THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY

November 4, 2000

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: I am looking forward to tomorrow. I think that it will be a fun day for a few guys and I am really looking forward to it.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I putted very well today. I had a couple of long ones go in, but I think most importantly, it was very similar to the first three rounds, especially yesterday's where I got off to a good start, made a number of birdies, but yesterday the last three holes I gave 3 shots back. Whereas today I made a long putt on 17 for par, about 25 feet, and a 15-footer for par on 18. Saving those two shots kept me right by, near the leaders.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, yeah, I have really struggled out of the rough around the greens here. I just -- I haven't spent much time on my short game and with the greens as hard and fast as they are, the ball seems to race away from the hole. It is very difficult to get it close. I had probably as easy a chip as I will have on 18. It was straight uphill, plenty of green to work with, and judging the lie has been very difficult this week for a lot of players. I didn't hit a great shot, about 15 feet and to walk out of there with par was a minor victory because that 18th hole is a very difficult hole and you are just wanting to make par from the tee and to walk away there with par after missing -- hitting such a poor shot left was a nice feeling.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I actually didn't want relief. I wanted to move the fence and move the camera because I had a pretty good lie. In fact I had as good a lie as I could have asked for. When I had to drop it, I dropped it into a much worse lie, as it turned out. The camera was as immovable as was the fence.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, you can attack just about every hole. If you hit a good tee shot you are thinking birdie. And that is the case for every single hole out there. For me, I need to go out tomorrow, get off to a good start just as I had yesterday and today. If I can make just a couple of birdies early, being the group in front, I think will have its advantages. But if I don't get off to a good start, then being in front will be a negative.

PHIL MICKELSON: I actually really like where I am at tomorrow, I really do.

PHIL MICKELSON: I made a new putter basically. I went down to Scotty Cameron's workshop and made a few new putters with him. This is the first time that I have ever been able to hit that terrelium (phonetic) inserted putter. For whatever reason, the combination of that with this new ball is putting a very good roll on it to the point where I don't even try to think about rolling it. I just try to get it on line because the ball is coming off the face the way I want it to.

PHIL MICKELSON: Last two months. I took six weeks off in September and October. So it was right in there.

PHIL MICKELSON: We took the basic head and we -- I don't want to say grind it, it was kind of like buffed and soft on the edges, weighted it and drilled out weight in the middle, and bent the hosel back. The problem that I have with a lot of the heal toe weighted putters is that the hosel is vertical. So it forces a player's stroke to be more straight back straight through where I like to have it more rounded like the blade so I flowed the hosel back, so that the putter now swings like a blade. It is hard to explain, until you see it. When you see it, you can see what I am talking about. But it is hard to put into words. The hosel, instead of coming up vertical from the putter is flowed back.

PHIL MICKELSON: I just wanted to try some of the new technology. I had used a blade for so long that for years now insert technology has been hot and I have never really tried it or taken advantage of it. It has been a nice experience, I have really enjoyed it. I think there is some real technological advantages in putting. Normally you think you are just hitting it with a stick, but I think there is some real differences. What I did was on this particular one, because those putters when you put inserts in, the face is very thick because you have to have room to put the insert in and screw it together. The putter is very heavy. We play such fast greens that you don't want that heavy putter because the ball just comes off too hot. So I drilled -- we drilled out all the face. There is a lot of weight that was taken away. So on these greens, as fast as they are, still feel like I can play an aggressive stroke and not have the ball take off on me.

PHIL MICKELSON: It is a really important day for me because if I win, I don't have to go to Spain and I don't want to go. I don't want to go to Spain. Nothing to knock the country, I just don't want to travel. I'd like to go home, hang-up the clubs for a few weeks, and get into the holiday season. And if I don't, if I don't go out tomorrow and play a good round, then I feel like I need to go play Spain to hold my position on the money list.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it would be great. I mean, let me say this: I have not ever played well in this tournament. My best finish is 12th. This is the first time that I said that for two, three weeks before this tournament, I am going to really work to play well here. I spent a lot of time ball-striking and putting, trying to get ready for this event, playing Vegas trying to get into a competitive frame of mind which, by the way, I had never played well there with the exception of one year, for the same reason, is that I don't know why I just take these last few events and I really haven't prepared for them, and I wanted to put a stop to that. So if I could prove to myself that I am able to gear up for an event, playing in two or three weeks prior, work on my game and prepare for that one specific event and win, that would be pretty cool because it would give me the confidence that I can do that next year for the four big ones.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I wanted to play well there too, but I really wanted to play well here.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think that -- I don't think it will favor or -- I don't think it will favor anybody, I really don't. I don't think that it will hurt anybody either. I think that it just plays a little different. It doesn't quite have as much run-out and it is actually a little bit easier to get the ball closer to the hole because it doesn't have that extra few feet of roll. The balls stop a little quicker, which means basically you will have the -- the average score for the field will probably be a shot or so lower.