MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2021

Phil Mickelson

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to introduce our three-time Masters Champion, Phil Mickelson. Phil, welcome to your 29th Masters.

Looking back a bit, 30 years ago in 1991, Phil first appeared as an amateur here. He came in as the U.S. Amateur Champion, a three-time NCAA individual champion while at Arizona State. He had already won a PGA TOUR event in 1991 as an amateur, the last amateur to do so, and in the 1991 Masters, Phil was low amateur.

So Phil, you've been playing golf at a world-class level for 30 years, and we know you're not done. Last November Phil opened the tournament with a 69 and a 70, again showing how well suited his game is to Augusta National, and we've had an abbreviated period of time since November for this Masters. How have you gone about preparing your game?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I love being back here. I'm excited that we are able to hold this tournament, and I am appreciative of us holding this event back in November and making it possible in 2020 when it was a rough year. It's fun for all golfers as a kid to dream about this event and play and participate in it.

I love coming back here, and my game I think it feels better than the scores have been, but I've got some work to do, and it's been a fun challenge for me to get back to playing at a high level.

Q. On Sunday, I think we saw you hit balls for three hours. You were on the putting green for an hour and a half, two hours. You played a practice round. Did you find anything on Sunday?

PHIL MICKELSON: So I think so, yeah. I think so. I had some work to do to make sure that I had the setup in the bag that I wanted and that when I practiced this week, that I was working with the right clubs; that I wasn't searching for things; that everything was dialed in.

And so I thought it went -- I thought it went well. I feel like I'm playing well. I've got some good things going. I've made progress, but I haven't played at the level I expect to recently. Again, I actually enjoy the challenge of getting my game back because there's really nothing physically holding me back from playing at the highest level, but mentally I've got to be sharper. And I'm working on that, and I'm enjoying the challenge of playing at the highest level.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I caught you sneaking a look or two at that rather iconic image. Even with all you've done in the game, where do moments like that still rank for you?

PHIL MICKELSON: So that's one of my top two. That is probably the greatest joy that I felt, the relief of the pressure of why haven't I won a major to winning the Masters and being a part of the history of the game and sharing it with my family, and just a very special moment in my life.

The greatest feeling of accomplishment I think was winning the British Open in 2013 because it wasn't really a style of golf that was suited to my game. But I had played well here for so many years here that I knew it was a matter of time before I broke through and won.

I never really doubted that I would end up winning this tournament. This is a course that is very well suited for the way I grew up playing, but that joy of winning it for the first time, finally breaking through, it's beyond belief. Every time I see that, it's become my logo, and it brings out emotion in me every time I see it.

It's a very -- for me, a powerful thing to bring out the emotion of accomplishing my personal major championship. In this case, it might be golf, but for everybody else, it might be their own major in their job or their family or what have you, and that just elicits an emotional response from me every time I see it.

Q. Look back much? At that place yet where you reminisce --

PHIL MICKELSON: A little of both. I look back at all of the things I've been able to experience, mainly because of the game of golf, but I still look forward at the challenges I need in my life to get the best out of me.

Q. Fast-forwarding to tonight's Champions Dinner, how are we feeling about the pigs in a blanket? Are you a fan, or what's up?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm always open. I've tried a lot of different cuisine over the years. I think it's pretty cool. I remember -- I'll share with you a little funny story from Adam Scott's victory.

He had this wonderful meal, Australian-themed, and out comes dessert, and it's pavlova. It's meringue with some fruit and so forth. And I said, no -- now, you can't Google this stuff because there's no cell phones allowed, right. I said, oh, pavlova, that's inspired by the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who was touring through New Zealand, Australia, and an Australian chef so inspired by her beautiful movement and tutu, she ended up -- he made a dessert after her.

Chairman Payne looked at me like what kind of stuff are you spewing here, you know.

And, no, no, this is true. Zach Johnson looks at me, says, "I've got a hundred dollars that says that's not right."

So everybody is calling me out on my BS. And a lot of times, I am BSing. However, however, my daughter was a dancer, and she wrote a biography on Anna Pavlova, and I made 32 pavlovas for her class when she was a little girl, and I knew this. And I ended up, you know, being right, which is not often, but I was right on that particular moment.

Some of these moments that go down in Champions Dinner are special, and that was cuisine inspired.

