|
In Their Own Words: Phil Mickelson Phil Mickelson is defending champion of the 44th Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Jan. 29-Feb. 2. Following is a transcript of an interview with Mickelson conducted Jan. 22 prior to Mickelson's participation in the Phoenix Open. The transcript begins with a quote from Mickelson on defending his title this week. PHIL MICKELSON: I'm excited about the year I love starting off in Phoenix. I think it's a great place to start off with the weather being as good as it typically is. The facilities to practice and work on our game is very good. And the golf course is in great shape. And given that I've played here in the past and have won here in the past, I really enjoy the golf course and I'm looking forward to starting the year here. Q.: You've had a little bit of time off not playing the first few events. You played the World Cup in December. Really you played golf in the last month competitively. PHIL MICKELSON: I had a nice 3 weeks off after the World Cup. Started about a week ago getting ready for the year. Had Rick Smith come out and spent a little time working on my game. So I'm not really sure where my level of play is right now. This week will be a good barometer, because I know the golf course. I should be able to play it well. If I don't, it means that I'm a little rusty, I've got things to work on. But I think that I'm playing well enough to play okay. I expect to do well. Q.: Phil, can you talk about going into next week at the Hope. I mean, obviously you came off the huge layoff last year going into it. There wasn't much rest. How do you feel going back there? PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I'm looking forward to the Hope, obviously. And it's funny, because it's a tournament early in my career I didn't really enjoy playing that much. But as I started to get out of the celebrity rotation, as I started to use it as a great practice vehicle with those -- with the four courses that we have and having all of those great practice facilities, it turned into a really good opportunity to play well. And last year was the first year that I -- I won there. But I have a whole different attitude for the tournament now, and I feel I can play well there. Q.: You made some equipment changes fairly recently, is that correct? Can you talk about that? PHIL MICKELSON: I did. I made some equipment changes after the TOUR Championship. And I played the three events, the Skins game, Tiger's tournament and the World Cup with a new driver and a new golf ball. So those were the two biggest changes. And another player who did the same thing switching to the same driver and the ball had a pretty good start the last two weeks. So it's -- it seems like the equipment should work out well. Q.: And the driver is? PHIL MICKELSON: It's a 983K. It's -- the new series of drivers are the 983, and I think they have two of them, the K and the E. Q.: And the ball is? PHIL MICKELSON: Is the Pro V1X with 332 dimples. Q.: Phil, you're looking pretty fit as well. Have you been working on your fitness as well? PHIL MICKELSON: I have been working out, yeah. And I have been trying to get physically stronger. And really the reason is that -- well, certainly I -- I'd like to be stronger and there's nothing wrong with that. But for players to take advantage of the new technology, this new X-ball, if I just swing at it regular speed, I don't get much out of it. But when I go after it, I get a ton out of it. So the harder I can hit the ball now, we now have golf balls made for that swing speed. That's what I feel I need to do to get the most out of the new technology. Q.: You're talking about the course out here today. Is it nice to be able to play a round before the tournament starts to get a feel for the course? PHIL MICKELSON: It is. The greens were rolling very well and very similar to the way I expect them to roll the next couple weeks. So you can get kind of dialed in on your speed, also the break and so forth. But the other factor is getting the club selection down, finding out how far each iron is going. Because in the desert here with this dry air, the ball goes a little farther than some other places. Q.: What -- talk about your workouts. Do you work out every day? What kind of regimen? Is it cardio and weights? PHIL MICKELSON: I haven't missed a day. And it's been a lot of core and core speed. So, you know, the physioball, which is that big round fall ball, that does a lot of core strength. And the medicine ball, which is that heavy basketball looking ball, is used to create a lot of core speed. So actually the problem I've been having in my golf swing is I've been getting ahead of it. My core's been rotating a little too fast, and the club's getting stuck behind it. And that's the adjustment I've been having to make in my swing. But I certainly feel like I'm getting more clubhead speed now, too. Q.: What does it entail, Phil, as