U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2023

June 15, 2023

Phil Mickelson

The Los Angeles Country Club

Quick Quotes

PHIL MICKELSON: I thought the course was incredibly set up. They moved some tees up and they had some soft pins to let us get off to a good start, but it'll play a lot harder as it goes on.

But I think it's such a great setup, that granted, the scores are a little bit lower with greens being receptive and so forth, but there's a lot more teeth in this course if they want to use it, and still, it's fair.

Q. Are you happy with the way you played?

PHIL MICKELSON: I played okay. I hit a few swings coming down the stretch. I made two bad swings that cost me a few strokes, but I hit a lot of good shots today.

It's a decent start, and I have a chance tomorrow morning to come out and shoot a good solid round to get myself in position for the weekend, and tomorrow morning is kind of the time to do it when it'll still be a little bit soft.

Q. When you see guys shooting 62, what does that do to you?

PHIL MICKELSON: You feel like you have to push it a little bit, but you can't push too hard here because it'll come back and bite you. I tried to be patient and I put myself in really good position, 3-under with those last five, six holes to go, and I didn't quite close the round out.

But I'm playing well enough to get myself in position hopefully for the weekend, which is what the goal is.

Q. Are you willing to talk any about the fact that there's an agreement between the parties now?

PHIL MICKELSON: Not yet because I don't want to detract right now from this tournament and where I'm at. I'm playing well. I want to get myself in contention. I'll talk about it maybe after.