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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 17, 2012Phil MickelsonLYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND MIKE WOODCOCK: We have Phil Mickelson with us this afternoon. So we'll start some questions. Phil, perhaps you can talk us through your preparations for this week. You took some time out to go up to Castle Stuart to acclimatise a bit with the wonderful British weather we're enjoying. PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I was originally planning to come here early and do some practice, but I ended up going to Castle Stuart and playing the Scottish Open because I wasn't really playing as well as I wanted to in some tournaments. And it was really a great week. It's a wonderful golf course, Castle Stuart. I felt like I got a lot of good work done. I had a couple of good rounds there to give me direction on where I want my game to go. So I'm looking forward to this week. Q. Can you just expand a little bit on what clicked at Castle Stuart and maybe what that did do for you and how that decision looks for you now? PHIL MICKELSON: It didn't feel that far off, but I just wasn't holding my focus for all 18 holes. I just wasn't in a good, competitive frame of mind. And adding that tournament has really helped get me in a much better frame now. Certainly to take on a challenge like the British Open right here at Royal Lytham is a whole different test. But at least I feel a little bit better about where I'm headed. Q. There's a rumor that you bought into the Padres syndicate to become the batting practice pitcher. But, seriously, how involved do you see yourself getting with the ball club, and how far down the line do you think it would be? PHIL MICKELSON: It's not my forte to be involved with any operations. I'm just strictly kind of a silent partner that will talk with the O'Malley and Seidler families on how I can help the organisation. But that's just‑‑ any of the operations is not my deal. Q. What was the inception of you getting into it? PHIL MICKELSON: There were a number of reasons. But I really like the people I'm involved with. And I think they're just a competitive as I am, and I'm excited about bringing something to the community. Q. Do you see yourself down the line getting more involved? PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not sure where it's going to head. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Q. You've enjoyed a long association with Barclays. What's the present position with that endorsement and yourself? PHIL MICKELSON: Same, same as it has been. Q. Have you had any contact with the former chief executive, Bob Diamond? PHIL MICKELSON: Yes. Q. Are you planning to see out the contract? PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Q. What key area of your game needs to be on top form this week for you to challenge? PHIL MICKELSON: Well, putting is always a key, you know. The greens are beautiful. They're in great shape. You really can make some putts. They roll very true. If you get the ball in the right line, they'll go in. Putting is always a key, though, in any tournament. Here specifically off the tee has a greater importance than most weeks, and so there will be a number of holes I'll be a little more conservative off the tee, in an effort to ensure getting the ball in play. Q. Last year you gave it a good run, obviously, at Royal St.George's. I'm just wondering how much that has changed your outlook and your confidence in a tournament you hadn't had the most success in until last year? PHIL MICKELSON: I think what was so fun for me about last year was that I was able to make a move in horrible weather, and that's one of the things that has excited me because historically I've not played well in bad weather. And now I look at it a little bit differently. And I almost welcome it, in a sense. But I certainly have more confidence in competing and playing in weather and the different challenges that links golf presents after having had some success after last year. Q. Tiger and Rory were in earlier and talking about the difficulty of the opening hole, particularly the importance of being dialled into your yardage right off the bat. Can you give us your thought of the 1st as an opening hole in a major championship? PHIL MICKELSON: It's unique, and I think it's pretty cool to have a par‑3 opening hole. It's different than many courses that we see. We were talking about it today and couldn't think of really one hole that‑‑ one course where we started on a par‑3, other than Westchester in the New York area where we don't play anymore, but we used to. Q. There's been a lot of talk about getting a new generation of American players, pretty young, pretty fearless. Do you think there is such a phenomenon, and can you talk through the prospects of some of them? PHIL MICKELSON: I think that there are a lot of good, young players in the game of golf from all different parts of the world. And they've had very good instruction at an early age, and you're seeing guys perform at the highest level on the PGA Tour with‑‑ at a much younger age. They're very efficient with their golf swings and very confident in their abilities, and they play without fear. And I think that there's many, I mean dozens, of really good, young players coming up. Q. Aside from the success you had last year, how would you describe your attitude toward this Championship has changed? PHIL MICKELSON: It's evolved favourably, I think. It took me a while to be able to understand what it meant to get the ball on the ground because I was able to hit the ball low but I would still hit it with spin and it would stay in the air and kind of hover above the ground rather than getting it on the ground. It didn't really click until six, eight years ago. Now when it gets really bad weather, my misses in crosswinds are not as bad as they used to be, because it's on the ground and out of the wind a lot quicker. And that's made me really enjoy and appreciate playing links golf and playing in the elements. Q. As a follow‑up, how would you characterise or explain how competitive you are? PHIL MICKELSON: I enjoy competing. I've always just enjoyed competing, no matter what it's at. I have just a lot of fun doing that. I don't know a great way to describe it, but I have fun with a lot of players where we'll have some good matches. I love competing outside of golf, too, table tennis. There are a lot of guys that are better than me, but I still love to compete and try to hang with them. And we just have fun. It just is a great way to have fun. Q. Would you agree that this course is for shot makers, people who shape the ball rather than big hitters? My mind goes back to how Seve beat Nick Price on that incredible last round where he shot a 65. It was about threading your way through these bunkers. PHIL MICKELSON: I agree (laughter). Q. Do you want to say any more? PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what part you want me to comment on. Q. How about threading your ball‑‑ being able to shape your shots around here? PHIL MICKELSON: So it is important to shape a lot of shots because you have to hold it up into the wind to get