BAY HILL INVITATIONAL

March 15, 2001

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the first half of the round for everybody was the easier half because we had very benign conditions. The wind was down and the greens were soft and the pins were very accessible. So consequently we saw some guys shoot really low the front nine -- was it Dennis Paulson or Carl Paulson? He was 5-, or 6-under the front and I was able to shoot 5-under. The back nine when the wind picked up; it played really different. And to shoot 1-under, I was pleased that for the back side and I'm pleased the overall score.

PHIL MICKELSON: I hit 3-iron in.

PHIL MICKELSON: 192, yeah.

PHIL MICKELSON: I still don't think I've done that. I still haven't done that.

PHIL MICKELSON: I played well. I played well. I made a lot of good putts, and two of the holes that I bogeyed I ended up missing putts that I thought I hit pretty good. They just didn't go in. I'm not disappointed I had three bogeys. That's what I was getting at earlier. I made a lot of birdies and played well today. I don't know what else to say.

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm missing that. I don't remember that.

PHIL MICKELSON: No.

PHIL MICKELSON: No. Last year I played to this level, but I played to this level it seemed like almost every week. This year, I've missed two cuts, so I've played inconsistent in comparison to last year. But I did play well at AT&T and I played very well at San Diego to win, and I feel very good about my game. I played very well last week and struggled on the greens. I felt like early on this year -- it was at Honda I finished 27th, but I hit the ball very well. So I spent the early part of this week really working on my putting, and it's starting to payoff because I made a lot of good putts today.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on those tournaments for two reasons. I wasn't feeling well at Phoenix and wasn't able to practice -- and I'm giving you excuses which is really poor. At L.A., it was a late addition. I was on a ski trip and I added it trying to do a little bit extra on the West Coast Swing and I just wasn't ready to play. Poor excuses, I know. But I wouldn't want to put too much emphasis on that. I think that I'm playing five weeks in a row starting last week, and I think that these four weeks will decide, really, what kind of momentum I have going into Augusta. I felt like I played well last week. It was a really good starting point, a good foundation, because I was striking it well and I felt like my fundamentals were pretty good. So I feel like I made some progress and will start playing better as the weeks go on.

PHIL MICKELSON: It went really well. I played consistently well in the majors finishing, in the Top-16 all four times, which was I thought pretty consistent. I'll be doing that again this year. The only difference is I'm not going to play the week before the British Open because the golf course is not similar enough to the Open-style courses that we'll be playing. So I'm going to actually go over there early and play four or five days on links-style courses.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, that's hard to say. I've been thinking about it since the PGA, and every day it at least crosses everyone's mind at least once. I try not to worry about it too much until Thursday, until I'm on the course on Thursday and can actually do something about it. But it is certainly a focal point for most players. I would actually think that next week is a tournament I'm trying to gear up for, because next week is going to have a huge impact on the year-end Money List. It's the largest purse we play on TOUR, and I think the golf course is one of the more difficult courses that we'll play.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I think it's probably true. I think that we have an opportunity here with Tiger, if he were able to win the Masters, to complete a Grand Slam. That has never been done before. Nobody has ever held all four majors at the same time. I think that that would be an unbelievable feat, especially given a few years ago, nobody thought that it was ever even feasible. And now the odds on him doing it or extremely good. He's going to be the favorite playing that week. He only has to win one tournament to do it. It's a pretty exciting time. I feel very fortunate to be about one of only 80 people in the world that is going to try to not let that happen.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think you can probably get that out of what I just said. I feel that a Grand Slam is basically holding all four majors at the same time, all four championship trophies.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't think he strikes the fear of God into Tiger. I really don't. I think it takes two to get up to his drive, and I think Tiger's got a big advantage, yeah.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's pretty good. Let me say this: This ball has had the greatest impact on the game of golf, more than any other piece of equipment in the history of game as far as -- I believe, even more so than steel shafts. The reason is it is the first golf ball that has worked opposite or conversely to every other golf ball that's been made. The harder you hit it, the less it spins. Every other golf ball, the harder you hit it the more it spins. And so what that does is it gives you a different launch off the driver. It gives you more control of the feel around the greens, because the easier shots where you are not swinging as hard, you have control again. And I'd also say this: I think that this is the first ball that this has ever been done. And so, it will be interesting to see if there are other balls -- if this is the starting point to balls that work opposite; or if this is the ultimate ball that's ever been made. Because right now, it's the best ball that's ever been created. Titleist has had guys use the Prestige the Professional the HPII Tour and 99% of the guys, if not all of them, are using the Pro V1. So it's a ball that fits everybody's style of play.

PHIL MICKELSON: I did, yeah. I enjoyed it. I enjoy the fact that the conditions are tough. It will probably be very windy tomorrow afternoon when I play again. The nice thing is knowing that everybody else has to play in it, and I feel like the work that I've done the last year and a half, where I've simplified my swing, I'm noticing that it is much easier to hit shots into the wind and control the ball.

PHIL MICKELSON: Probably. I think so, yes. I think that the back side, there are a lot of birdie holes. 17 will be tough, but I think it will be downwind so it won't be nearly as bad. 8 and 9 are dead into the wind with a lot of penalties. Especially on 8. If the ball trajectory gets too high, it is going to go in the lake. So controlling trajectory there is imperative.

