What did you make of Steve Williams’ recent comments about Phil Mickelson?
I was shocked and I was dismayed. I was the one who hired him for Tiger, so I know Steve well. In fact it was ‘Bones’ [Jim McKay, Mickelson’s caddie] who rang and told me what had been reported. I have no idea why he said it. Even if you believe that about someone, you don’t come out and say it. The great thing about our game is that it’s based upon integrity. You just don’t go and say those kind of things. But in any case, I really don’t know why he said it. It makes no sense to me. I’m sure Steve regrets what he said. Tiger won’t have been at all impressed by it at all. I’ll tell you something: Steve won’t have enjoyed the telephone call from Tiger once he found out about it, that’s for sure.
It’s not the first time someone has said unflattering things about Mickelson though. GQ magazine ran a feature on the 10 most hated athletes in the world a while ago – and he came in at number eight…
Let me tell you something else: Phil Mickelson is one of the most liked players on tour. Around the world, he’s maybe as popular as Tiger Woods. He hangs around for an hour after his round signing autographs for the fans while other players just blow everyone off. Phil is a bit different, but we’ve always got on very well. He’s very funny and articulate. He’s a great guy.
Mickelson hired you in order to help sort out his driving. How’s that going?
The goal for Phil is to get his ball in play more often, because he was really wild off the tee. The stats don’t necessarily show that he’s improved – he’s still hitting about 55% of fairways – but the difference now is that’s only missing fairways by a little, which means he can play. He’ll tell you that his driving is as good as it’s ever been. He likes to take the right side of the course out of play, and he’s done a good job at that.
What was the reasoning behind Mickelson not using his driver at last year’s US Open? He went from having two drivers in his bag at the Masters previously to not having one at all.
I wasn’t privy to that [decision] until the Tuesday of the tournament. He and Dave Pelz [Mickelson’s short game coach] decided he needed to carry another wedge, which was the dumbest thing he’s ever done. It wasn’t smart. I mean, he’s one of the best wedge players in the history of the game – why does he need an extra wedge? I have a funny story about that. The week after the tournament I went down to see him in San Diego. We were out on the range and he was warming up with a few wedges. I went over to his bag and took out his driver, wandered over to him and said, ‘Phil, I want you to meet someone.’ Phil asks who and I replied, ‘Your driver. Don’t ever leave home without it.’ [Laughs]. His decision was so wrong because the course was the longest in US Open history and he was playing with Adam Scott and Tiger Woods, two of the longest hitters out there. You could tell he was trying to keep up with them with a 3-wood. That wasn’t going to work.
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