Mickelson knows he had chances to avoid playoff

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- In a lot of ways, Sunday was a microcosm of Phil Mickelson's week at the FBR Open. That is to say, it was a bit of a roller coaster.

Phil Mickelson was looking for his third FBR Open victory. (Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

Phil Mickelson at the FBR

Eagles 1 Birdies 20 Pars 44 Bogeys 6 Double Bogeys 1 Driving Accuracy 57.1 Driving Distance 294.9 Putts Per Round 29.5 GIR 69.4

"It was a real up-and-down interesting day," said Mickelson, who had the only round in the 60s among the top three players, a one-bogey 67.

"I had some chances," he continued. "I had made some birdies on the back to make a run, and I had some more chances that slid by the edge."

One of those was a blown chance for birdie on the par-4 14th.

"I hit a good putt and I misread it and I played it just a couple inches of break and it snapped across the hole, and I hit it good with good pace, too," he said. "So it's not like I eased into it and it died off. I just didn't read enough break."

Down the stretch, there were also opportunities on the infamous 16th hole, and on the 18th. Both just missed.

"I thought that I made the putts on 16 and 18, but they just fell on the lip," Mickelson said. "Starting the day I would have gladly taken getting into a playoff.

In the playoff, Mickelson decided to go back to the well that had served him well in regulation.

"I hit a gap wedge in from there," he said. "It's not like I was back there hitting 7-iron. I didn't have a sand wedge. I left the sand wedge out, so I would have had to have hit it far enough to get to an L-wedge number."

He also said he knew Holmes was going to outdrive him, but he didn't have an inkling to take the driver out of the bag.

"I felt comfortable with 3-wood. I hit it well the first time," he said. "I didn't want to let the fact that he is going to have 60 yards in affect how I played the hole. But I did figure that he was going to birdie. I needed to hit a better wedge shot. I yanked it or pulled it, and I felt like if I could get past the first playoff hole I had a better chance on 10 and 17."

Despite the "yank," Mickelson said his putt for birdie felt good, even though it did not produce the desired result.

"I hit it right where I wanted to, and 10 feet out I thought it was going to go right in the middle, and it stopped breaking at the rate that it was, and I missed high. But I thought with eight, 10 feet to go that it was going to go right in the middle."

The week was full of ups and down for Mickelson. On Thursday, he struggled through a 37 on the back nine before blistering the front nine for a 31. In the second round, Mickelson double-bogeyed the par-4 ninth on Friday before closing with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 on Saturday morning to end with 33 on the back. Later Saturday, in the third round, Mickelson started with birdies on two of his first three holes on the front before bogeying both par-3s on the back.

"It played a lot longer," Mickelson said. "A lot of the tee boxes had been moved back, almost every single hole has been over the years. Fortunately, we didn't play the tips the whole week, but the rain softened the fairways, we weren't getting roll there. I think that was probably the biggest reason it played long."

Before calling it a week, Mickelson heaped the praise on his Sunday adversary.

"I've got to give J.B. a lot of credit for birdieing the last hole and birdieing again to get in the playoff. That's pretty impressive golf.

"We expect him to play like he did today or like he did this week, and we expect it to be almost every week because he's got such control over the golf ball. He's got such length, he's great around the greens and putting, and we just expect him to play at that level."

As for those Super Bowl tickets CBS cameras saw him give away on the third tee Sunday, Mickelson said it all came down to someone picking the right accessory to wear to the golf course.

"He was wearing a Callaway hat," Mickelson said of the lucky fan. "I thought that it would be fun to give it to a father-son. I cherish the time I have with each one of my kids and I just thought it would be a cool experience for them. I wasn't going to be able to use them because my family is in town and we're all going to watch it together."

So how were those seats, anyway?

"I think they're decent," he said with a smile.