PHIL MICKELSON: No. It's not that I'm playing defensively. It's just that I'm not able to attack. I'm not able to control my distance nearly as well with a 20-mile-an-hour wind; and downwind, I can't get the ball to stop. It's not that I'm playing defensively. It's just that I have to play intelligent and put the ball in the best spot to make the lowest score on the hole, which typically is going to be par. So it is not that I was playing defensive, because certainly the fourth hole, a downwind par-5, I'm trying to make eagle. So there I'm attacking again.

PHIL MICKELSON: Not really. I just know the scores are not going to go nearly as low when the conditions are this tough.

PHIL MICKELSON: The TOUR Championship.

PHIL MICKELSON: No.

PHIL MICKELSON: No. Tiger is as long as he wants to be. He plays a short shaft. His driver is shorter steel. When he goes on the launch monitor at Titleist and he gets a graphite-shafted driver that's a little bit longer, he picks up 20 more miles per hour -- 20 miles per hour of ball speed. He can hit it silly long. He can compete with the long drive guys if he wants to. Seriously. If he wasn't to a 46- to 48-inch driver, graphite-shafted, what-have-you, he can hit it as far as those guys, and he hits it straight. But he chooses not to. He's as long as he wants to be. Now, with that being said, the length he chooses to hit it at right now I think is pretty comparable to where I'm at. But if he ever chooses to blow one by me, well, so be it.

PHIL MICKELSON: I would agree with that. Davis Love right now is driving it phenomenally longer than anybody else on TOUR, and I think that Tiger has got to crank it up to keep it up with him.

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not sure yet. It may be in England. May be in Scotland. May be in Ireland. I'm not quite sure yet.

PHIL MICKELSON: I would answer that yes. I would say that last week was a week where I wanted to win, but I didn't feel I was ready. I didn't feel like I was -- the areas of my game were complete. Consequently, even though I struck it great, I didn't put very well. I think like this week, I'm starting to feel comfortable with all of the areas. I'm driving the ball better hitting my iron shots solid and I'm starting to make a lot of putts. Now I feel like I'm in a position to win.

PHIL MICKELSON: I would not think of it Thursday through Sunday. What I think of it is of Monday through Wednesday where I really get worn out. I'm not working as hard. I'll work -- I should not say that. I'm not working as long. I'll take Mondays off and Tuesday, Wednesday. I'll just do a little bit of practicing, but it's focused practicing on chipping, putting ball-striking. I don't sit there at the golf course all day and beat myself up. I'll come out and practice an hour or two before I tee off. Tomorrow I'll be out two and a half hours before I tee off working on my game. So I try to work Thursday through Sunday and shoot low scores, as well as practice, as opposed to getting worn out Monday through Wednesday.

PHIL MICKELSON: Much better. But it's going to be that way for everybody. I think for me personally, I've gotten a lot out of this golf ball, as is everybody else, because not only does it go further off the tee and I don't sacrifice anything on the wedge play. It seems to be a much more stable golf ball through the air. It doesn't oscillate. A lot of golf balls I've hit in the past, on their descent from their apex, it seems to fall one way or the other and this ball doesn't do that; it falls dead straight. What's happened is I'm becoming a much straighter player. I've hit a lot more fairways, because as I hit a cut or a draw, it doesn't continue to cut or draw at that same rate. It seems to soften on it's descent.

PHIL MICKELSON: No question. Because what they talk about -- if you listen to the physics of the ball, they call it drop-and-stop, with the idea being it launches higher, has a little less spin and comes in more vertically. So as you're coming into firm greens like Augusta, more vertically, or THE PLAYERS Championship where they get firm, the ball will stop easier because trajectory is a better way of getting the ball to stop than spin. If you bring it in low and hot, those first couple skips are going to be so big; it won't really matter how much spin you have on it.

PHIL MICKELSON: That's hard to say. Predicting one particular tournament is tough. I think that we've seen some pretty low scores. Every record that I can think of tournament-wise that has been broken has been with this particular ball.

PHIL MICKELSON: Okay. I teed off on 10. I hit driver, gap wedge from 108 to 50 feet and 3-putted. 11, I birdied. Driver, 9-iron to ten feet. I birdied 12. I hit driver, driver in the green-side bunker. Wedged out to five feet. Made it. Next hole, I hit 3-wood, gap wedge to about eight inches. Then I birdied 15 and I hit driver, 8-iron about 20 feet but I was off the green and I chipped in. Then 16, I hit driver, 2-iron to about 15 feet and made that for birdie. Then I birdied No. 1. I hit driver, sand wedge to about 12 feet and made that for birdie. But I bogeyed No. 2. I hit an 8-iron in the rough short. Chipped up to four feet. Missed it.

PHIL MICKELSON: It was downwind.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yes. Then No. 3, I hit -- I'm sorry. 4, I birdied. I hit driver, 3-iron on the green about 40 feet and 2-putted. I bogeyed 6. I hit driver, 2-iron lay-up, and then I tried to hit a pitching wedge that I lost left and it went in the hazard. Chipped on and made bogey. I birdied No. 9. I hit a good drive over the left bunker, but it was in the rough. I hit a 3-iron out of the rough to about six feet and made that for birdie.

PHIL MICKELSON: Three feet. I dropped on the fringe there. It was a 30-foot chip. It was not a tough chip.