the ball to approach the green at the right angle. Yes, absolutely, shot making is important here. And it is a very big challenge to avoid the bunkers off the tee. But it's a fun challenge. Q. If you were to win The Open, where would that rank in your major achievements and in terms of your overall career? PHIL MICKELSON: Let's get out of Sunday and get back to Tuesday. We're at Tuesday, and I don't want to jump ahead. I mean it would certainly‑‑ obviously it would mean a lot for any player's career. I don't like to get that far ahead right now. It's just getting ready for Thursday's round. Q. A couple of the top British players, Donald and Westwood, are having an ongoing wait for their first major. Obviously it took you a little while to make your major breakthrough, as well, but then you did it in some style. What do you think those two top players are going through, and do you see a major win around the corner for them? PHIL MICKELSON: I don't think anybody would be surprised to see either one of those great players win a major championship. They're tremendously talented. I think it goes to the depth of the play on the game of golf on a worldwide stage as to how many great players are now winning and competing in major championships. Q. What do you think of the 205 bunkers? PHIL MICKELSON: They're very well placed. There's a lot of them, but they're very well placed. And it does still give you an opportunity to strategically avoid them off the tee and have decisions as to which line you want to take and which bunkers you want to try to bring into play and take out of play. And although there's a lot of them, they seem to be very well thought out and are strategically placed for the varying winds that you may see here. Q. Is there a course in America that has as many bunkers? Oakmont comes to mind, but I can't remember what you think of the bunkers there. PHIL MICKELSON: To answer your question, no, there's not any course in America. And the one at Oakmont is a single bunker, it's just a really big one (laughter). Q. You have always put your family before golf. And last week was one exception when you really cut down your family vacation and went to play in Scotland. What does that say about your career? Are you concerned about something about your golf that you did that? PHIL MICKELSON: I think it says a lot about my wife and what a great lady and supportive lady that she is, that she realises or she understands that when I need to spend a little bit more time playing, competing, practising, that it was her idea as much as it was mine to add the Scottish Open. I think it says a lot about how lucky I am to have such a great, supportive wife. Q. First of all, how about Whistling Straits for the amount of bunkers? PHIL MICKELSON: You know, that's an interesting point, Hank, because in 2004 they were not bunkers. Q. Right. PHIL MICKELSON: And now they are. Q. Yes. PHIL MICKELSON: And I think my playing partner, Dustin today, could attest to that. Q. Just in general, is there a different strategy in playing a wetter links course? PHIL MICKELSON: It allows you the opportunity to be a little bit more aggressive, if you choose, off the tee and into the greens because you do have a chance to get the ball stopped a little bit quicker than in the past. But it also forces you to hit a little bit more club off the tee and makes it a little bit more challenging there. So it seems to offset it. Q. Why have you had trouble focusing for 18 holes, and what steps have you taken to try to correct that? PHIL MICKELSON: That's a good question. I don't know where to go with that, Jeff. I think over the course of 18 holes in a tournament and a competition with a challenging test of golf, it's important to really hold your focus well each shot. And my mind has been going a little bit in and out. So I've just been trying to maintain my focus throughout each shot. That's all I've been working on. And it's been getting better. It's been getting better. Q. You touched on this a minute ago. Do you think the standard is getting so much higher amongst the top players with 15 majors won by 15 different players, do you think it will ever be the kind of dominance we saw from Tiger a few years ago again? PHIL MICKELSON: I think that 16 years ago nobody thought we would have the same kind of dominance we had in the game that Jack Nicklaus provided in his career. And then along came Tiger. So I would never rule it out. I mean, it's hard to forever foresee anyone playing at that level, but yet it's been done. It can be done, and I wouldn't rule it out. I don't see anybody in the game today playing at that level that he currently or has played at and is currently starting to play at again. But you just never know. Q. If you could think back to pre‑'04 Masters, before you won a major, did you ever have to calm yourself down going into a major because you wanted to win one so badly? And secondly, did you notice at all as you got in contention regularly, starting with say Pinehurst in '99 and then seemingly every year, did that make it tougher and make you press harder? PHIL MICKELSON: I think that I had to try to calm myself down all the time constantly heading into majors, because I felt like after having won a PGA Tour event as an amateur, my expectations were to have won a major championship well before I was 34, and yet I hadn't. So I found myself constantly having to slow down my thoughts and try to get control of my thoughts and play the golf course effectively. But it helped me when I started getting in contention a lot more like I did in '99 and the '01 PGA and some majors thereafter because the more times you're in contention, the more you understand the process of what happens, what goes wrong and how to fix it. And it made it easier to compete and contend and to ultimately win after having been in contention that many times. Q. Just wondering, I'm not sure if you'd be willing to comment on this, but how much has your own illness and the illnesses that you've had in your family, how much do they impact on your ability to get out there and be competitive and compete at this level? PHIL MICKELSON: It's important as a player to be able to keep your mind on the task at hand when you're on the golf course and not let it waver. But we're‑‑ certainly for a couple of years it was difficult to do. But right now, you know, everybody is doing great. I mean, my wife and mom are doing terrific. They're just really in a good spot. My health has been really good. Any symptoms have been well managed by medication, and I feel like there's no reason that I shouldn't be able to play some of my best golf. Q. When you talk about taking a while to learn how to play the ball along the ground, was there a eureka moment or eureka practice session where it finally started making sense to you? PHIL MICKELSON: Yes, absolutely. Q. When? PHIL MICKELSON: It was early in '04. Early in '04, when I started to spend some time with Dave Pelz and learned to not only hit the ball down but take some spin off of it when I hit the ball down. MIKE WOODCOCK: Best of luck this week, Phil. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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