Q. Sometimes you have a dream of being -- you dreamed of being here, and it doesn't quite live up to your expectations. Did this even surpass your dreams of what this would be like to play here?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, probably. I mean, when I look at what's transpired in the last 30 years, 29 years since I first played here, and all of the things that have changed over the years, like I would never come up with some of the incredible ideas that have taken place, from the acquiring the land and making that -- the driving range what it is and making the parking and the experience for the Patrons what it is and the media center here and the tunnels. It's just the details of and the depth, the way this has been so well thought through, and no tournament treats their players and past champions better than this tournament right here.

So it just has an incredible feeling as a player when you are here and the way they take care of us, and how well run everything is.

Q. As you know, Georgia has been in the news with the voting law, and Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star Game out of Georgia, as I'm sure you're aware. Is your sport doing enough to combat this law, especially with the game's stated efforts on diversity and inclusion? Thank you.

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm really not knowledgeable on state laws across the United States and all the laws that we have. I'm aware of some from California that we have, and we tend to be the leader in a lot of that area as far as human rights, civil rights, diversity and so forth, and I'm proud of that. And hopefully as a Californian, although I'll be moving soon, we lead by example.

So I'm not really familiar with the details of what all you're talking about, but I do believe in the rights and treating all people equal, and I hope that as a Californian we lead by example and that others will follow suit.

Q. Does it suit you to have a course this firm, and can you compare it to -- obviously it's not the same as November, but to other April Masters of recent vintage? Is it setting up to be faster and firmer than we've seen in a while?

PHIL MICKELSON: I would say for the last decade, the greens here are in the top 25 percent of softest we play on TOUR, and the golf course's only defense is the greens, right.

So when the greens are firm, the precision, the course management, the angles, the leave where the ball is left, all of this stuff becomes incredibly important in your ability to play this course effectively. When the greens are soft, it's irrelevant because you can fly the ball over all the trouble. Angles don't matter. I plugged a 5-iron last year or last November into the second green. It plugged.

The guys are so precise in their ability to fly the golf ball the correct yardage with every club that if you have soft receptive greens, it's like having a military and then not giving them any weapons, right. It's defenseless.

So with firm greens, that's the defense. It's not like we have -- there's no U.S. Open rough here. There's no tight fairways. The defense is the greens, right. And so even though the course is made longer, the ability for all the best players to fly the ball a specific yardage with whatever club, whether it's a 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-iron, if the ball stops on those sections, they are going to eat this course up, every course.

However, when the greens are firm, those small sections are very hard to hit and you've got to really strategize on where you leave it. That's the whole defense of the golf course.

So if it's firm, I think it's going to be a real test. And major championships should challenge and test the best players. It's hard to set -- but it's really a hard job to set a golf course up right, because you're always trying to find a line and not crossing it, and it's a tough thing to do. But I think with firm greens, this golf course needs to be respected, and I think it's been a long time since it's had to be respected.

Q. Do you think there was any sense of making sure it was more difficult based on DJ shooting 20-under, a tournament record? I realize it was November and different.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know, but I would say that there's nobody more qualified within the club to know, understand and set the course up better than Chairman Ridley. His ability to set the game up at the highest level, he's the most qualified to do it right, and I think he is.

Q. You talked about the treatment of past champions and how special and different it is here. Part of that is becoming de facto spokespeople for the course and the tournament all that. Have you ever struggled to reconcile at all some of, like, Augusta's past policies and being asked about those, even though you're just a golfer here and then still loving it as much as you do and knowing that? Is there a balance, or do you ever find yourself needing to reconcile that?

PHIL MICKELSON: When I was a kid, I grew up dreaming of winning the Masters and being a part of the history here, and watching Seve Ballesteros win in the early '80s twice and pumping his fist and the charisma, like it was my dream to win here, to be a part of the history here.

And the way -- now that I have won and I'm part of the history, the way that I get treated here is second to none. I'm just very appreciative of the way they've treated me.

Years ago I made a statement, tax-wise, California, big mistake, got into politics. Not going to do it again. I have my beliefs, and I'm going to live my life according to those beliefs and I'm going to try to treat people the right way and, you know, without discrimination. That's the best I can do is lead by example, but I'm not going to get into politics. It never goes well.

Q. Over 100 trips now around this place, the 12th hole, all those rounds, you mentioned respect earlier about the course. That hole is largely unchanged over the years yet still can strike fear into a player, especially on Sunday afternoon. What makes that hole so great?

