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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 6, 2014Phil MickelsonPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Phil Mickelson into the interview room, making his 21st appearance at THE PLAYERS Championship, and he's our 2007 champion. Welcome back to THE PLAYERS. If we can get some comments on being here. PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I'm looking forward to competing this week, as all the players are here, to be back here at THE PLAYERS Championship, it's going to be a fun challenge and a fun tournament, as always. I think this year we'll see some low scoring. I think from what I saw, the course is a little bit softer than in years past, and I think that that will lead to a little bit lower scoring than what we've had in the past. Q. I don't want to jinx you, but you lead the field in career birdies at No.17, and wondering over the years, over those 21 years, have you changed the way you attack or approach that hole, and over the balance of that, do you love it, do you hate it, is it somewhere in between? PHIL MICKELSON: The interesting thing about that statement, I didn't know that that was the case, but 17 was a hole that I had always made big numbers and it really kind of knocked me out of the tournament early on. In '07, the year that I did win it for the first time, I changed my approach on 17 entirely to basically hit at the middle of the green and just try to make four pars and not make the big number. It's funny to me because I think, by just aiming at the middle of the green, I think you make more birdies that way than if you fire at the pin. Certainly you make less big numbers, and that's been the key, showing that a little bit more respect for how it can take away two or three shots as opposed to just trying to get back one. Q. On 17 it looked like you had a little bit of fun there today. PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I wasn't very successful in my attempts, but we had some fun flipping clubs around and trying to hit it the other way. Q. Your game has always been a little bit volatile, but has it seemed from day‑to‑day more so this year, and has that been something different than usual, like at Wells Fargo last week? PHIL MICKELSON: I don't have a great explanation for it, because the parts of the game feel better to me than they've ever been. I feel like I'm driving the ball longer and straighter than I have in years. I feel like my long iron play has been better than it's ever been, I feel like my short iron play has been sharp. I feel good with the putter. But I've had off days with each one, and I haven't been able to put it together. Last week was a good week for me, even though the last day didn't go well, because I was able to put it together for that third round and shoot the score that I believe I was able to shoot, that I knew I could shoot. I think that that tournament I have to look at more as a stepping‑stone for the rest of the year. It was a good start for me, because it was the first time this year that I've been able to do that. I've got to be a little bit‑‑ I've got to cut myself a little slack, because for a long time early on I wasn't healthy, wasn't able to go at the ball with the right amount of speed, which is going to also not just affect my driving, but also affect my distance control, because I don't know exactly what speed I'm going through impact. But I've been feeling great since a few weeks prior to the Masters, and I feel like last week was a good week for me to try to help put all things together. Q. When you have a week like last week, do you come here more embracing the good things you did or alarmed about the things that weren't going, well like the putting on Sunday? PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it was the best finish of the year for me, so it's been a rough year, but it was the best finish of the year for me. A lot of good things happened last week that I feel will help me heading into this week and the rest of the year. It was a good momentum builder, or starter. Certainly not the result that I ultimately want, but it was a good first step. Q. What do you think of the format change for the playoff? PHIL MICKELSON: I always like having more holes, especially at big tournaments, rather than leaving things to chance on one hole, because the way, say, a major championship and THE PLAYERS Championship, can affect you positively with a win and affect your career, it makes a big impact, and I like having more holes to be the deciding factor. My favorite is the 18‑hole playoff in a U.S. Open. That's my favorite playoff. The next is going to be the one with the most holes, which is, I think, the British is still a four‑hole format. They might have changed it, I don't know. So I like more holes, rather than just having it be sudden death. Q. Bubba was in here earlier and said the fact that he has a chance to get to No.1 when you have never been No.1 in the World Rankings speaks to something being wrong with the World Ranking system. What is your reaction to that, and do you feel that the rankings system is a fair assessment of where you're standing in the world in general? PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know enough about it, but it seems fine to me. It seems fair. He's probably missing that I played Tiger at his best. I played against Tiger for years when he was at his absolute best. Q. Johnny Miller was addressing your driving accuracy problems this year, and he said he recalled one year you came here and you hit what he called the three‑quarter punch shots all around the course and wound up winning. Is that something you would consider, if things continue to struggle in that area? PHIL MICKELSON: I'll tell you, I'm driving the ball better than I ever have. I just think that‑‑ well, I have more confidence with my driver than I ever have. I'm driving the ball longer and straighter than I've ever hit it. A lot of that is equipment related, but for whatever reason, I just don't feel like driving is an issue. If you start looking at stats, for instance, at Charlotte and you just look at how many fairways were hit, which I probably hit about half of them, well, the fairways are tight, they're firm, they're angled. You don't hit straight up a fairway, you're hitting across, and because there was no rough, you want to hit driver and get it down there as far as you can, you'd rather be in the rough than in the fairway 40 yards back. Stats can be a little bit misleading, but my misses have been better than they've been in a long time. I'm hitting the ball longer and straighter than I have in a long time, and that's not what's holding me back. That's actually, I feel, turned into a strength. Q. Your approach doesn't change when you get