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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2017

Phil Mickelson

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Very easy to see what day it is, it is Mother's Day. Can you talk to us about how much of an influence your mother has been in your life and in your golf career?
PHIL MICKELSON: She's been incredible in that I had the greatest childhood growing up, I was given every opportunity to succeed and to do what I love and I had nothing but love and support to go in whatever direction I wanted in life. So, to my mom I say how much I love you and how appreciative I am of you.

Q. Talking about your mother and also your wife, Amy, both had to undergo hardships, how much of an inspiration are you able to draw from what they do and how you've seen them raise both yourself and your kids now?
PHIL MICKELSON: They have certainly gone through some challenges recently. But I look back, as a mother, Amy brought our three kids out every single week and took them to parts of the country and the world that you don't normally see. Not just the nicest places, but also some of the canal cities in China as well as the aquariums and zoos and museums and because of that she's given our kids a more worldly experience and I'm so appreciative of that, because it allowed us to be together as a family. It was a lot of work and I am so appreciative of Amy for the type of wife and mother she's been.

Q. Is this week frustrating in any way for you?
PHIL MICKELSON: I always try to find positives in the week and the positive for me was that I had a few little mini breakthroughs in some of the ball striking things I've been looking for and I hit a lot of good long shots, a lot of good 4-, 5-, 6-irons, a lot of great drives, a lot of good long irons, a lot of good 3-woods. The thing about this golf course is it's really unrecoverable in a lot of spots, so when I did miss it big I made a big number and wasn't able to really get in contention. But I feel like you can identify areas of strength and weakness in your game this week, I think I've done that, I'll go home this week and work on some of those areas. Area of weakness has been the simple things, the chips, the lag putting, the things that I normally do well I take for granted I've not been sharp on. I'll put a little bit more attention to detail in that and see if I can take these average performances and turn them into contention.

Q. Some of that with Erin Hills in mind?
PHIL MICKELSON: Certainly that's a month away and on the back of everyone's mind.

Q. You talked about skipping the practice rounds this week in an effort to conserve energy for tournament play. How do you feel like that strategy paid off? How did you feel over the weekend?
PHIL MICKELSON: I felt the two days it paid off pretty well in the sense that I was sharp, I was fresh, I hit a lot of good shots and was able to deal with some of the things that go on here a lot easier because I wasn't tired and frustrated. I had a good first couple of days, gave myself a couple of opportunities and really should have been in contention come the weekend had it not been for a shot here or there. All in all, there's a lot of positives to take out of this week. You could easily say I missed the cut here the last four years, so to make the cut and be here on Sunday, that's something new.

Q. Could you put your designer hat back on for a minute and talk about 12, how you think it plays and the strengths and weaknesses of that hole as you saw it?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think that there's always a fine line between great and awful and as a designer you're always trying to find that and it comes out to the nuances and subtleties and I think that, I thought 95 percent of the new hole on 12 was really good, I really liked a lot of it. But the one thing that will keep me from going for it a lot is the area of the bunker and the front edge of the green, the way takes off into the water. What's uncomfortable about that is that you always like a hard edge, you always like as a player knowing that if you are right of this tree line or left of this tree or whatever, you know the ball's okay. So, for instance, on 18, I love how 18, if you're right of the water, the ball stays out of the water, it doesn't kick in, so you don't feel like you have to be three or four yards rights of that edge, you know where that edge is. But on 12 it's a very uncomfortable tee shot because the mounds where you want to land the ball between the bunker and the green are taking the ball off into the water and so there's a kind of a soft edge that as a player doesn't feel good. So, I played it today, I hit 3-iron up the right, I had a very easy little wedge shot and made birdie and I'll continue to play it that way. I really like how severe it is by the green though, because if you do go for the green and bail out right, it's a tough shot and the water is still in play and I thought all of that was really well done. Again, this is all a personal opinion and whatever, but as a fan or spectator or as a player I like seeing people go for it and unfortunately that five percent area between the bunker and the green, which is hard to identify from the tee where exactly you need to be, balls taking it to the water will prevent me for going at it except under the most certain of circumstances.

Q. Would you soften the slope or let the grass grow so it's not automatic water or what?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well what I would do, if it were me, I would level it out up to the green and the green I would make severe so you know that if you hit it at the green it will go on and if you're a little bit left it goes in the water. But everybody's got to play it, it's just that I'm going to end up playing it laying up as opposed to a little bit more exciting way.

Q. Have you been to Erin Hills and what are your plans for your scouting trips?
PHIL MICKELSON: I haven't been there yet, no. So I don't have anything on the books yet.

Q. Does the USGA need to get this one right?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't think it really matters either way. It's the U.S. Open, guys are going to play it no matter what.

Q. I meant from a credibility standpoint. They have taken a lot of hits these last couple.
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know if doing one thing right is going to fix that, but.

Q. All this season you've put yourself in, you've had good rounds where you put yourself on the front page of the leaderboard. Does the optimist in you look at it as a positive thing or is it frustrating for you that you put yourself in position and haven't been able to consistently close it?
PHIL MICKELSON: So, you're right on. Two ways to look at it. Out of the 12 tournaments I've played, I made all the cuts and I finished top-24 like nine times. But that is not my level of expectation and so there's an element of frustration there in that that last little bit, which is about a stroke per round is what it comes down to that I'm letting slide that's preventing me from getting in contention and having opportunities to win on the weekend. So there's an element of frustration there. However, the positive side is that the level of consistency day-in day-out overall ball striking and just overall level of play is consistently higher this year than it's been in the last three or four. So there's that, there's always a little bit of a mix between positive and negative.

Q. How can you compare making the cut this week to missing the cut?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, but my expectations is in 2007 I won here. So my expectation is I've won here before, I should be able to do it again and just making the cut isn't enough.

Q. What did you think about the FedEx news earlier this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: I thought it was really great. I'm really excited that they have continued on, increased their level of commitment, extended their level of commitment. I think we're all really excited about what that's done. I think the formula for the FedExCup is terrific, it's exciting, although we might not be able to grasp the numbers, it all works out the way it should as far as guys playing the best and end up do you think the best, I think they have got -- it's took few years to get it right but it seems like they have got a pretty good formula.

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