GTE BYRON NELSON GOLF CLASSIC

May 14, 2000

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, what would you guys like to know?

PHIL MICKELSON: I did. I did. I thought it was a little right-to-left. I had a pretty aggressive roll on it, and I thought that I had enough speed on it to hold its line, and unfortunately, it just fell off on the low side. I don't know what to say. You saw that it lipped out pretty good. I think, though, that, you know, I lost the tournament on not the playoff hole, but on the 18th in regulation. To bogey that hole, was extremely disappointed, and even though I hit a poor drive I got away with it. I had a very good shot to the pin. Hit what I thought was a really good shot. It just got hit a little bit more by the wind, but came up short and plugged in the bunker. I was expecting myself to have about a 15-footer for birdie and instead I had almost an impossible par. So that was I disappointing finish.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I knew that if I came up short in the bunker, it was going to plug, because every shot that I hit into the bunkers this week plugged. Everybody else knew that, too. You just had to avoid the bunkers like the plague because they were -- the ball was going it bury. There was nothing you could do about it. I didn't have a problem with that, but that's what they are for; they are called hazards. As long as they are consistent, I don't have a problem with it. But certainly the fact that every ball in there plugged, made that for a very difficult up-and-down.

PHIL MICKELSON: Left of the fairway.

PHIL MICKELSON: It was a good lie on an uphill lie to get over this tree. It was just no problem. I hit a 9-iron from 140, and if I had hit an 8-iron, it probably would have been fine.