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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2006

Phil Mickelson

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. Can you talk about that second shot on 9? That was amazing the way you banked it.

PHIL MICKELSON: The third shot into the green?

Q. The third shot. Everyone was going, how is he going to do this? Did you hit it the way you wanted? Did you expect it to trickle into the

PHIL MICKELSON: When I saw the ball bounce, I tried to put a bunch of side spin to spin it across the green, and when I saw it bounce, I thought it was going to be close to the hole. I couldn't believe it landed right at the green and spun up that hill all the way across into the bunker. But after the first bounce, I thought it was going to end up three, four feet.

Q. You made it look easy, but how difficult was that shot?

PHIL MICKELSON: I would have taken par, let's say that. I'll take par and be happy with that.

Q. A lot of guys were saying it's important to get off early this morning because of the weather, the conditions seem to be right for low scoring. Would you agree?

PHIL MICKELSON: We had a great chance today to shoot a low round, the morning wave. There was no wind, the greens were rolling perfect, they were soft and receptive, you could get at the pins, and I thought that there were some 7 , 8 under par rounds out there. Unfortunately I turned at 1 over and that kind of derailed me. But to turn and shoot 3 under on the back, the front side, and finish at 2 under I'll take, but there were some low scores out there today.

Q. What happened on 17?

PHIL MICKELSON: I hit it in the water long, just hit it in the water long.

Q. All in all, it's got to feel good to get in before any kind of major rain, any winds, whatever. It's got to feel good to at least get in, even though you're not happy.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I think the best thing is we played in calm conditions. If it were blowing 20, I would have just as soon played in the rain when it's calm. I think wind is the biggest difficulty or challenge that we face, and rain doesn't really affect us that much. In fact, it actually smooths out the greens, smooths out the spike marks and makes the greens putt much better. Rain can be an asset. It also allows you to get at the pins.

It wasn't the rain we were trying to beat, it was the wind. And we had a chance today, it was pretty calm.

Q. With that chance, are you disappointed?

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I'm not disappointed because I could have been a lot higher. I hit two poor shots in the water on 15 and 17 that cost me four shots, and so I feel like I played well enough to have shot 66 but turned that into a 70 and I'll gladly take that because making the turn at 1 over I could have shot over par very easily.

Q. Do you have an iPod, and what do you have in there?

PHIL MICKELSON: I do have an iPod, and I put lots of music in it.

Q. What style of music?

PHIL MICKELSON: I have everything from everything in there.

PHIL MICKELSON: I have just about everything in there. I'm not helping you, but it's a wide variety. I mean, there's 300 artists.

Q. I know it's the color of Callaway this week, but burnt orange and the Longhorns in the Sweet 16?

PHIL MICKELSON: I went to Arizona State.

I am actually pulling for Texas. I didn't have Callaway specifically make an orange umbrella, but I loved seeing the Longhorns win the National Championship, and I think Coach Barnes for the basketball team is a great coach and a great guy and I'd love to see them do well.

Q. Except you're pulling for other people?

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I am pulling for them. Arizona State didn't even make the tournament, but this wasn't meant for that.

Q. So do you have to pull for UCLA as a PAC 10

PHIL MICKELSON: Apparently not, no.

End of FastScripts.

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