KEMPER INSURANCE OPEN

May 25, 2001

Phil Mickelson

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it was up-and-down, and I made a lot of birdies. I played very well. Score-wise it probably should have been significantly lower, but I feel like I've put myself in good position for the weekend, which was the goal.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's not thrilling. I feel as though I lost four to six shots a round, and I should have been able to separate myself from the field, and I haven't been able to do that. Fortunately, I'm still in a decent position, but from where I should be and where I am, it's certainly frustrating.

PHIL MICKELSON: No, I'm going to leave. As soon as I get out of here, I'm leaving.

PHIL MICKELSON: It wasn't a turning point. I just let a few shots by there at the end.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't think the game's got me. I think I am not scoring the way I'm playing. And that's frustrating.

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't see how grinding on the range or hitting putt after putt is really going to do any good. It's not as though I'm hitting bad shots. I'm hitting great shots. I'm hitting some pretty good putts. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it all. I'll take the rest of the day off and maybe come out tomorrow and work on it tomorrow for an hour or two.

PHIL MICKELSON: Not far off. It's not far off. I feel like the last few tournaments I should not have even let anybody have a chance to catch me, and not just on Sunday, but all throughout the week. I just seem to be throwing shots away left and right. I 3-putted from five feet yesterday. 3-putted twice today. Bunch of short ones missed. The thing is that I'm hitting the ball so close and giving myself so many chances, and I expect to make them all and I'm just not doing it. I get a little overaggressive sometimes on 20- and 30-footers and run them three or four feet by and I'm missing them. And I'm just not getting the score out of the round, from the way I'm playing.

PHIL MICKELSON: I won't do anything differently than the last five Majors I've played, which is play the week before. I'll go to Memphis, get in a competitive frame of mind and work on my game there. I'll take next week off, just so that I don't go into the Open stale. I'll be somewhat fresh. And I'll spend the week before working on my game at the tournament.

PHIL MICKELSON: I do like it. I do think that it's going to be a difficult task. We've played the PGA there in '94, and a couple of TOUR Championships. It's a tough setup. They're going to make it even more difficult. The interesting thing about Southern Hills is that each hole has some type of dog leg. And it seems to dog leg between 250 or 270 off the tees, which means I won't be able to hit any drivers because I'll hit it right through the dog leg. So I think that I'll end up having to hit a lot of 2-irons and 3-woods off the tee, and having five- and six-irons into the green, which will be a little different than the way I've been playing lately, which is hit drivers and having a lot of wedges in.

PHIL MICKELSON: I think that I need to approach the round in a more positive frame of mind and think about the shot that I've gained, that I've hit well, that I've captured or made birdies on, as opposed to the shots that I've let slide away, because that seems to snowball and lead to more shots.

PHIL MICKELSON: I started off really well on 10. I hit driver -- I hit a gap wedge on 10 to about 15 feet and made that. On 11, I hit a 9-iiron to 12 feet and made that On 12, I hit driver, 7-iron. I hit driver, 7-iron 20 feet and 3-putted. Next hole I hit driver, 3-wood just short of the green, chipped up to about 8 feet and made it for birdie. And I birdied 18 where I hit a driver and a gap wedge, which is a wedge between my pitching and sand, hit it to about 12 feet and made that. On 1, I hit driver, L-wedge. I left it short of the green, but I chipped in. I birdied 2. I hit a sand wedge out of the left rough to about a foot and made that. And then on the 4th hole I hit 3-wood, 8-iron to about 15 feet and made that. I bogeyed 7. I hit driver, 7-iron to 30 feet and 3-putted. And I bogeyed 8. I hit driver, 7-iron over the green and did not get up-and-down. That's it.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, this afternoon we'll go have some family time and play, and it will be a nice break from the way I've been beating myself up on the course.