PHIL MICKELSON: The possibility of such a huge discrepancy in score makes that hole so great, from a 2 to we have seen large numbers, but a 5. But 2 to 5 is very realistic, right.

It's a little bit different in that the way I and other left-handed players view some of the holes and some of the shots where we have to be aggressive, where we have to be defensive is different than a right-handed player based on our shot dispersion, and No. 12 is a hole that sets up much better for the shot dispersion of a left-handed golfer than it does a right-handed player.

For me to be able to aim at the right side of the green, right center of the green, and if I pull it and it's going to go a little bit longer into the right and still carry the water, and if I come out of it it's going to go a little shorter left and get on the green. So I view 12 as where I've got to start getting aggressive. I actually view it as a birdie hole. I've got to get after that pin.

Whereas a right-handed player, if they come out of it, it's short right. It's going to hit the bank, go in the water. And if they pull it, it's going to go long left into that back bank, and it's a very hard up-and-down. That's one of the shots that you have to be very defensive on, right.

And conversely, No. 11 is the opposite. Like 11 as a right-handed player sets perfectly for that dispersion. For me that's a really hard hole. That's a really hard second shot. There's no miss. You know, short left, water, long right, very tough up-and-down. I've got to hit a great shot there.

The course plays a little bit differently from my eye than a lot of guys historically and 12 is where most people have to be defensive, but that's where I think it's go time.

Q. I can't see from here. Is that a bandage or a splint on your finger?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's just tape from hitting a lot of balls. I get calluses and cuts and whatever. It's fine. There's nothing there.

Q. In your 29 appearances, is there anything you're still learning about this golf course, and if so, can you offer any examples?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it changes all the time. So there's always little subtleties being changed in the greens and teeing areas; the angle of the edge of the green a little bit more severe, a little bit more severe upright.

So all of these little subtleties I'm picking up on and I'm just becoming aware of because it changes the shot just a little bit.

As an example, you know, short left on 17, just short left of that bunker, the angle at which -- the fringe, it's just more vertical, and then it goes down before it gets to the green, and then it goes back up. If you land it short, it's going to kill it, right.

You need to know that if you're trying to bounce one up or come in out of the rough; that, look, you've got to land it five yards short of it. You can't land it two yards short of it because it will hit a very severe upslope.

It's little details like that that I try to pick up on, make me aware so that if I do hit a good shot, it ends up where I expect and not be surprised.

THE MODERATOR: I'm sorry, we can't get to all your questions, our time is up. Phil, thank you so much.

PHIL MICKELSON: One more for Mark. Is that cool?

Q. Appreciate it. Curious, you've been dabbling with some of the Champions Tour stuff. Where are you at right now in terms of mixing more of that in? I know you talked about your form has been good and the scores haven't been showing. You've had success over there a little bit. Is there a little bit of tug-of-war taking place for you with that?

PHIL MICKELSON: So I've seen a lot of progress in my game without a lot of results. So if I start getting the results, you know, like I say, I enjoy the challenge of it, and the difficulty is when you're on a plateau and you're not really making advancements and you're putting in the work and putting in the work and you're not seeing the results, to stay consistent and to stay committed.

As I continue to do that, I need some results to keep my motivated to compete against the best players. Otherwise I really enjoy the Champions Tour. I enjoy having pins that are five from the edge and not 2 1/2 or three, and I enjoy having a chance to short-side yourself and still get up-and-down.

And I enjoy having 15 feet around the hole where you can have an aggressive putt and not having the pin on a fall-off ledge like three feet from it like we seem to have every week. And I enjoy being able to play more aggressive.

So I'm having fun, a lot more fun than I thought on the Champions Tour, but yet the challenge that gets the best out of me is trying to play and compete against the best players. It's what gets me motivated to be in the gym and to try to be physically able to swing fast enough to compete against these guys, and to be strong enough in my core to be able to practice as much as I need to and hit balls, like you said, on Sunday for hours and still be fine and able to do that.

So that's what drives me and motivates me. So I still want to have that challenge in my life because it brings the best out of me. But the Champions Tour is a lot more fun than I ever thought, and I enjoy playing those events, and I will play some. I won't play it full-time if I'm able to compete out here or feel I'm able to compete out here, but I do enjoy them.

Thanks.

THE MODERATOR: Phil, thank you very much. We wish you the best this week.