home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

THE AMERICAN EXPRESS


January 16, 2020


Phil Mickelson


La Quinta, California

Q. 2-under on this course. Overall with the field not as many birdies at La Quinta compared to years in the past. How satisfied are you with this opening round?
PHIL MICKELSON: I actually had a really good fun day today. I didn't score as I probably could have or wanted to, but I really had a good day. I felt like some of the things that -- it wasn't quite as sharp as I wanted it to be, maybe a little bit rusty, but it was a good first day. Certainly wasn't last year but we have got three more days to continue to build on it.

Q. Not to get too far ahead but yesterday some of the comments you made about the off season and the extra motivation you had from the lull in your season last year, how has the off season translated so far into what you're anticipating this week?
PHIL MICKELSON: So the ability to recover quicker after a round or after a practice session, the ability to practice longer and the ability to focus a little bit better throughout the practice session has all been better. So I feel like my game is a little bit sharper and easier to get more out of it. I didn't play great today but still had a decent score, I feel like I'm ready to go on a tear, like I'm excited to play, I'm excited to -- felt like 70 was the worst I could have shot and I'm going to come out tomorrow and get it going and I'm having a lot of fun, I'm really enjoying getting back into the start of the season and playing some golf.

Q. How did you feel about your game off the tee today and can you talk about the tee ball on 9?
PHIL MICKELSON: So the tee ball on 9 I just tried to crush it as high and as far as I can up 1 fairway to that back right pin and I have about usually 100, 110 yards with a straight up angle. Takes the water out of play and I just have a much better angle. I actually pushed it a little bit across and got a little bit unlucky to be behind the tree, but I ended up just chipping a little wedge underneath it and getting it on.

Q. How do you feel about it overall off the tee?
PHIL MICKELSON: So I've been working on kind of a little low shot to get it in play and I hit it a few times today and I didn't hit it as efficiently as I wanted to, but the miss wasn't as bad as some of my other drives. So, for instance, on 14 where I missed it left, it's so low it gets in the rough, it stays in play and it's not too bad. Whereas I've been out of bounds left there before.

Same thing on number 8. Even though I was stymied behind a tree and ended up making bogey I ended up hitting that little low cut driver and it landed in the fairway and just ran a little bit through. A lot of times I'll miss that shot a lot bigger and so the misses were a little bit less.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP sports

tech 129
About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297