far as the workout? When you say you work with these balls, is it a sticking around thing, or are you tossing them at all? PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, you toss -- you throw the medicine ball. You're throwing that, and then you're doing a multiple, variety of physioball stuff. Q.: Had you done this before? PHIL MICKELSON: I did. About 15 months ago, the end of last year, I worked out here at Athletes Performance and for a couple months heading into the last part of the year. I felt a difference. I didn't do it much during the year. And this year I've committed to doing it. I've got a wonderful trainer that will be with me that -- that keeps things interesting and is kind of an enticement. He's a second-degree black belt, and we've been working on martial arts. I've enjoyed that, too. After each workout, we spend 20, 30 minutes doing that. Q.: I was going to ask you about that. Is the martial arts thing, what strikes you about it? What appeals to you about it? Is it a mental discipline thing or physical or what? PHIL MICKELSON: I've always been intrigued by it. Q.: Yeah. PHIL MICKELSON: A few years ago, Bill MacAtee who announces for USA Network is a very knowledgeable and Kravmagaw, which is an Israeli self-defense. And he and I, he told me when we did a couple sessions together, he showed me moves. And I've always been interested in it since then. I haven't made the commitment to it time-wise. So having a trainer/expert in martial arts to be able to be all-in-one, not have to go to two different people for that. Q.: Phil, you mentioned the technology. And looking at what Ernie did, is that kind of a -- maybe important of things to come for this season? Do you expect a lot of low scores and a lot of low tournaments, guys making records, that kind of thing? PHIL MICKELSON: To an extent. Course setup will have a lot to do with that. What we're seeing last year in a number of events, like Bay Hill specifically and a few others, they'll make the greens so hard. And there's no place to land a ball short, and there's nothing you can do to -- to score low no matter what you hit in or no matter how well you play. So they're trying to make golf courses where par's a good score. So they're doing it through firming up greens, tightening fairways and letting the rough grow. Certainly the tighter the fairways we have and the more the rough, the less opportunity to hit driver and less opportunities to make birdies. Q.: How much farther are you hitting the new Pro V1? PHIL MICKELSON: It's hard to say significantly. But it's significant. Q.: Phil, with the change of drivers, you rank pretty well in distance, not so well in accuracy. Does the driver address that specifically? Is that the reason you chose that driver or -- PHIL MICKELSON: Last year I didn't drive the ball well, period. I slipped tremendously in distance from the top 5 or 6 to, I think, 25th. And my accuracy actually declined. So the driver does seem to go a lot straighter. But when I'm hitting it now, the distances that this driver and ball can go that are hitting it, I'm hitting a very small target. I have less than a half-degree margin of error in clubhead face alignment at impact. So it's very small. And without that being said, I will have to use a lot of other clubs off the tee. I don't plan on doing that here this week. Q.: In terms of adapting to new equipment like that, there is a general time frame it takes to get comfortable with your equipment when you say I'm really not thinking about it much. PHIL MICKELSON: Really, if you -- if you do it -- if you have the right product, it takes just a few shots. Now, certainly with irons, that's a different story because irons you're trying to hit a specific distance. But with a driver, you're only looking for two things: Distance and accuracy. You're not trying to hit a specific distance. You just want it to go far. So it's easier to move into a new driver than it is an iron or a wedge or what have you, a scoring club. Q.: Talking about new clubs, how's your new putter doing? PHIL MICKELSON: It's hanging in there. It's -- it's ugly, but it works. So I've been sticking with it. It seems to roll very well. So I debuted with it last year, as you know, last two tournaments of the year. But very well with it. And I expect to do the same this year with it, too. Q.: You know, Phil, for someone's who's had the degree of success that you've had, a lot of people think you're changing the club you start with and the club you finish with, and that's a pretty dramatic thing for someone who's had a pretty high level of success. Could you talk about what motivated you to do that? PHIL MICKELSON: Well, it's interesting. I had a conversation at the Buick Challenge with a player/announcer, and he looked at my putter and said, "This is ridiculous. How can you use this?" I said, "It's that mentality that has you in the booth right now. Because it's the inability to