Q. For the first time in 21 years Phil Mickelson back in Maui for this particular tournament. How would you describe the emotions of returning to Kapalua in this Tournament of Champions?
PHIL MICKELSON: It's a beautiful place and every hole has such scenery, and so forth, but it is a hard golf course to walk. I'm hurting. It's vertical. It's hard. It's not easy. And that was the biggest challenge because I was winded going up and down those hills.
But I drove the ball well today. I didn't score very well the first 14 holes. I was sloppy, but I made four good putts the last four holes to finish at 2-under, not do too much damage, and I feel like my game as well as I'm driving the ball, get my iron play sharp, I feel like I've got some low rounds in me.
But unfortunately today wasn't one of them, but it wasn't as far off.
Q. You're in this field after winning the PGA Championship last year. What inspires you at this point of your career to maybe get a return trip back here in 2023?
PHIL MICKELSON: I love the challenge and I had some really good things this last couple of months in the off-season or last few months as I got ready for this upcoming season and I think that I'm going to play some good golf.
So I'm having fun, I'm enjoying the challenge, I'm enjoying playing, competing and I've had a couple of little really mini breakthroughs in my game and I'm hopeful to put it to use and score, that's the ultimately the bottom line, you just got to go shoot a number.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports