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FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

January 31, 2010

Phil Mickelson

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

PHIL MICKELSON: Like I say, it happens. I felt I was ready, though. I was really excited about playing. Maybe I was a little overanxious or whatnot. My timing was off a little bit this week, and today's putts didn't quite go in the hole even though they were catching the edges most of the time. I feel like I have direction for me to work on the next few days.

Q. What are you and Butch working on in terms of your golf swing?
PHIL MICKELSON: A lot of it was just timing. A lot of it was just out of whack, a little too long and a little lazy through the ball and didn't quite have the speed and momentum going toward the target.

Q. You shot a 73 today and brought Butch Harmon in overnight to help you. Were you feeling pretty good when you left the range?
PHIL MICKELSON: I had a good warm-up session. I felt like I was going to be a good day. I got off to a terrible start, and then throughout the round didn't get much out of it. But the good thing is that I've got a direction of what I'm working on. I felt like I hit some good shots coming down the stretch. The last 13, 14 holes I actually hit a lot of good shots. I'm excited about next week because my game is feeling not as rusty as it looks, and I've had some success up at LA, so I'm excited about next week.

Q. Butch told us you might have been a little amped up because you're here at home in front of the crowd and wanted to do so well here, and then you come out and the first three holes were all bogeys. How deflating is that?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, that was very discouraging because a lot of the pin placements are kind of on high sections, and I knew it was going to be a tough day getting close to some of the pins. You don't have as many birdie opportunities. To make bogeys early on was costly. But again, I hit some good shots the last 14 holes, and although there's nothing I can do about it this week, I feel like my game is coming around and hopefully should be ready to go by next Thursday.

Q. You're the defending champion next week. What will you work on between now and then?
PHIL MICKELSON: What we were talking about, my rhythm and timing were off. I wasn't able to accelerate through the ball very well and hanging back a little bit. At least I know what it is that I need to work on and I have a couple days to do it.

Q. Talk about the last 14 holes.
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I got off to a terrible start today and it was discouraging. The rest of the round I hit a lot of good shots, didn't get much out of it, but I have to look at although the score wasn't very good, I certainly played a lot better than that the last 14, 15 holes. So going into next week in LA, my game is starting to come around. I was probably a little bit amped up. I really wanted to play well this week, and I felt ready. But my timing was just a little bit off, and hopefully I'll get that settled down the next few days and practice for next week.

Q. Did playing with Rickie take you back about 19 years?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's fun. What a great asset to the TOUR this guy is. He's a great player, but really a fun guy to be around, and I think he's going to really enhance the game of golf.

Q. What really impressed you about his game?
PHIL MICKELSON: He's long; he's got a great short game; he's got great control of his irons. I just think overall he's a very solid player. I think he's going to have a great year.

Q. How do you put this week in perspective? First of all, there's no Tiger; second of all we've got the whole grooves controversy; we've got Daly quitting; and then the veterans start to make a move in the third round and then today?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I'm excited to be back playing golf. I missed being out and playing competitively. I've had ten weeks off, and I'm excited about getting the year started again. I love starting in San Diego. It's one of my favorite tournaments, and I felt like I was ready. I didn't get the performance I wanted, but next week in LA, I think that I should be able to get it turned around.

End of FastScripts

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