be open-minded and try new equipment to play better and to improve that keeps players stagnant. If you're not willing to take a little bit of a risk, the potential upside in gain, you're going to fall back to these young players that are coming up and hitting the ball a mile. You know, some of the swings from the older players, they don't go after it aggressively and they're complaining about golf balls going too far. You need to get stronger and go after it and take advantage of the technology, otherwise you'll be in the booth too." Q.: Ernie's two wins out of the blocks motivate you at all? What's your -- what's that do to you? PHIL MICKELSON: I'm indifferent to it. I look at Ernie now as a -- as a -- somewhat of a partner because we both represent the same product line. We both believe that it's the best out there, and we both believe we need to play it to play our best. So the first thing I did was call the guys at Titleist and congratulate them on his great play. Q.: What are your -- some of your goals for 2003? PHIL MICKELSON: Goals are a little personal, so I don't really want to get into specifics. But last year, last two years, the area that I was trying to work on in my game that I felt I needed to get better to achieve my goals was to get more effective from 130, 140 yards in. And feel like I'm -- that that's a strength now. So what we talked about earlier is driving the ball better. I need to drive it better. I've got the equipment to do it. I've got a great driver. I've got a great ball. I've got to make the swings now. If I do, I've got a product that will put the ball well over 300 yards and get me wedged in. If I can do that and hit the fairway, I'm going to have a lot of birdies and have a great year. I might look at off the tee making a couple of changes, maybe a 2-iron and 3-wood. But I've got to put the ball in the fairway more than I did the last couple of years. I've got to continue to drive it longer than I have when I am hitting the driver. And I think that will allow me to win tournaments and achieve goals that I ultimately have. Q.: How does the new driver perform differently from the 975 that you had? Or does it? PHIL MICKELSON: I -- I can't -- I don't even think to compare them would be fair because the sweet spot on the new driver is so huge. It's as -- it's right at the maximum core. And the spin rate has been knocked down. The launch angle's been sent up. The ball's just taking on a whole different orbit. >From last year, this time exactly, I've got a 2-degree higher launch angle, 8-degree -- 8-mile-an-hour faster ball speed and about a 15- to 20-mile-an-hour overall -- or 15- to 20-yard overall distance difference. Q.: How much on distance? 20 yards? PHIL MICKELSON: 15 to 20, depending on the grid and carry and what have you. But I think to compare them would be ‚ would not be right. Q.: So that's -- but that's the new ball and the new driver? PHIL MICKELSON: And driver combined, exactly. Q.: Okay. All right. If I heard you right, you're swinging hard. PHIL MICKELSON: I'm trying to, yeah. Q.: If that's the fact, does that have any impact on how many events -- I'm thinking if you're swinging harder from day one, toward the end of the year, does it begin to be an issue or might that affect your scheduling? PHIL MICKELSON: Not if I'm fit enough. It shouldn't matter, which is where that fitness thing comes in. Q.: You were hitting it by Tiger in Williams, is that right? PHIL MICKELSON: I drove it poorly when we played. I drove very crooked, so it was hard to say. But I think I can hang with him now, yeah. Q.: Does it feel like you've had much time off? You took that big break last year and a lot this year at the end of the year and a lot at the beginning. Do you feel you're kind of in the mid-season almost? PHIL MICKELSON: I felt I had a pretty good amount of time off. I didn't touch a club for three weeks after the World Cup. I was itching to get back. I know I'm going to have time off in March. So the next seven weeks, I'll play six of them. I look forward to it, too. I look forward to playing again. Typically when I play my best golf is when I'm excited about playing, and that's the start of the year. So hopefully I'll get off to a good start. Q.: Is it hard to travel 6 in 7 weeks? PHIL MICKELSON: A lot of them won't involve travel. I'll be able to drive to The Hope, and the last two tournaments is the San Diego. I have a week off at Nissan, and then I'm still in San Diego for the La Costa World Match Play. So I'll be home for three weeks in a row. And it won't feel like I'm traveling that much. Q.: Now, are you strong -- how much stronger are you? Benching more? Or are you -- do you notice a difference in body change? PHIL MICKELSON: I'll always be -- I will always have fat on me. There's nothing I can do about it, just genetics. As I said earlier, I've got subcutaneous fat. And most people who are ripped have visceral. There's nothing I can