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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2006

Phil Mickelson

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

PHIL MICKELSON: It was a fun day. It was a fun day today. We all played okay. We all left some shots out there, but we all put ourselves in good position heading into the next three rounds. We had a good time, and I felt like for me personally, I felt like I was playing a little bit better. I had some great practice sessions the last three or four days and hit some shots today that I was a little disappointed in because I felt like I was playing better. I'm going to go down to the range and see if I can get it worked out for tomorrow.

Q. Are the 5s a big factor?

PHIL MICKELSON: They're a big factor, yes, because they're reachable, and if they're not reachable you can get it right in front of the green and take advantage of your short game and get it up and down. You do need to take advantage of the par 5s.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, fortunately I've put it on the right spot and gave myself enough green to work with and didn't short side myself and was able to get up and down. That was a big factor, yes.

Q. What was the atmosphere like at 10 at the beginning of your round, considering it's about a mile from the clubhouse?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, again, it was 8:30 in the morning and it was a long ways away. There was nobody out there. It was a nice, quiet day. When we made the turn it was a little louder.

Q. How much did you hit each driver?

PHIL MICKELSON: Probably about half and half, probably about seven and seven.

Q. Did you use one better than the other?

PHIL MICKELSON: No, they were both just a fraction off, just a couple yards in the rough. Some felt really good and felt really close and just leaked off a little bit.

Q. Is it better when you just miss?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, yeah, no question. Look, your misses have to be small here because if you miss you start to get in the trees and then you have to hit wedges back into the fairway. It's important if you miss it to stay inside the tree line and just be in the rough.

Q. Were you surprised at the low numbers?

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I think we knew the scores were going to be low because the greens were receptive, and they're putting so true. The guys are making putts from quite a long distance. It's a very fair test. I think it's terrific. I love the way the PGA sets the course up fair. There's nothing ridiculous about it, no pin placements that are on slopes, no fairways that are eight yards wide. It's just a good, straightforward test of golf, and the low score wins.

Q. After the first round you were tied for the lead a year ago. How do you assess your position now, say if 6 or 5 stays leading.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I put myself in a position where a low round tomorrow will vault up the leaderboard. That's what you want to do. When you're not quite having it all, you want to take advantage of your short game, make a lot of pars and take advantage of the birdie holes, which are the par 5s. I was able to do that today, use my short game and get up and down and salvage a few pars.

Q. What did you talk about today?

PHIL MICKELSON: We were talking about schedule, Ryder Cup, just some stuff we have coming up.

Q. Are you going to go day to day with the one driver, two driver thing, or did you just make a decision

PHIL MICKELSON: It is day to day, but I will say 90 percent I'll stick with two the whole week because the two clubs that I took out, which was a sand wedge and a pitching wedge, are clubs that I really don't need here because the par 4s are so long I'm hitting 7, 8, 9, and the par 5s are long irons and the par 3s are mid irons. I haven't really needed my wedges as much other than my L wedge and my 64, which has helped me around the greens.

Q. What do you think about Billy Mayfair playing this week?

PHIL MICKELSON: Man, I think it's great. I think what Billy is doing is great.

I would actually ask a favor of you if you don't mind. He has such little energy because of his surgery, and the favor that I would ask is that you don't take too much of his time after the round, you let him get in air conditioning and kind of recuperate as opposed to having him try to do interviews. I'd just ask that as kind of a favor because I'd really like to see him do well this week. He's such a good friend and I was so sorry to see him go through that but just amazingly happy and surprised at how well things have gone since the diagnosis.

Q. Do you expect him to play well?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I actually expect him to play well. I expect him to continue to play well, too. But again, energy is going to be a question as the week goes on, and that's why I'm hoping that as soon as he gets done, he gets in air conditioning and gets cooled off and so forth.

End of FastScripts.

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