What they said: Phil Mickelson

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PHIL MICKELSON: I'll take under par today. I'm all right with that.

Q. Walking off the 2nd tee you said to yourself this is a little bit different atmosphere than the Ryder Cup.

MICKELSON: It's a little bit more subdued than last week. This is still a fun week, though. It's fun to get off to a good start. Golf course is playing very tough because the greens weren't holding. We knew that was going to happen. When the greens are young the ball doesn't hold as well.

But it was playing very tough today, and I'll take anything under par.

Q. You had a great front nine out there, but the back nine everything seemed to slow down just a little bit.

MICKELSON: Well, I made some bogeys, unfortunately, but that happens.

Q. How much is the Vardon Trophy important to you?

MICKELSON: It would be cool. Yeah, it would be very cool.

Q. Have you tried to do any math on what it takes? Do you just figure you need to finish ahead of Sergio, or have you looked that deep into it?

MICKELSON: I haven't really looked at it, no. I don't really understand the mathematics of the scoring average, because it's not really your score. You know, it adjusts it -- par -- I don't understand it. Yeah, I don't understand it, so oh, well.

Q. The difference in the greens, so much different than last year. Tell me about the new greens.

MICKELSON: Well, they're rolling great. They're just like TPC. But when they're young they don't have the root system, so the ball kind of skids through the grass, which is why it's not stopping.

Q. Your thoughts on the tale of two nines you had today?

MICKELSON: It's a tough course. I thought I played well on both. I made a few bogeys on the back, but I'm pleased with 2-under. I'll take it.

Q. So you're happy with that score. How tough is it to go from the Ryder Cup and that kind of setting to here, a totally different setting?

MICKELSON: It took a couple days to get over the excitement of Sunday, the excitement of the team celebrating, but we're ready to play. This is the last tournament of the year for me, so I'm trying to -- I'm certainly up for it.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.