THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome the captain of HyFlyers GC, Phil Mickelson. You fired off a 69, 3-under today. You also only had one bogey for the day. Tell us a little bit about your round and your course management.
PHIL MICKELSON: It was a really fun, challenging test. This is a really hard golf course, and conditions were as difficult as I've seen them.
I got off to a rough start, hitting a poor drive on 2 and making bogey, and then I played really well thereafter. Hit a lot of good drives, kept it in play, good lag putting, and really good solid round.
I look at what Patrick Reed did and just amazed because although we've seen low scores here on this course in the past, we haven't really seen them under these conditions. That was an exceptional round that he played.
Q. We are so excited seeing you in this top form heading into Augusta next week. Tell us how much that's influencing your play this week and if you're thinking ahead or just focused on Miami right now?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think the best way to get ready for next week and to think about next week is to really play well here. It's very much of a major championship-style feel test of golf, and staying -- really kind of appreciating that challenge and taking it head on is a great way to prepare for next week, but I'm really having fun this week, and it's fun for me to play well. It's fun for me to have a chance earlier in Hong Kong. It's fun for me to be up on the leaderboard. I'm really enjoying this, and it's fun starting to play really well.
Q. Can you attribute any particular one thing that you've changed in your game since last season that's put you in these leadership positions week after week?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think it's just -- for me, it's changing the way I look at a golf course and the way I attack it and maybe club selection off certain holes. Example, 14, the fairway kind of works to the left. I always try to hit driver down there, but in these conditions, hitting a wedge out of the rough where you can't control it is so much more difficult. I ended up hitting 5-wood in play, was able to get it in the fairway and then I have an 8-iron from the fairway to 25 feet, almost made birdie.
I think that just takes a little bit of stress off the game, and really for me, I'm not going to be able to overpower the course like Bryson does and some of these longer guys, but what I can do is eliminate some of the mistakes that I've made in the past and then that should allow me to compete.
Q. Pretty good solid round today, Phil. Too many fans out there yelling for you, especially like me, 40 plus years old. You mentioned a few weeks ago that one of your goals is to win a LIV event. I don't want to put you in this difficult situation, but if you need to choose between your fourth green jacket after 15 years next week or your first LIV Golf trophy after four years this week --
PHIL MICKELSON: That's an interesting question. I'm not going to really take the bait. I think winning any tournament at this stage would be a really strong achievement, and looking at the field that we play against here on LIV week in and week out, the quality of the players here are so strong that that would be a real accomplishment, but so would a major where you have all the best players, too.
Any win is a huge accomplishment right now.
Q. What would be a shot out there today that you felt like would reflect how you would best play Doral, a shot that maybe you wouldn't have to hit anywhere else on any other course?
PHIL MICKELSON: I think 13, the par-3, the long par-3. The pin is over there tucked left. There's no way to get it there. You can go at it, but the ball won't stop. So it just takes a lot of discipline to hit a good solid shot up the center of the green like I did, 60 feet away, and two-putt for par because we're trying to make birdies. We want to make birdies, but there's a lot of holes out here where you just can't, and I think that takes a little bit more discipline from me to hit an assertive, aggressive shot 60 feet from the hole. That's never been easy for me to do.
But again, I've got to eliminate mistakes. I've got to make the game a little bit easier, and those are some of the things that I'm doing to do that.
Q. I talked a little bit with Grant Horvat, and he's talked about all the ways you've helped his game. Is there anything that you've gleaned from Grant to help your own game?
PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, there's a number of things, but we really play off each other well. Because he drives it so straight, it allows me to take some risks in our matches, which is really fun.
I think what I really is as he introduced me to the YouTube world, it's allowed me to do the things that I enjoy so maybe I don't have to corporate outings, but what I can do is the YouTube events because I really enjoy those.
That's brought a lot of fun to my life. I've really enjoyed that aspect of it. And the fact that we keep winning. (Laughter.)
I'm appreciative of that. We complement each other well. He is the nicest guy. I tend to be a little spicier. So the sugar and spice, we tend to mix well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports