CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 30, 2001

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, thank you. It was a very nice day today. I played very well obviously and made a lot of putts, so it was a wonderful day.

PHIL MICKELSON: I felt that way. I felt like I played a solid front nine. Nothing too extravagant. Made a couple good putts for birdie, really didn't knockdown the pin turned in 3-under. And was just thinking that a good round today was 5-, 6-under par and played the backside, the pin on 10 and 11 was very accessible. I didn't make birdie there. Made a nice birdie on 12, but 13 was where I felt like I could really go low after eagleing there. It got me to 6-under par for the day and I felt like I had a few more birdie opportunities coming in, so that turned a nice solid 5- or 6-under par round into a 9-under par round.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it was a difficult hole to reach today because it was into the wind and I hit an okay drive and had 260 to the hole, 250 to carry the water and I was going to take a line just right of the green and then have that chip down the green. But as I stood over the ball for the first time the wind stopped. It died down. I felt like I could now take a more direct line so I backed away, and aimed more at the pin and hit a good solid shot and the wind didn't affect it too much. It carried fine and ended up about 10, twelve feet from the hole and I made it.

PHIL MICKELSON: 3-wood.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I went after it. I hit it hard and I was expecting it to be around there, yeah. It was a nice one.

PHIL MICKELSON: I couldn't answer that.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well I studied psychology in college and so I went over some notes and some books that I had. There was a very interesting study about shooting free throws where half of the--what is the word for people used for experiment?

PHIL MICKELSON: There you go. Half the subjects shot only physically, all they did was shoot X. Period of time per day. The other half shot mentally without any physical practice. So, after a week's preparation they came back for their final analysis or test, and the mental rehearsal group dominated the other group. So, that's basically the theory that I try to take in this week was instead of practicing physically for a week, I will take it off but I will still use mental rehearsal to prepare me for this event. Consequently, I have been working out of a much more positive frame of mind where all the shots that I have rehearsed come off the way they should. So, heading out to actually play the round I am expecting to hit good shots.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I think certainly this year we could talk about Colonial and New Orleans and the Masters and the U.S. Open and tournaments where I haven't played well on Sunday. I am going to go back and rehearse the Buick Invitational this year where I played very well and last year Tour Championship where I played well and the last year's Buick invitation many where I played well. I am going to go over those final rounds as opposed to thinking about or discussing the rounds that I have had difficult times on Sunday. I think a lot of that is that I have spent the last year and a half working on the physical part of my game and I feel like that's really come around. I have been striking the ball well, putting well, chipping well, and so I have been in contention quite a bit. The last element that I have not put together is really my mental preparation - visualizing shots, preparing the proper way, mentally, to pull the best shots out during the round.

PHIL MICKELSON: Last week, yeah.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I just studied it and then it was time to do it. It was something that I have spent a lot of time learning and -- I guess studying in college, so I had a lot of information. I just needed to start using the techniques to relax physically; to relax mentally and the proper visual aids as well.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, it was time. It was just the right time in that to progress as a player, it's an evolution. It's not a hit or miss. A lot of times we look at a player and say, oh, he's played great this week; oh, he played poorly this week. It's an evolutionary process. From last year I started to really improve ball-striking wise. I spent a lot of time. This year where I am starting to control the trajectory and the spin the way I want to so that the balls coming into the green proper ways. Now I feel like the last element is preparing myself mentally to pull those shots out at the proper time.

PHIL MICKELSON: No reason. I just felt like it was time to move in that direction.

PHIL MICKELSON: About 3, four years ago I spent a little time with Dr. Rotella.

PHIL MICKELSON: It has for two reasons. One, I am visualizing the shot that I want to hit. I am working out of a very positive frame of mind. In the past my mind would wander and I would start seeing shots that I didn't want to hit. It wasn't that my golf swing wasn't where I wanted to or that I wasn't striking it well or what have you. I wasn't seeing the shot that I wanted to hit. So consequently I was working out of a more negative frame of mind and by simply visualizing what I want to occur, I have been able to pull those shots out.

PHIL MICKELSON: Or seeing the ball touch the edge rather.

PHIL MICKELSON: Now I am -- I have already putted that putt that I am about to hit four, five times before I stand over it.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yes. Exactly.

PHIL MICKELSON: Correct.

PHIL MICKELSON: You know, I don't know what to tell you.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what to say. I fully expect that again the rounds, the final rounds at Colonial and New Orleans, Masters, Open, and I am sure there's a few others I am leaving out, I am sure that's what will be discussed and -- but that's not what I will be discussing. What I will be rehearsing again is the successes, Buick Invitational this year, TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP last year, Colonial and Buick Invitational the previous year, and I will replay the positive moments, the good shots that I hit at the crucial times so forth.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's not that the questions got to me. It is just that on Sunday I wasn't seeing what I wanted to do. I just wasn't in the proper frame of mind to allow myself to play the way I wanted to, to hit the shots when I needed.

PHIL MICKELSON: Basically, yeah, I said that after the Open, that disappointment 56 disappointment tended to we are on me and so I stopped doing that and started to turnaround the way I thought.

PHIL MICKELSON: I make 100 percent mentally. (Laughter).