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VALERO TEXAS OPENMarch 28, 2014Phil MickelsonSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS Q.  Phil, just the decision on 18 there, the cut line, why not go ahead? PHIL MICKELSON: If there ever was a shot to play out of the water it would be last shot of the day, right, in case water gets on you? I needed to make a birdie to have a chance at playing tomorrow and I wanted to -- I was right in between going for the green or playing a little bit to the right trying to get up and down, and I hit a very close to being a great shot and went in the water. Unfortunately, it just barely went in where I hit a shot. Q. What did you hit back in the fairway? PHIL MICKELSON: 3-wood. 288 to the hole. Q. Was it a risky shot at all as far as injury or anything like that? PHIL MICKELSON: It didn't look like it, no. It looked like the water overlapped the grass and it was not that hard of a shot. There was a rock that I hit but it didn't -- I didn't see it at address. Q. It was actually in the water when you hit it? PHIL MICKELSON: I think it was. Q. You may not make the cut but you have played into at least contention of making the cut. PHIL MICKELSON: 3 right now is going to make it unless something happens and the wind dies down and guys make birdies but I think it will be okay. Q. Phil, could you tell -- I mean when you went out the cut was 2 and you kept playing and kept on. Could you tell if there was a chance of it going up? PHIL MICKELSON: I was 3-over on the 15th green and I saw that 3-over was 71st place. I figured that 3-over had a pretty good chance of making it because the scores were coming back. I was on the green for five minutes and it went from 74th to 71st in five minutes so I figured the scores were coming back. It was a very difficult day today and there's no opportunity here with this wind to play it on the ground. The ground is as repellent a golf course as I've ever seen. You have to go through the air. You have to send it up in the air and try to gauge and judge the wind and it was swirling more today than it was yesterday. I thought yesterday it was actually an easier day because you knew what the wind was doing. Q. Your pitch to No. 8, you were trying to wait for the wind to stop. Just had to pull the trigger. PHIL MICKELSON: I hit what I thought was a good shot. It got clobbered by a gust. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my second shot further down to where it wasn't -- the gust wasn't a factor. Q. What was your lie in the bunker that took you two to get out of the bunker? PHIL MICKELSON: There was a little something behind it. I didn't know what it was. I went right underneath it. Q. How are the two rounds for you with Augusta in the future? PHIL MICKELSON: It's important for me that mentally I get more into the round kind of like I did today, whereas yesterday I was very sloppy but the shots that I'm playing today, playing this week are not conducive to this golf course. I'm hitting drivers high up in the air and as hard as I can and into a fairway that's a fraction of what we'll face the next two weeks in Augusta. Hitting high iron shots up in the air in this wind is just not conducive but there's no need for me to work on a knockdown shot right now until the summer. Q. What's really pleasing about your game at the moment? PHIL MICKELSON: I actually really like the way I'm driving the ball. I'm hitting the ball hard, hitting it high. My speed is back, my back feels great, my body feels great and I'm able to hit the ball hard again. Also the driver is not leaking left on me. If my miss, it's a slight hook which is great because it means the face is squaring up and I'm able to go forward and accelerate, swing harder. My wedge play feels pretty good. My distance control has been good. My iron play actually feels pretty solid. I feel like I have good control over the shots. My game feels really good and has the last couple weeks heading into this week. Unfortunately, I have not had as great a focus of the shot, haven't seen the shot well, haven't been into the round, you know, into a good, competitive frame of mind, kind of that tournament frame of mind. I don't know how else to say it. I have not had that -- hasn't been a strength this year so far and certainly yesterday was evident. Today was a much, much improved but I got to do that for four days. Q. Will you use 2 drivers at Augusta? PHIL MICKELSON: It's a possibility but it's unlikely. I think I like this one I'm using right now and I don't think they'll be a need for a second. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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