do it. It just lies underneath the skin as opposed to underneath the muscle. And as long as I feel better and get stronger, then I can't really worry about, you know, body fat. Q.: So it's not really my fault I'm fat. Is that what you're saying? PHIL MICKELSON: No. No, that's not it. Some people put on weight, but they're still ripped because it's underneath the muscle. I don't have that luxury. Q.: Will this affect your weight? You have a goal weight to weigh in the -- PHIL MICKELSON: No. It's interesting because I haven't lost a pound. I haven't been able to lose a pound, but I've been taking a lot of supplements. Actually, I've been trying to put on a little weight before I take it off. Q.: Why's that? PHIL MICKELSON: Build up more muscle mass. Then it burns more calories, and it'll make it easier to lose fat. Q.: Probably not doing a lot of upper body. I would think not? PHIL MICKELSON: No, decent amount. Especially, the back. But the whole core, which is waste up, yeah. That's the whole area you're trying to work as well as situps. Q.: Core exercises is kind of the in thing now, isn't it? I mean, it seems like. PHIL MICKELSON: It's critical. Yeah, it's critical. And it won't go away. It's not a fad. It's just we're learning biomechanically the down swing is started by the core muscles. And to create speed, that's the area you need to create more strength. So it's not like it's a fad. It's just as our technology has gotten better, we're learning about it quicker. I had heard about it in '94 from a lady around here in Scottsdale and didn't really buy into it. And then as more research has been done, that seems to be where everything is headed. Q.: Core work, does that mean you're doing a lot of ab work? PHIL MICKELSON: Sure. Absolutely. Stabilization. Small muscles. Joints. Q.: Phil, one last quirky question we're asking golfers this week. What's your favorite golf movie and why, if you can think off the top of your head? PHIL MICKELSON: There's no comparison to Caddyshack. Everything else is a couple notches down. I thought that what was really interesting about it was the only scripted part from Bill Murray's scenes was the Dali Lama scene. Everything else was ad libbed. That was pretty amazing. It makes me more enchanted with the movie when I find out how it was made and the talent that was required. Q.: Annika said today that she would like to be invited, sponsor's exemption on the PGA Tour event. If something like that were to happen, what would your take be? PHIL MICKELSON: Well, the PGA Tour has always said it's about having the best players in the world compete. And we have never differentiated male or female. It's just that there are a select few female players that can compete on the PGA Tour. I think it's very possible to compete out here. For some females who have the -- the strength to hit the ball a long ways. I think it'll be a challenge for them though with all the force carries over pins over bunkers, hard greens. I think it'll be very difficult to shoot low scores when you're not coming in with short irons. But I think it's very feasible and something that I think can be very good for the LPGA if they were able to play well and be successful. Q.: Yeah. PHIL MICKELSON: If not, I think it could hinder the LPGA. Q.: And, obviously, certain tracks would help somebody like her better than -- a wide-open 8,000-yard course isn't going to work for her. What courses would she stand the best chance on? Harbour Town? PHIL MICKELSON: That would be a good one, yeah. Harbour Town I would expect her to do well at. And from what I gather, she's been hitting the ball increasingly longer distances too. So I wouldn't be surprised. I wanted to see Laura Davies a few years ago when she was playing well and doing well on the LPGA play out here, because I thought she could have done very well. Q.: Yeah, Phil, maybe this is a coincidence; maybe it's not. But the new equipment, the new commitment to the fitness, does this suggest a heightened level of commitment on your part this year than perhaps in previous years? Or is it just coincidental? PHIL MICKELSON: That's a tough one to answer because I've always felt like I've always had a high level of commitment to playing well. Only this year, I've committed to a couple of areas that I think will have a better overall quality of life as well as performance on the tour. I mean, I want to be -- I want to be fit so that I don't have nagging injuries later in my career. I want to be fit because I want to be -- decrease the aging process. There are a number of reasons, not just to play well. So it's -- that's tough for me to answer. But certainly I feel like I need to improve different areas of my game. One of it might be fitness. One of it might be mental approach. One of it might be course management. One of it might be overall ball striking. There are a lot of areas that I'm committed to this year, but I also have in the past. |