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FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

January 28, 2010

Phil Mickelson

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Q. How was your round out there?
PHIL MICKELSON: It was a good round I thought. I'll take a couple under on the South Course. The course is playing long, and it's not the easiest to go low on. I played a little cautious today, trying to not make too many mistakes and keep myself in it because tomorrow the North Course is a course that provides the opportunity to shoot a low round.

Q. Is it playing fairly, the South Course?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think it is, it's just the course is in fabulous shape but it's very long because of the water, and the greens are soft, so every time you make a footprint, it leaves a bunch of impressions and makes putting on them challenging.

Q. Was there a little rust on the driver today?
PHIL MICKELSON: I thought I drove it pretty well. I missed a couple of fairways, sure, but I thought I was able to take advantage of the par-5s because I played some good drives in the fairway there. Overall I didn't feel like I was playing from too far off the fairway. I hit one bad one on 9, but other than that, I felt like I kept it in decent play.

Q. There were some pretty nasty bunker shots.
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, that's typical of Rees Jones' design, and he came in and did that out here. I certainly was in a tough spot on 12. I don't know of another bunker shot where it was difficult, but I remember on 12.

Q. (Inaudible.)
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's probably unlikely I would say. I've been over there before, and I had a pretty good idea that that car park was a movable -- temporary movable obstruction, so I was able to get relief. For whatever reason, that 9th hole, I tend to miss it left. I don't know if I've ever missed that fairway right. I've missed it left every time I've missed it.

Q. How important were those two late birdies, because 2-under and even, that's quite a big difference going into tomorrow I'd say.
PHIL MICKELSON: It is, but again, it's only Thursday, and we're on the South Course. Tomorrow on the North is where you can make up some ground. The par-5s are reachable and there's some shorter par-4s where you can take advantage of those holes. The South is difficult because it's playing long, and it's hard to get the ball close. The greens are spongy and balls seem to kind of get deflected away with all the contours.

Q. Talk about 18. What did you have in there?
PHIL MICKELSON: It was 258 to the front edge. It was 258 carry. I can carry that 3-wood 265 comfortably, so I gave it a little bit extra obviously and probably hit it closer to 280. But I was in an area where I thought without any hurt, as long as wind didn't hurt, I felt I'd get it there no problem.

Q. Did you feel good about reaching three of the four par-5s in two today?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it's been helpful. It's been helpful. Jim Gray was pointing out I had 33 putts but still shot 2-under, and that's due to the fact I hit three of those par-5s.

Q. What were you thinking on that last putt, in or out?
PHIL MICKELSON: Could have gone either way. I was hoping it would hang in there. It looked good, but it just kept drifting off and just caught the lip.

Q. You caught a lot of lips early and then at the end.
PHIL MICKELSON: I caught a lot of lips that didn't go in early, and then to make that one on the last hole was nice.

Q. But you putted -- I mean, the putts that hit the lip on 2 through 5 --
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, they were close. They were good putts, little speed; little too firm on 2, the ball maybe just didn't break enough on 3, little things. But they were all on the edge, which is a big fact, as long as I'm getting the ball close to the hole and giving it a chance.

Q. The grooves on the wedges, did it have any effect today?
PHIL MICKELSON: I didn't notice it today, no. I had a couple of shots, a shot on 17 out of the rough and hit a 9-iron from the normal distance, and it came out normal.

Q. Your playing partner Ryan Palmer put up a nice score. Any comments on his play?
PHIL MICKELSON: He won Hawai'i. He's playing some great golf. He hit the ball very solid. He putted the ball great, and he's got a wonderful short game. He kept every shot within play, he didn't have too many big misses and played a very solid round of 68.

Q. Were you a little more cautious here than in the past?
PHIL MICKELSON: I was a little more cautious today because I didn't want to make too many big mistakes. I want to work my way in the tournament. Nicklaus used to talk about that in majors, that he wanted to try to progress as the week went along, and I didn't want to try to come out and win the tournament on Thursday because it's just not possible. I wanted to try to build into it, so I'm hoping I play better tomorrow and shoot a low score on the North, good enough to get myself in contention for the weekend.

Q. Is that a different mentality than you've had in past years here?
PHIL MICKELSON: Maybe, but I knew I had to change -- I had to slow down because I was just so anxious for the year to start. I knew I needed to be a little more patient.

Q. Overall as first rounds of the year go, by your standards it's okay?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's a good one. I've played well sometimes the first week coming out. When we used to have the tournament over at La Costa, the Tournament of Champions, I won that twice early on, but I've also had a number of high rounds and poor finishes and missed cuts early on, too. So I'll certainly take today's round.

Q. Was there a little problem on 15 there?
PHIL MICKELSON: No, he didn't say a word. I caught myself. Mark reminded me, and I went and apologized. I don't know what space I was in there.

Q. What about the hometown gallery?
PHIL MICKELSON: The people have been great. We've got a great sponsor now in Farmers Insurance, and I'm hoping that they enjoy this week so much that they sign up for a long-term deal.

End of FastScripts

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