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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 2, 2007

Phil Mickelson

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Q. What do you think of the course?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's in great shape, and this is one of the best tournaments on TOUR, and we're all excited to be here. This has a special feel, feels much like a major, and again, we're all looking forward to this event.

Q. You've made some changes in the last couple weeks, well, over the last month or two. How are they coming along?
PHIL MICKELSON: Slowly but surely. I'm excited about my play last week. I thought I started to hit the ball how I wanted to, and I'm going to need that to carry over this week because this golf course is very challenging off the tee and I'm going to have to hit it very well off the tee.

Q. What is it about this tournament that attracts so many top players?
PHIL MICKELSON: There's a number of reasons that make this the best run tournament on TOUR, and Kym Hougham is probably the best guy to ask. It's the little things; when we show up at the hotel, our kids have their names embroidered on the hotel pillows and towels, and they call our assistants and get all kinds of toys that they like waiting for them in the hotel room, those types of touches, as well as all the special things they do for the wives, taking them to special places. They have one of the largest purses on TOUR, one of the best golf courses, and certainly the community support is better than just about every other community in the nation.

Q. When you came here, it was year two the first time you came here. What were your expectations, and then when you got here was it kind of like, well, I'm always going to be here?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think that was it. When I got here, I think I just realized that I'll always be here. Even as other tournaments try to do the same things, I'll always have an appreciation for this event because this has set the standard and has raised the bar for all the other tournaments.

Q. For like the last eight or nine years you've really been on a routine for what time of year you play or where you play. Have you had to change that for May now?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yes, but that has more to do with moving THE PLAYERS Championship, and this stretch of Byron's tournament last week, this tournament and THE PLAYERS Championship is one of the best three-week stretches we have.

Q. If it doesn't rain will this course play different than it has in other years? Is it firmer and faster?
PHIL MICKELSON: It is firmer and faster and it will play more difficult. It's very difficult to hit fairways because the ball just seems to spring off of them into the rough. That's, I guess, normal for me, but it's actually, I guess, happening to everybody (laughter).

Q. When you make a swing change, does it feel as big to you as it does to us? When we change our grip it feels like a massive complete overhaul even though it might be a slight thing.
PHIL MICKELSON: Any time you make changes it does feel different, and the key to being able to implement it and play well is getting a rhythm with it. A lot of times when amateurs make a swing change, their rhythm is thrown off, as well, but if you keep your rhythm down, it's not overly difficult to implement it.

Q. Is the biggest thing you're looking for maybe consistency with the change because obviously at Pebble and Riviera you saw some success, and then as you mentioned last weekend you saw some. Are you looking for consistency now?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yes, the last piece that I really wanted to work on was driving the ball in the fairway and driving it straighter and not curving as much and being more consistent off the tee. It's going to be a learning process. It's more than just a swing change, it's understanding what allows the ball to go straighter and so forth and how to do it, and so it'll take me a little time.

Q. How far do you think you are in the process now?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, we're only a few weeks in, so you've got to give me a chance.

Q. Can you talk about the finishing holes here at Quail Hollow, 16, 17, 18, how hard they were playing today?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, 16, 17, 18 is probably the toughest finishing stretch that I can think of. 16 is not as penalizing because there's no water like 17 and 18. 17, I've had many times where I've landed a ball on the front third of the green and watched it roll over the back into the water, and so that is just a very difficult hole to hold the green.
And then if you play to the right it's one of the toughest up-and-downs. It's really a par kind of 31/2 hole, where if you make par it's close to a birdie.

Q. What type of player does this course favor, and what's it going to take to win here this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: Past winners have been accurate drivers, Jim Furyk, David Toms. I think that's probably what will lead to success here.

Q. From afar and up close, what do you think has made Butch Harmon a successful teacher out here for so long?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, his knowledge of the game and the golf swing and his ability to identify faults and give the cure right away is probably what makes Butch as well as many other top teachers, Rick Smith and Hank Haney and David Leadbetter and Jim McLean. All those guys have a great eye for the golf swing and can pick those things out. Each one has a different view, kind of a different point of view, and all of those things.

Q. Butch kind of communicates a little more bluntly and directly, does he not?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, to you, but that's because he doesn't like you (laughter). I'm just kidding, Steve, he loves you (laughter).

Q. When you're changing a teacher or have had a teacher for a long time, I had a guy tell me yesterday that there's sort of a half life to the relationship at some point. Whether you're amateur or pro, you usually want a change and get some other view. Is that what happened with you?
PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not really sure. I've tried to explain it in that press release a week or two ago, and I'd probably just refer to that because I don't really want to go into too much more detail.

Q. Are you surprised the attention it's drawn?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yes.

Q. Is that drawing more attention than your missing the Pro-Am?
PHIL MICKELSON: It would be a nice deflection, yes (laughter). Bring it on. Any more Butch questions or Rick (laughter)?

Q. Are you beginning to think that, gee, what did I do to deserve all this attention?
PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know. I mean, it is what it is.

Q. Do you have any experience at Oakmont at all?
PHIL MICKELSON: I played the '94 Open there.

Q. What happened?
PHIL MICKELSON: I actually played the third round with Loren Roberts as he made his charge to get into a playoff and watched him shoot I want to say 64 on Saturday. That was interesting to watch him kind of dissect that course and play it, putt those greens the way he did.

Q. Learn something?
PHIL MICKELSON: I hope so, yeah.

Q. They say it's the hardest members' course maybe in America. Would you maybe validate that?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's tough to say. I haven't played a lot of the -- there's a lot of modern courses that are very difficult, but probably the toughest greens, yeah.

Q. Have you seen it now in current state with all the trees taken out of it?
PHIL MICKELSON: I haven't seen it yet, no. I'm looking forward to getting there.

Q. It won't look a lot like what you saw the last time.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, that's what I've heard.

Q. With the swing changes what specifically are you working on during a practice round when you come out here?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's not really working on the swing during the practice round, I'm looking at the golf course, trying to get a feel for the speed of the greens. I might hit a few shots in the bunker and not be upset about it because I want to get a feel for the texture of the sand. And also the rough around the greens, you want to see how the wedges are going through that, how the balls are reacting on the green, so you're trying to get a feel for the course more than technique.

End of FastScripts

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