THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 22, 2021

Phil Mickelson

La Quinta Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. They were just talking about the first time in your career that 18 consecutive pars in a round.

PHIL MICKELSON: Which is surprising because I really try to hit fairways and center of the greens and just make easy pars and for that to be the first time it's really shocking.

Q. As you were going through your round, was it just one of those days where you could sense that you couldn't turn the momentum?

PHIL MICKELSON: So looking at the scores, you're going to say, gosh, you played 2-over par, pretty easy courses, pretty poor start, but I feel like there was a lot of good things to take from this week, even though the scorecard's not going to show it. I'm driving the ball well. I'm hitting a lot of good shots. My putting is, needs some work, but I have been putting good for a long period of time so I don't feel as though it's going to require a lot of effort. But I'll go back and work on it and try to get ready for next week in San Diego.

But there's a lot of good things to take from it, the way I'm driving the ball, my iron play. There's a lot of positives. But if you look at the scorecard, it's pathetic. I'm not denying that. But I think that it's a little bit closer than it looks.

Q. A lot of good things to take from this week with what American Express has done, your role as the tournament host. Tony Finau earlier was saying how great it was to be part of that charity competition on Wednesday. The money they're giving back to the community, they're, I believe it's little more over than a million dollars that they're trying to raise this year?

PHIL MICKELSON: So we gave a million dollars last year. Our goal is to increase it every year, so we'll be giving a million-one. And American Express has been an incredible partner because they have the vision of what this tournament can be and what Bob Hope saw many, many years ago, and the commitment to pull it off, because the list of CEO's and game-changers that were going to be here were significant. And starting next year we should see an increase in that as far as the quality of amateurs and the people and really create a fun gathering.

So they have the vision and commitment to make it happen and every year our goal is to keep increasing our involvement and contribution to the community here.