Q&A With Phil Mickelson

Then there was the time Saturday at the 13th when you attempted to wedge to the green from down below, only to have the ball roll back to you three times before you took a 9.
It happens to everybody. When I see that on TV again, I laugh. What can you do?

You played the first two rounds with Tiger Woods. Did you have any idea how much his left knee was bothering him?
Not really, not at first, but I wasn't really paying attention to his game. I knew he was coming off the surgery he had after the Masters. I didn't really realize what was going on, and I imagine what he went through the last two days -- the last three, with the playoff -- was obviously a lot worse than what he had to deal with Thursday and Friday.

Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were not bosom buddies when they were in their prime. Is this notion that you and Tiger are cool to each other fiction?
What's interesting to me is that there are so many articles in the media about how we don't get along. As far as I'm concerned, we get along fine, especially when we're together, which really isn't that often except at team events like the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Jack and Arnold were very influential on tour policy as players. Do you see yourself and Tiger in similar roles?
I think the tour talks to Tiger. That's a critical element, and he should be consulted. But if people assume that, before anything goes down, the tour talks to me about my opinion, that's not correct. On the other hand, I believe no one player should have input on the operations of the tour.

No player?
No player. Why? Because you're dealing with 200 individuals who are unable to take their personal bias out of the decision-making process. Whenever anything comes up, the first question guys ask is, "How does this affect me? If it's good for me, I like it. If it's not good for me, I don't like it." So you have 200 individuals not thinking about what's in the best interest of the tour. The commissioner should be concerned with the big picture and make decisions without any input from the players. That would make the tour the best-run organization possible, but that's not the way it works now.

Then how should it work?
For example, the tour should have 20 events where the top guys have to play. Whatever number you want to use. Say, the top 125. As it is now, sponsors are upset because they don't know who will be in the field, and therefore they don't know what they're buying. Same with television, where the ratings are flat or falling off. Fans would love it, too, to have 20 events a year with the top guys mandated to play. Those 20 events would be the four majors, the Players Championship, the World Golf Championship events and 12 others. Problem is, 200 players don't want that to happen. The top 100 don't want to be told where and when to play, and the bottom 100 can't afford to lose the leverage for those remaining 20-plus, or however many, events.

How so?
For the 20 events with the top guys guaranteed, sponsors and television would have to pay a premium. That would create a huge discrepancy in purses between those 20 events and the others without the guaranteed top guys. Now, in this economy especially, we've been encouraged to play more often in tournaments that we haven't usually played, and we're going to be scrutinized about it. But with 40-some events now, that just isn't as realistic as it was when there were 27 or 28 events. Our biggest problem on the tour is that we don't own our top revenue-producing events: the four majors and the Ryder Cup. I believe that should change.

Go on.
If the commissioner were in a position to control when and where players played, as I believe he should be, and if he were able to sell that, he would be able to go to the four majors and the Ryder Cup and say, "If you want our guys to continue to play in your event, you have to pay the tour a certain fee." After all, the players are the product, right? Then you take that new revenue stream and subsidize the 20 or so events where the top guys are not guaranteed to play. Then, the gap between the events is narrowed.

That's some different thinking.
Maybe, but I've talked with a lot of CEOs about this, and also TV executives. I worked on this idea for two years and presented it to Tim Finchem [PGA Tour commissioner]. It was not some fly-by-night idea of mine, but it has been totally disregarded.

You went on national TV after winning the Deutsche Bank in 2007, saying you had "issues" with Finchem about the playoffs. You virtually announced that you would not play the next playoff event -- the BMW in Chicago -- even though you had an outing there two days before the tournament. And you skipped the BMW.
I had to say that because I had been represented to the CEOs of those companies, the sponsors of the four playoff events, as having signed on to play all four. When, in fact, Tiger, Ernie [Els] and I had said from the start that we wanted only three playoff events. That was disregarded, too, and we wound up with four. I talked with some of those CEOs, and I know what they were told about our commitment, that we were on board for all four. The reason I said what I said in Boston was to let the public and those CEOs know that I did not give my word that I would play all four playoff events and then just not show up. I was misrepresented.

When you confronted Finchem with that, what did he say?
It was denied. He said he did not tell the CEOs that I had agreed to play all four. I know what was said in meetings to them by the tour, and it wasn't what was said to me. So I said what I said that day in Boston for the sake of my credibility.

Despite what you said about you and Tiger, doesn't part of you believe that you two guys drive the bus?
Oh, I don't know about that. It might be partly the case today, but that doesn't mean it will be the case tomorrow. And I don't know how many days or months or years tomorrow is. But other people will come along. You mentioned Jack and Arnold. I remember when I first came out on tour, it was Greg Norman and Nick Price. We forget how big Norman was. What a presence he was. I remember one of my first tournaments, Greg threw an orange peel down on the ground and some fan ran over and grabbed it. This is Greg Norman's orange peel! It was amazing how people responded to him. There will always be somebody else, is what I'm saying.

During the winter, Steve Williams, Tiger's caddie, was at an outing near his home in New Zealand and called you a slang term for a male body part, and he added that he neither respects you nor feels respect from you. Where does that stand?
It's over, as far as I'm concerned. Tiger called me after it happened, and we talked. So did Steve. Tiger handled it. Everybody handles things differently. I would handle it my own way, but I can't expect everybody to handle things the way I would.

Are you saying you don't approve of Tiger saying he was disappointed in Williams' remark?
No, I'm not saying that at all. The way Tiger handled it was fine. I have no problem with it.

Besides Williams' characterization of you, what about this matter of mutual respect?
I try to respect everybody out here: Players, caddies, fans, media.

Your response to Williams' remark was that it just made you happy you had a "class act" like Jim (Bones) Mackay on your bag. What would your reaction have been had Bones said something derogatory about another golfer?
My answer would be that Bones, because he's a class act, would not talk like that about another golfer.

You and Bones have been together forever. Why is he so important to you?
He's the best. He's never late; he's a great person; he's smart with money; he's a terrific father and husband. On the course, he's got tremendous insight and ability to read greens. He's also better than me at selecting clubs. If we have a difference of opinion, I'll always go with my gut instinct, because I can live with my own mistake. I can't accept somebody else making a mistake and me going with it against my instinct. That said, when I go with my instinct instead of his, he's right eight out of 10 times. But usually in the clutch, we wind up on the same page.