New Delhi: The pressure is on Phil Mickelson as he starts his competitive year at a tournament in San Diego, specially as in Tiger Woods's absence Mickelson is being portrayed as the man to raise the level of interest in the PGA Tour events.
When asked about the pressure on his shoulders following the exit of Tiger Woods, Mickelson said, "Well, I'm excited to get the year started. I'm excited to start the tournament here in San Diego, and I'm grateful we have a sponsor."
"But before we talk about that and the tournament, there's a few other areas I'd like to discuss before we go into that.
"The first is obviously Tiger. That's a common topic. The game of golf needs him to come back. I mean, it's important for him to come back and be a part of the sport. But right now he's got a lot more important things going on in his life. Amy and I are good friends with both Tiger and Elin, and we care deeply about how this turns out.
"But I'm going to choose not to talk about it publicly any more, and I appreciate your understanding on that."
When asked what is it about the circumstances of what Tiger's going through that the golf stars aren't interested in kind of getting into that and answering questions about it, Mickelson further said: "Well, again, I don't want to talk about it publicly for the reason that we're friends and we have a personal relationship, and I just don't feel -- I feel like it's a violation of our trust and our relationship."
"You know, we've had limited communication with the Woods, and again, I just feel like discussing any of that is just not appropriate."
The golfer tried to quip his association with Tiger saying he has been in touch with Tiger's family though did not not made clear with who in the family.
"Well, my whole career I've been trying to get to No. 1, I just haven't had much success. But this year whether or not Tiger is in the field, I still believe that this is an opportunity for me to compete in majors, to challenge him. I've had some great head-to-head success in the last year or two, and I expect this year with or without him to be one of the best years of my career," he further said.
Torrey Pines Golf Course, La Jolla, California, USA. January 26-27, 2010.
1. 00:00 SOUNDBITE: (English) Phil Mickelson
2. 00:44 SOUNDBITE: (English) Phil Mickelson
3. 01:08 SOUNDBITE: (English) Phil Mickelson
4. 01:29 SOUNDBITE: (English) Phil Mickelson
5. 01:52 SOUNDBITE: (English) Rocco Mediate
6. 03:14 SOUNDBITE: (English) Rocco Mediate
SOURCE: ABC Newsone
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