THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2002

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: I am not ecstatic. It wasn't a very good round. It was a struggle.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know if the golf course played much easier than it had yesterday especially, and it was susceptible to low scores, if you played well. I saw a couple of guys go pretty low. It was there to be had.

I thought the greens were very fair. They were still pretty soft and you can fly shots and get it stopped. So it was a very fair test and I just didn't play well.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what to say. Those things have happened before in the past and I don't know what else to say.

Q. Did it mentally beat up on you (inaudible)--

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I just didn't hit very many good shots. I didn't feel like I played atrocious, but certainly with what happened -- I didn't feel like I played atrocious, but certainly what happened on 10 hurt score-wise didn't really affect my play coming in. I felt like I held it together, but throwing away that many shots at one hole certainly hurt.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know if it was that. I don't know what to say. It wasn't any different than other pins. It was -- I don't know what to tell you.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: I was actually trying to make birdies. I felt like with eight holes left I can get 3 back and even par for the day. I thought that would be a successful round. I didn't birdie 11 and I hit a very poor bunker shot there and that was a hole that I needed to get. 16 I needed to get the ball in the fairway to make birdie there. And didn't do it. Then I just needed one more birdie here or there. So I wasn't able to do that. I made a bunch of pars even though I was trying to make birdie, but it just wasn't happening?

Q. What goes through your mind (inaudible) --

PHIL MICKELSON: Actually when I went over the next tee I just had to laugh about it. It is not like I could do anything about it and it's -- it was just a fluke deal. I don't know what else to tell you. I tried to laugh it off and play hard the last eight holes.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: I am quite aways back now. I am going to try to get off to a quick start see if I can shoot 4-, 5-, 6-under par the front side to make a run at it. The key for me is to get off to a quick start tomorrow. That's really all I am focusing on because if I want to have any chance or really just have a good tournament or good round tomorrow I need to get off to a quick start.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: It's really not. I felt like I made a lot of good putts. I had that 3-putt on 17, but I made a good par-putt on 13. I feel like I made a great putt on 9 just before that; made good putts on 3 for birdie and good par save on 4. I feel like I am rolling the ball well, and I don't know what else to say. It is not as though my confidence wasn't there. I made a good putt on 18 to finish the day.

Q. (Inaudible)

PHIL MICKELSON: It seems to happen here every year, so no, I am really not. It's happened here a bunch with guys who have not won tournaments, have tried to make this their first win, and I have known about Craig Perks and Carl Paulson for a while. They are players that maybe not everybody is familiar with, but those out on Tour are and know that they are very talented and a lot of players on Tour expect them to win soon and tomorrow is probably a very good chance for them.

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