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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 20, 2004

Phil Mickelson

SHINNECOCK HILLS, NEW YORK

MODERATOR: Joining us now, 2-under par for the championship, Phil Mickelson.

Q. Three birdies in four holes on a golf course that was kicking the teeth out of everybody else out here?

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what to say about making birdies, because I hit good shots and still had to make tough putts and was able to. It's not a course where I was thinking birdie on any particular hole, it just so happened that I ended up making a lot of putts. It was almost enough, just not quite.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, after I birdied 16, I had a 1-shot lead, and I thought this was going to be the day.

And 17, you know, I don't know what to say there. I hit an easy putt, hit it easy, because I knew it was quick. But it still shouldn't have gone six, seven feet by.

Q. You thought the wind flipped just before the bunker shot?

PHIL MICKELSON: Not really, the putt was downwind. When the wind gets a hold of it on these greens, it takes it. It just wouldn't stop.

Q. What was the distance on that hole? What were you trying to do?

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know what it was to the hole. It was 166 to the front edge, which is where I was trying to fly it. I hit 6-iron.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I didn't see he doubled 14.

Q. Bogeyed 14, I'm sorry. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: I just saw him make par. I saw the scores, it was hard to tell what was going on.

Q. Were you aware he birdied 16?

PHIL MICKELSON: I saw him birdie 16.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: No, that would be fair, yeah. It wasn't a hard shot, I had a good lie, but the green, we saw it bounce up in the air, it just took it.

I certainly didn't want to be long, but I thought I hit it high and soft enough not to do that. But I don't know what it hit; it was awfully firm.

Q. It kind of shot on you?

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah.

Q. That's almost impossible on a bunker shot?

PHIL MICKELSON: My cleats didn't go in the grass. I kind of walked on top of it there.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Absolutely, yeah. I thought under par -- I thought even par would win it. I thought today the way guys were coming back that even par would probably win the tournament.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: It's just as disappointing as it was thrilling to win a Masters, sure. To come very close, to play so hard for 72 holes and play better than anybody but one guy is disappointing, sure.

Q. A lot of players said it's unfair. Do you agree with that?

PHIL MICKELSON: You know, I don't know what to say. I played the best -- some of the best golf of my life and still couldn't shoot par. So you tell me.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: It was about eight feet, I would say.

Q. Did you get an adrenalin surge after 6? Did you have to stop and kind of refocus?

PHIL MICKELSON: Not really, no. No, I actually didn't hit a bad shot on 17. My notes say the bunker was fine, it wasn't that hard of a shot.

I thought I hit a pretty good shot. It just kicked a little too hard and left me a downhill putt, which was tough.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I knew I needed to make birdie to have a chance, so I wasn't really thinking about anything else, other than trying to make birdie. And there again, I thought I hit a good shot in there, just hit too hard.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it broke right-to-left, but the wind was left-to-right, and so I played it straight and it -- the wind took it more to the right than I thought. If there was no wind, it would have broke left.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: A little bit of both. The wind certainly took the first putt. It broke quite a bit the other way, left-to-right, and the wind was right-to-left. I missed it about four to five inches high. It affected it quite a bit, and it kept taking it down the hill. I knew the wind was going to affect it, I just didn't know how much.

Q. (Inaudible).

PHIL MICKELSON: Very possibly, yeah, I would say.

Q. Is that any consolation?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, you know, I'm not disappointed in the way I played at all. I just would have liked to have won, that's all. But I can't worry about the fact that somebody played better than me, because Retief played some great golf. I thought 2-under would have won by two, maybe three, and it just didn't.

End of FastScripts.

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