PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2001

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Certainly pleased to be at 8-under are par through two rounds and I've played well and hit good shots and made good decisions. To go through the rounds here, I teed off on the back side and birdied the 12th hole. I drove it in the left rough. Just chipped it out into the fairway and had a pitching -- had a sand wedge in from 105 yards and hit it to about eight feet and made it. On the next hole, I hit 2-iron and a sands wedge to about five feet and made that as well. Teed those two holes on the back which was my front. Made the turn on No. 1 and bogeyed No. 1. I drove it in the right rough. Hit it out about 20 yards short of the green. Chipped up to four feet and missed it. No. 2, I hit a good drive and an 8-iron to 15 feet and made that for birdie. Then I birdied the par 5, No. 5. I hit a good drive and a 2-iron about 30 feet and 2-putted. I birdied the par 3 No. 7. I hit a 7-iron to about five feet and made that for birdie.

PHIL MICKELSON: I feel as though both the first and second round, I've played very well. I've hit a lot of good shots and made decisions and consequently I've been at 8-under par. I do feel as though there were some chances to really go low and I had a few putts catch the lip that may or may not have gone in and I left maybe three or four out there they'll try to recapture tomorrow. That is pretty much the mindset tomorrow, that I've been playing well -- played the same way that I have the first two days, make good decisions, execute the shots well and try to capitalize on opportunities.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I would probably be biased and say, no, even if I did. But I don't know where -- I will say this: I may not make the same decisions tomorrow as I did today or as I did the first round. But, at the time, I think it was the right decision. For instance, 9, I hit driver off the tee today and there's a chance tomorrow or Sunday I may or may not hit driver on 9. I don't know. But at the time I felt good with the driver, like I could turn it left-to-right well and it fit the fairway. I ended up hitting driver, put it in play and gave myself a good chance at birdie. If I hit it in the rough, does that mean it's a bad decision? Not really. It just means that I didn't execute. There's one instance where I didn't execute the shot. That was the drive on one. I had to take it over the tree and I was going to have a sand wedge in if I hit a good shot and I ended up pulling it into the rough and consequently because I missed a 4-footer, I made bogey.

PHIL MICKELSON: You've heard it many times in match play, when you get 2-up, try to get 3-up, if you try to get 4-up. My mindset is not to win the golf tournament, but to pull myself away from the field and that's the goal. I put myself in position the first two days to be right among the lead and the next two days it's my intention to try to separate myself, give myself a comfort zone and push myself to win, but not just by one or two, but maybe a few more.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I certainly saw those scores. I saw Jim Furyk go 6-under through about 14 or 15 holes and I saw Mark O'Meara shoot 7-under. I certainly felt as though the round that I played today could have been that low, also. That was the number that I thought would be a really good score. I feel as though there's a 6-, 7-, 8-under par round out there, but to do that, you really have to play well and you have to make a lots of lot of putts. When my opportunities came to get to 6-, 7-, 8-under par, it seemed as though the ball just lipped out instead of lipping in. I'll certainly take 4-under, 66, but there are low scores out there. You have to hit it very well and you have to put it in play off the tee and on the greens and so forth and give yourself chances. Because there are really no gimmee birdie holes, maybe the two par 5s, but even then you have to drive it perfectly and hit a great second shot, there are not the four par 5s that are reachable. There are not any drivable par 4s, no gimmee birdies so it's hard to shoot 7- or 8-under par without making any 20-foot putts.

PHIL MICKELSON: The only thing I know about him is the hats that he wears. I have not played with him before. I haven't seen him play. I just know that he wears some funky hats.

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm sure they could, but then we would have a problem with our relationship. (Laughter.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it sounds like we are talking about luck. Did I get the lucky break, did I not. I'm a big believer that luck occurs when -- and you've probably heard this before, luck occurs when preparation and opportunity meet. I don't know if I've prepared properly or I don't know if the opportunity just wasn't right or what, but I haven't taken advantage of those opportunities. I haven't created those good breaks myself. I've worked hard to correct that. I feel as though right now, the way I've been playing and the way I've been swinging has allowed me to minimize my mistakes, minimize the errant shots. If they are off-line, it is not by nearly as much as it used to be. I have kept the ball much more in play and I think that will allow me to have more of those opportunities or those breaks that we are talking about.

PHIL MICKELSON: A little bit of both. I certainly think that having been here, I know what to expect. I feel comfortable in this situation, being here a number of times now, and I feel as though that will be advantageous situation. However, having not won one, there could be doubts that creep in, and that's something that I'm overcoming right now. By that, I mean not letting those creep in. See what I want to accomplish. See the shot I want to hit. See the score or the round that I want to play and then executing that. That's also part of the learning process, from being here a number of times, knowing when the penalty is so great, it is very easy to see the penalty on a hole or what not to do and so part of the challenge now is to overcome that, part of the learning process and experience is being able to take those negative thoughts out of my mind and see the shot I want to hit or how I want to play the hole.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think it's easy to go out and shoot 3- or 4-under par because the golf course is susceptible to that if you play well. It's difficult to do that, to shoot 3- or 4-over par four days in a row. Over the course of 72 holes, that's where I want to continue my good play and pull away, as opposed to the first day or the second day, when it is really not feasible.

PHIL MICKELSON: After Friday's round, I don't think that will make a difference. Maybe after Saturday's round. But if you look at the British Open he was at even par and played two very good rounds. I think heading into the weekend anybody who makes the cut, realistically has a shot, just like O'Meara did. That's doable, after three rounds, having a four- or five-shot cushion would be much more to my liking, as opposed to only 36.

PHIL MICKELSON: The heat is allowing the ball to go a ton. Much further than I thought it was going to be the case, heading into this tournament, and holes, to give you an example, like No. 2 which, in the practice rounds, looked to be driver 4-iron, driver 5-iron, all of a sudden they were driver 8-iron today. The par 5, 5th, was difficult to reach and all of a sudden you have to iron into it both days; and the par 3, 17th, which was a 3- or 4-iron in the practice round, all of a sudden 6-iron in the club. The ball is just going a ton and that is allowing the course to play much shorter than the actual yardage.

PHIL MICKELSON: That's what I would like to do, to make it easier on myself to win and that's certainly what I'm trying to do. Now understand, I would very much love to win whether it is by one or two or whatever. But I've been having it be real close in the past and I haven't had the break here or there when I've needed it and I'm hoping to eliminate that variable and try to give myself some type of cushion.

PHIL MICKELSON: It wasn't the first time but it was the first time in a while. I had worked so hard on my physical preparation, but I failed to prepare mentally the proper way, and so that's what I've been trying to do these last few tournaments.