What they said: Phil Mickelson

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May 13, 2012
PGA TOUR staff

MORE INTERVIEWS: THE PLAYERS Championship transcript archive

Q. I heard you tell Jimmy you just didn't shoot the scores that you wanted to this week.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, it was a fun week starting with the induction on Monday. I always look forward to the challenge of this golf course because from a ball-striking point of view, it's very demanding.

I played pretty well this week. I did not score well. I didn't salvage the shots around the greens the way I wanted to. I didn't putt that well. Certainly I didn't putt as well as I had been putting all year and didn't post a number.

When it's all said and done, the only thing that matters in this game and in this tournament is the score, and I didn't post a good enough score. But the game doesn't feel far off; just a little click here or there and hopefully I'll get it turned around.

Q. So it doesn't surprise you that a couple guys shot 65??

PHIL MICKELSON: No, it was out there. The greens were watered. They were much softer. I hit a couple shots that backed up. I hadn't backed up a shot all week. So they were much more receptive. You could get so some of the pins. Wind was quieter and calmer than what it's been, so there's some low scores out there. It doesn't mean it's easy, but there's some low scores if you play well.

Q. Where are you playing between now and Olympic??

PHIL MICKELSON: I'll play the Nelson and I'll play the Memorial.

Q. You played reasonably well last time at Olympic, didn't you??

PHIL MICKELSON: Just so-so. We've played the TOUR Championship there a few times, played okay in the '98 Open. I like the golf course. I think that what's great about Olympic, what's challenging about Olympic is a number of things, one of them is how thick the air is. Ball really gets affected by the wind, by the air. You've got the swirling winds in the trees. You've got small greens and you've got a lot of side-hill lies. I think it's a really good shot maker's -- creative shot maker's golf course because you're not going to have driving-range lies, and you're not going to be hitting straight shots into those greens. You've got to carve and work the ball to hold them on those greens as much pitch as they have.

Q. I saw Amy here all week, and I know you're pretty gratified to see all the support for breast cancer awareness today.

PHIL MICKELSON: It's a cool day, a really cool day, and the 'Pink Out' is really neat. I remember how special it was in '09 with the Colonial and how good it felt to feel that support, and hopefully the 200,000 plus women every year that get diagnosed will feel the support and know that they're being thought of in their fight.

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