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THE PRESIDENTS CUP


September 29, 2007


Woody Austin

Phil Mickelson


MONTREAL, QUEBEC

PHIL MICKELSON: He shot it right at the pin and I ended up going six or seven yards longer than I thought it was going to fly; we got a little more help. But we just wanted to have a couple of chances, and I had a chance to see his chip roll by the hole and I had an idea how it was going to break, and Woody, my partner, I guess aka Aquaman now. And he did it right. You know, he drove it back in his home, his birthplace there on 14, and I think there ought to be a special plaque there to commemorate the birth of Aquaman.
He tried to go back to his home, his birthplace there, and let me halve the hole while he was off rediscovering where it all began.
It was a fun day -- he doesn't really care for it too much. He's tired of it now. After 10, 12 hours all day today from his partner and last night he took some pretty good ribbing, too, but hopefully it will keep going.

Q. You guys have just worked wonderfully together, ham-and-egging it all day long.
WOODY AUSTIN: I wouldn't even call it ham-and-egging. I left the entire lunch buffet there. Like I told him, I need to thank Budweiser for loaning their No. 1 Clydesdale for the day, because I jumped on that Clydesdale and rode him all the way today.
It was a big half point for us because we wanted momentum going into singles.
PHIL MICKELSON: I think that the reason why -- an important element of the U.S. Team in the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup is having young, youthful rookies -- I wouldn't say rookies, but that actually haven't played in any team events, because Woody Austin, Hunter Mahan, they bring an exuberance to this event, and it feeds off of us. We end up playing these team events now every year, and have since '94, and to have guys like Woody and Hunter to remind us of how fun it is and exciting it is; not that we were not excited but it really gets us focused and excited to play. We work well together because I'm able to maybe provide a little bit of stability and he's able to provide some excitement. We really work well together.
It was fun to birdie the last hole. It was fun to push that match when we were two down. It was fun the way Woody responded on 17 with that birdie, and right after Retief made the incredible bunker shot. It's fun to keep fighting when things don't look good. It looked like the match was over and we fought hard and were able to get a halve out of it.

Q. You guys had it on Friday -- going back and forth --
PHIL MICKELSON: We've had a good week. We've played well. This is a very big lead for us, and so we're looking forward to the singles tomorrow but we are not going to take it lightly. We value this event and we want to finish it off.

Q. Any rhyme or reason why you guys did so well in alternate-shot?
PHIL MICKELSON: I really don't know. I don't know why that is. We really played well together in the foursomes. I think Captain Nicklaus had something to do with that. I think going into the foursomes, we knew who we were going to play with. We were able to play practice rounds together and we were able to decide what holes we were going to tee off and work accordingly. But still, so did they.

Q. Did he miss it on purpose?
PHIL MICKELSON: I certainly chided him a little bit and said, I know you want me to play that shot, but I said, look, let's get this putt in. I don't know if he's trying to lose the tag of Aquaman or what. I don't think that's going to do it. I think it's still going to stick.

Q. You have so many young players, can you say anything about K.J. Choi?
PHIL MICKELSON: He's an incredible player and one of the most steady players in the game. He doesn't have any weaknesses and he's a great iron player. I still remember the shot he hit on No. 11 at Augusta.

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