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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 23, 2017

Phil Mickelson

Austin, Texas

PHIL MICKELSON: It's a nice start. We've got a long ways to go in the event, but it was been a good first few days.

Q. Did you enjoy the swash and buckle of it today almost every shot?
PHIL MICKELSON: Loved it. I thought it was fun and the greens certainly are overcontoured, firm and fast and with the wind extremely difficult. In match play, you are not adding up every shot and if you happen to hit a bad one and make a bogey or double, it's not that big a deal. It's really a fun test and a fun course in that head-to-head match play format.

Q. When is the last time you did this? Everybody knows how magnificent you are with your pitching.
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it's a nice lob shot, 64, flew over the most severe part. And there's nothing to say other than I couldn't go at -- I shouldn't have gone at the pin. Because the green is just so firm and fast and the wind took it down in the water. I should have played to the upslope. I only needed probably a par to win the hole. It happens. I just didn't think that we would have the course so severe where that shot would be a problem. I should have been either shorter off the second shot or I should have just played the upslope away from the pin.

Q. Do you think you're feared as a match player because you are never out of a hole, you've always got some way of getting back in the hole?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know. I mean, I'm sure some people might think that. Some people think just wait until Phil hits them off line and gives you some holes. That hasn't been the case pretty much yesterday's match and today. Certainly there for a bit, I lost focus and let things slide.

Q. The game feels good?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I'm having fun.

Q. In these gusty conditions, of the holes you played what did you think were the most challenging?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the back nine started to have some very severe pins on slopes where balls could go in the water. That was certainly a challenge. In match play that stuff is kind of fun because you can take on some risks. You might hit in the water or make a double bogey but in match play you are not adding them all up, it's just how you are doing against your opponent. I found it to be a fun challenge.

Q. You are 2 and 0 right now. All you need to do is halve your match tomorrow with J.B. Holmes. How do you approach that match knowing you win and advance to the 16?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, this format really -- although it's changed the last couple of years, it doesn't really -- it really hasn't in the sense that you have to win all your matches. There may be a fluke instance where you don't have to.

J.B. is a tough player, a Ryder Cup player. He's a good friend of mine. We've spent a lot of time with him. It's going to be a tough match. Every match is tough. Every player here is a good player that can beat anybody on any given day and over 18 holes especially.

The weather should come in tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that. I think it's fun. When I first start playing the Tour, I was terrible in wind and terrible in bad weather. Over time I've developed some techniques and ways to play the tough stuff effectively. If it comes in tomorrow, I'm going to have a blast doing it.

Q. You tee off at 8:00 tomorrow.
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the greens are severe, severely pitched, very fast and firm and that makes it very difficult. I find that the mixture of holes from birdie holes to tougher pars is fun. The fact that you are not adding up every shot allows you to be not quite as focused on every shot. It matters how you are playing against your opponent. When you play in tough conditions, the biggest problem I have in that is when you are playing in tough conditions and the other guys aren't when it softens up. We're all playing at the same time, so I think it's great and it's a lot of fun.

Q. You get very excited in Ryder Cups and Ryder Cups.
PHIL MICKELSON: It's a little different because you don't have that team environment. You don't have teammates and partners. You don't have the team room where everybody is talking smack and having fun. Here I don't really talk too much because I don't want to cause a riff or cause any problems. So it's a totally different feel and environment than, say, the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

Q. This format could fit your style of play yet your record in this tournament is not what you would want it to be. Any explanation for that?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't have a great explanation nor you. I love the tournament. I love playing in it. Things happen. Sometimes you don't play great. Sometimes like last year Patrick Reed is 8-under through 10, 12 holes. I try not to put too much stock in the results. I went out today and played the first eight holes and was 4 up, I just want to do that. I don't know how my opponent will play. If I just play solid golf, it should be enough.

Q. Do you look at a tournament like this one and say there's a hole in my rÃ©sumÃ©, I want this one a little more?
PHIL MICKELSON: You can, but this isn't the one.

Q. What have you been most happy with?
PHIL MICKELSON: I've been driving the ball well, especially yesterday and today's matches. Driving it in the center of the fairway. My iron play is the strength of my game, so playing from the fairway puts me in a very aggressive and advantageous position.

Q. Are you pleased with that coming out of Mexico?
PHIL MICKELSON: I had a relapse for nine, 14 holes or what have you at the tournament. Rather than that being the norm like it has been in the years past, that's been more an anomaly this year. I've been driving the ball very effectively and hitting it well. I'll hit a wild one here or there, everybody does. For the most part, week in and week out I've been driving it much more consistently this year.

Q. Do you feel like now you know the course pretty well?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know the last three. I haven't played them in over a year. I haven't had a chance to play them this week, and I know I'm going to in some of these matches. So I'm a little bit concerned about that because I don't know them as well as the others.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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