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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 24, 2018

Phil Mickelson

Paramus, New Jersey

PHIL MICKELSON: All right. What's up?

Q. Do you look at the good today?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I look at the good. I look at it as though I know I'm playing well and it's going to get better each day, and even though I didn't finish the round the way I wanted to, it was a good day to put me in contention heading into the weekend, which is what I wanted, and I'm going to build on that these next two rounds, because the game is coming back and it's getting sharper.

Q. Yesterday you said the driving --
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I hit nine of the first ten fairways today. It's how I've been driving the last week heading into here. I fully expect to do that this weekend, to drive it more like that, and if I do, I'll be able to make a lot of birdies like I did early on.

Q. Did you find it quickly on the range yesterday?
PHIL MICKELSON: It was just a fraction off. Now the path and the plane and so forth of the swing, which after a few years, is where I want it. So anything that's off is going to be a very small adjustment and it was. I came out today, I hit a lot of good tee shots.

Q. Obviously hoping to be on the team the next few weeks, how important is it to be in contention and get that feeling back as you go into the weekend?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's important, because this started out to be a great year, and I want to finish it off right. And usually when I have a bit of a lull in the summer, I play well in the Playoffs. So I expect to have a good first two events and try to make it really easy for Captain Furyk.

Q. Is there something to it -- if you're going to miss, miss big --
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, probably. There's some spots you can be okay, but still, the fairways are very fair and they are soft, so if you hit a fairway, the ball will stay in it. But from the fairways, you can make a lot of birdies on this course.

Q. What did it feel like as you got rolling today? Can you describe what the adrenaline is like?
PHIL MICKELSON: In the last nine holes are where you can score. The middle of the round is really difficult. There's a couple of converted par 5s. There's some long, tough par 4s. The challenge of the course is right in the middle and then the last eight or nine holes, you feel like you can make some birdies, and that's where I started the round.

So it was important to get off to a good start.

Q. Did you feel some adrenaline as you birdied the first three? Most of us don't know what that feels likes?
PHIL MICKELSON: I just felt like I was in control and I knew where the ball was going and I'm getting a good touch on the greens again. I've had a phenomenal year of putting. I've been No. 2 in strokes gained behind Jason Day all year.

So either I'm going to have a phenomenal putting stretch and get to No. 1, or I'm just going to bend his putter a little bit so he comes back, because it's been a great putting year.

Q. After being on Twitter, anything that's surprised you?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's been, what, 48 hours, and all's been good so far (laughter) actually I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it because it's a fun way to connect, and the response has been very positive, and it's been a fun thing for me to be involved in.

Q. How would you describe where your game is overall right now?
PHIL MICKELSON: On the cusp of where it was at the start of the year. So I'm going to start driving the ball more consistently, hitting nine to 11 fairways a round; my iron play is back.

My distance control is back and my touch on the greens is coming back. I think as the Playoffs continue, as this tournament continues, I think it's going to get better and better. I'm going to have a good finish this week or weekend. I don't know exactly, what that means, relative to the standings, but I'm going to play well this weekend and carry it on into Boston and it's just going to get better.

Q. Any tweaks on the Twitter from the kids at all? Just the fact that you're on it?
PHIL MICKELSON: I'm really trying to leave them out of it. I know I want to respect their privacy, too, but this is a fun way for me to be involved directly without -- I don't need to drag them into it.

Q. Just the fact that you've gone on to Twitter.
PHIL MICKELSON: They are nervous (laughter). And they should be, you know, rightfully so, because in time, I will mess up. It's just my -- I always kind of ride the line somewhere. Sometimes I cross it. Sometimes not.

But it's going to be fun. I think it's going to be fun. I'll give it a few weeks, see how it goes, but right now it's been really fun.

Q. How long till we see an Instagram?
PHIL MICKELSON: Not long. It will probably be a week or two before I get the domain name and all that stuff ready. I have people working on it. I wanted it to be the same throughout.

Q. Did somebody take Phil Mickelson on Instagram?
PHIL MICKELSON: I haven't been on. Somebody was using it, so we had to get that down and put back up, so that takes a little time.

Q. Scoring conditions in the beginning were absolutely perfect.
PHIL MICKELSON: They were.

Q. How much did it change over the course of your round as you were finishing out?
PHIL MICKELSON: It didn't change too much, but keep in mind, we finished on the heart -- the meat of the course, the hard holes. The last four, five, six holes, are where the challenge of this golf course is, and so I finished on the difficult side.

But what we had, it played very similar to yesterday but the greens were much better for us, much more pure. I think as we get to the cut and have fewer players on the weekend, I think the greens will be nice for everybody but yesterday, because of the soft conditions, they weren't as smooth -- certainly not as smooth as they were today.

Q. Next year, they are only going to have three of these instead of four. What do you think?
PHIL MICKELSON: Huge proponent of that. Day one, years before it started, I was hopeful it would only be three, because it's easy to go one, two, three, play three events. It's hard to play four. So we are taking five weeks to play four as opposed to just three weeks. I think it's a great thing.

But what I am excited about, not so much for me, but the guys, the younger generation, is having that season-long race, too, so that you're rewarded for great play throughout the season, in addition to the actual Playoffs.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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