a wonderful start. I'm certainly excited about the prospect.

But I also want to continue it because we're only a couple months in, we're getting to the heart of the season now with three majors ahead here, and I really want to be playing my best heading into the summer. It's been a lot of fun and my excitement level of playing is at an all-time high.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I played well at Shinnecock and I gave it away on one hole and I'll certainly be going back there looking for ways to save shots, much like I did at Augusta and in weeks prior. If I can save a half a shot or a shot a round, it makes the difference between 2nd and 3rd to possibly winning.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I think I lost by 4.

Q. What is it about Shinnecock -- (inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I love the definition of the golf course, the way the bunkers are, the way the fescue and grass grows, the difficulty of the greens, the wind that comes off the Hudson River, I think -- the ocean, okay. It's a very windy golf course. They took out a lot of trees and they have a lot of chipping areas, and I think it's going to test the players' overall game, whereas in the past, Pinehurst was a great example of a wonderful test of golf, but we've also had some tests at the U.S. Open that are very one-dimensional, can you hit the fairway, can you hit the green, and short game has not been as big a factor. I think at this year's open at Shinnecock Hills, short game will be a big factor.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it's tough to say because as soon as you say something like that, you get -- Tiger is the type of guy that you piss him off and he just plays his best, so let's keep everything real quiet. He's playing great, he almost won last week, but let's not rough on each other.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: My family, I've been able to have them travel just about every week. They're here with me here this week. We had a great day yesterday. I had to work on Monday, I had an outing, but yesterday we were able to take the day to go to the zoo and spend some time together. We try to do that Mondays and Tuesdays during the week.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: My schedule will alter. Right now I'm playing four in a row. That will certainly -- I'll probably play two weeks in a row max, so my scheduling will change quite a bit. They might come out on the weekends.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I'd like to think so. I came close in a couple Opens, Bethpage and Pinehurst. I've been able to drive it well enough at Opens. I'm certainly not going to hit every fairway. If I can hit 65 to 75 percent, that's a great percentage. But at a U.S. Open, my misses have not been anywhere near as bad to where I would find let's say the deep heather or the water or out of bounds or what have you. What I've noticed is this year when I do miss a fairway, it's by a much smaller amount. It's been in play and I've been able to not have too many big mistakes. I don't know what my exact number is, but I've had very few double bogeys here, and I think that is conducive to playing well in an Open, why I'm so excited about getting back to Shinnecock.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the low score obviously, but what that score is, I don't know, and a lot of it will depend on the wind because you can really go low here if the wind stays calm.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Yes, I'm going to go back to Shinnecock in a couple weeks and I'll spend a few days there playing the golf course so that I'm able to be entering the tournament prepared, knowing what shots to play, but also more importantly, trying to find those areas where I can salvage shots. There are spots where you hit the golf ball at Shinnecock and you cannot get up-and-down. You're going to make bogey. So it's pointless to practice those shots. What I want to do is find the shots that I can miss and where I can miss it and try to practice those shots and get up-and-down and try to salvage shots from those positions.

End of FastScripts.

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