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THE 147TH OPEN

July 21, 2018

Phil Mickelson

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. How did you find that today?
PHIL MICKELSON: The game's just hard for me right now. Like I don't feel like I'm playing bad, but just it's not coming easy. So it was a fight. I'm enjoying the challenge. It's not coming as easy as it did the first part of the year.

Q. You just look as though you're a little bit off.
PHIL MICKELSON: Exactly. I just couldn't quite -- when I hit great drives, I couldn't quite get the irons close. I couldn't quite make the putts. There's some low scores out there if you play well. Calm day.

Q. Have you ever seen a calmer day in Scotland, at least?
PHIL MICKELSON: Not much. There's still wind up there, but it's not wreaking havoc. You almost can use it to help you hit shots and get it close to the hole.

Q. It looked like you were kind of sticking to your game plan. Was there any temptation to I'm going with driver?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, I don't feel comfortable playing driver in a slice wind. So when I get a slice wind -- I tried to do it on 18 just because I wanted to get down there, and I hit a poor shot. So when I get to a hole like 10 where it's a slice wind blowing right into the left bunker, I won't driver but I'll play a shot that's more comfortable. But then I'll get to a hole like 12, where it's a left-to-right hook wind and I'll play right to the fairway. There's certain shots, certain conditions that I feel comfortable hitting those shots and some that I don't. So I'll be more conservative on those.

The problem is I just haven't made the putts when I needed to this week.

Q. I'm sure you've been through stages like this many times before.
PHIL MICKELSON: Sure.

Q. Can you liken it to sometime in the past that's the same kind of feeling?
PHIL MICKELSON: You know, I've had a great putting year, so I'm not going to complain. I've had a phenomenal putting year. I haven't putted well the last month. I'll get it figured out because I've been putting too well for too long.

Q. Is that the biggest difference?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, that's been the biggest difference. I've been driving the ball fine. I've been hitting a lot of good shots, but the scoring hasn't quite come.

Q. Talk me through that shot, the last second shot. I was watching it thinking -- how risky was it?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, there's always risk. You know, you've got the burn there. I didn't have a great lie, but I was on an uphill lie, and that allowed me to hit it and launch it up in the air. So as long as it came out reasonably well, it should have gotten up in the wind, and then I could use the wind, which is what I did.

So it was a 7 iron. I hit a 7 iron. I had 180 front, 170 to carry the burn. And I just launched it up in the air.

Q. Good shot.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it was a good shot. There was some risk there, but 1-under, trying to make something --

Q. What's par?
PHIL MICKELSON: Par is probably a 3-under. Anything under that is a good round.

Q. Who do you think will lead tonight?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's hard to say, but that's not important. It's who's going to lead tomorrow, and tomorrow is going to be a different round. I think you'll see -- I don't think anybody is really too far out of it because, as long as you're within striking distance, there's a lot of guys that are going to struggle.

Q. I know it's not fun playing for something other than winning.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah.

Q. But considering how much you're fighting your game, is there some satisfaction on a hard golf course to at least be here and playing?
PHIL MICKELSON: This course hasn't been good to me over the years. I have not played well. These last two rounds are the first two rounds I've shot under par here and first time I've made the cut here. So baby steps.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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