Five questions for Phil Mickelson in an excerpt from his press conference on Tuesday in advance of the Masters:
Q. There's been a lot of talk, obviously, because this year you got three guys who have a chance to complete a career slam and three different Majors this year. Rory and Jordan being younger have gotten a lot of the talk, and you've almost been dismissed by some people because of getting older. Do you think this year and the way you have played and winning in Mexico and the quality of your golf every week has sort of changed the discussion for you going into this Major season, especially the U.S. Open too?
A. I think that these first two Majors especially are going to be great opportunities for me because I've not only been playing well but I'm on courses that I'm familiar with and have had some great success in the past. So that leads to managing the game, managing the golf course, managing my game, hopefully effectively, to shoot a low score.
But I also want to go under the radar, would prefer to go under the radar too. It's a lot easier that way. But when I go under the radar, it usually is because of poor play, and that sucks. So there's kind of a give and take. The fact that I've been playing well leads to some excitement on my half, on my part for this week and down the road at Shinnecock.
> Q&A: Tiger Woods
Q. When Jack won in '86, it was considered ‑‑ pick your adjective, I guess, historic, against odds, something that they thought they never would see. Knowing the state of your game right now, would you place a victory here this year in that same kind of framework?
A. No, no. Because the longevity of careers are different. This is another effect that Tiger had on the game of golf as far as being aware of fitness. And more specifically golf fitness now. It has allowed me to elongate my career because of that. And go through it with knock on wood, injury free.
Q. What goes through your head when you think about Jack's victory here in '86 and 46 years old and now the fact that you have a chance to win the Masters at age 47 and break that record?
A. It is hard for me to believe given that I have watched that Masters so many times over the years that I remember watching it when I was in high school and how hard I pulled for him and how much I loved that Masters. And the other participants in that, too, from Norman to Seve to Kite, all these players that had great opportunities there on Sunday, what an exciting Masters that was.
And now to think that I'm this age, the time just flies by, it goes by so quick, I still feel or I can still remember the feelings as a high school player of dreaming of participating in this tournament, dreaming of winning this tournament. And for me to sit here now as a past champion, it really means a lot to me.
Q. I hear you saying that you're appreciative of the benefits of the Tiger Woods era. Fred Couples out there did say maybe without a Tiger Woods, Phil wins 10 or 12 Majors. I wonder if you had to come through a certain frustration or come to terms with a frustration in any of that?
A. It's very possible that that's the case, and it's also possible that he brought out the best in me and forced me to work harder and focus to ultimately achieve the success that I've had. And it's hard to determine, looking back, which one it is.
But I know that I've appreciated the challenge of playing and competing against him, and I also appreciate the level of greatness that he's achieved in his career, and I've also enjoyed the chance to play and compete with him and against him. And it has been tough dealing with as much failure against him as I've had, but I also enjoy the challenge.
Q. When you look at how well your power has maintained through the years and the swing speed you still have, how much of that comes from the sort of golf fitness stuff you alluded to earlier, and how much of that is about the type of swing that you have?
A. I think it's a little bit of both, just like you said, and I think it's also a lot of work too. It's a lot more work than I probably lead on, but to maintain that type of baseline for speed requires a lot of work in the gym, it also requires a lot of work to support the muscles so that ‑‑ around the spine, knee, shoulders so that they don't get hurt.
And so that's why Sean Cochran has had me do a lot of exercises that strengthen the stabilizing muscles of those areas and allowed me to swing faster without worrying about injury or so forth.
So as I've gotten older though, I had to work harder and harder with overload, underload, swinging heavy clubs, swinging light clubs, trying to retrain my speed baseline to maintain where it's at. And I've actually increased a little bit from the last few years. But I'm probably the same as I ‑‑ if I look at the overall distance, swing speed, so forth, I'm probably about the same where I was 10, 15 years ago. But I had declined or regressed for a few years, and I kind of sprung back this year.
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