here because of the tight nature of the golf course? What was the formula you had when you won, the year you won? PHIL MICKELSON: There was nothing unique about the formula. I putted great that week. I made‑‑ I think I made just about every putt inside six or eight feet for the week, and that's a good formula to win. That's going to help anybody. It wasn't anything that I did cognitively, it just happened. This is a golf course that you don't have to hit drivers, but I feel like the fairways seem to be a little bit softer this week, and if that's the case, I'm going to hit drivers. I've actually thought about and have in years past left driver out of the bag, because 3‑wood was plenty of club, and now it's really not. Now we're not getting the run, or at least I didn't today, so the bag setup is that I'll end up keeping driver in and hitting it quite a bit. Q. When you look at the variety of players who have won here, why do you think there's been such a wide array of winners here, and secondly, is there an area of the game where you sort of have to be particularly good in this week to win here? PHIL MICKELSON: I actually think that this tournament has a bigger challenge around the greens if you miss it and makes getting up‑and‑down a lot more difficult. So I feel like it puts a premium on ball‑striking and hitting the green. I feel like some of the mounding is so severe, and with the rough, that a lot of shots around the greens become almost impossible. If you can hit the greens and not stress out, put stress on your short game, I feel like that's kind of the best way to do well here. Whereas, at Augusta you can get up‑and‑down from all different places, if you happen to miss greens, and it's not as important as being on the correct side as chipping uphill. That's not the case here. You really just want to be on the surface. But with the course being soft, I think that, again, we'll be able to attack and get up‑and‑down if you do miss a green, but make a lot of birdies. Q. And why do you think there's been such a wide array of different styles of guys‑‑ PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know. We have such strong fields. I don't know. I think a lot of top players have won this tournament, have played their best golf, and I think this course can bring that out, and it's not easy to win this tournament. It seems to bring out the best players. Q. As you're putting right now, sort of having both variables, is it the most fluid part of your game, and did you have a chance to work with Stockton on Monday? PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, last year I had a great putting year, and this year it's been a little bit hit and miss. I've had some great days and some poor days. We spent time yesterday, and I had somehow evolved into a fairly weak grip, and it was causing me to block some putts. It was a pretty simple fix. The putter felt really good yesterday when doing it. It felt really good today with the stroke. Hopefully, we identified what it was, because I've really been putting well the last couple years. Q. What's your mindset as it relates to Pinehurst getting so close now? Is it all on that week, or are you trying not to think about it? PHIL MICKELSON: No, it's a building process, I think, like building up to the U.S. Open. I think that we know the shots that are going to be necessary in a U.S. Open, which are going to be a lot of long iron shots, and at Pinehurst a lot of chipping and short game shots from the runoff areas. Tee shots in the fairway, doesn't have to be with driver, but it's got to get in the fairway. And so the formula or the shots that we know we're going to have to hit, we need to work on and start getting them perfected now. For me I need to get in contention to kind of build my confidence, because the early part of the year I haven't had that experience, and it showed in my performance on Sunday. So I want to get in contention here, which is why I'll play Memorial and Memphis, as well, leading into the U.S. Open. Q. Did you even look at the greens that were closed today, and if you did, what did you think? Worse than you expected, better? PHIL MICKELSON: I looked at them. They're fine. We all have some times that just are off a little bit. It happens. But the greens are fine. They're very playable. Everybody has got to play them. It's totally fine. Now, they're not going to be able to be firm and fast like they normally are. They're softer, a little bit slower, and that's going to lead to lower scores, but it doesn't matter, we're all going to have the opportunity to shoot lower scores. Q. Have you had a chance to go take a look at the changes that were made at Pinehurst, and what do you think of a U.S. Open venue without rough? PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I'll obviously for it. (Laughter.) But I haven't had a chance to see it in person. I've seen pictures of it, of the holes. I think from a design standpoint, Crenshaw Coore, it's just amazing what they do. And, visually, that is how a golf course should look, from the pictures that I've seen. So I'm excited to get on the golf course and get out and play. I think the recovery shoot is the most exciting shot in golf, which is why Augusta always has such great excitement, and Pinehurst should have that same excitement this year, because you don't have the wedge‑out rough; you have an opportunity to recover. Q. Yesterday when you were on the practice green I noticed you were working with two different putters. Anything different between the other ones you were using? I noticed that one was the same Versa as you normally use. PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, so I have a white and black colored Versa that I won the British Open with and then I have the old blade that I've had for decades that I won AT&T with a couple years ago. And I just go back and forth with them. I just felt, with the grip change, it made it easier to not have a line on the club to help get my hand over in a better position, so it wasn't so weak. That's really the only reason why I ended up going to a blade this week was it just made the grip change easier. Q. It seems with this course, there's a little more fan interaction when you're out there, which kind of gives it a unique atmosphere. How does that stand out from other courses and tournaments that you play? PHIL MICKELSON: There's been a lot of fan interaction just about every week now that we play. I think that the TOUR and television do a good job of incorporating fans that aren't present on‑site and fans that are on‑site and getting them involved and getting more of an emotional tie into the competition. JOHN BUSH: Phil Mickelson, thank you, sir. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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