Q. You had guys throw down putts on the final hole at the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship. What was it like to actually this time be in charge of your own fate, being able to deliver that putt?
MICKELSON: I think having, in the past ten years, come so close so many times, to have had putts made on me in the last holes to lose by a shot, to have had good last rounds fall short, to have bad last rounds and fall short, to have it be such a difficult journey to win my first major, makes it that much more special, sweeter, and it just feels awesome.
Q. You won your first event in Augusta at the Forest Hills Collegiate Invitational. How does it feel getting your second win at Augusta?
MICKELSON: Well, something tells me that nobody else looks at it like that. (Laughter.)
But I think that winning this tournament, the reason it's so special, is that now I get to be a part of this great event for the rest of my life. I'll be back here every first week of April, and I will look forward to this tournament every year for the rest of my life.
Q. Can you tell us what you were thinking on 10 and seeing Ernie starting to make a run and you were struggling a bit on the front nine? What was going through your head?
MICKELSON: Well, it was interesting, that front nine, I was 2-over par. I felt like I had hit a lot of good shots that led to bogeys. I bogeyed 3 after I hit a good tee shot and a good wedge in there and it was a little long. I hit a good 7 iron into 5 that was long and it led to a bogey. I hit a good 8 iron onto 6 that came up short and led to a bogey.
After the first hole, I drove it very well and drove it in almost every fairway, and I started having birdie chances on 7 and 8 and 9. I didn't have the greatest start on 10, and knowing that I was trailing and knowing that Ernie was starting to make a move, it was a critical par. I had a decent shot out of there, came up short of the green, chipped up to about 12 feet. On 8, I had that same 12 footer and there was about a foot of break, left to right, downhill swirling, and I hit a great putt on 8 that I thought I made and just missed.
When I made that putt on 10, that gave me the momentum, if you will, to have a good backside.
I'll say one other thing, too. When I was on 12, just before I hit, I heard that Ernie had just made eagle. I heard the roar. I didn't know what had happened, but I figured he had just made eagle. I took a pretty aggressive line at that pin. Nobody goes after that pin, and I took a pretty aggressive line at it, knocked it in there about 12 feet and made the putt. I knew I was three back when I was facing that putt; if I could make that putt on 12, all I'd have to do was birdie 13, and I would be within a shot, with five to go.
And so, when that putt on 12 went in, that's when I started to feel like I could make this happen.
Q. I know emotions are hard to sort through right now, but how much of what you feel is just sheer excitement and how much of it is relief?
MICKELSON: None of it right now is relief. It feels awesome. I'm so excited. I just I have something that I'll remember, I have a memory or an experience that I'll remember the rest of my life.
