What they said: Phil Mickelson

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Accenture Match Play Championship transcript archive

Q. Phil, hard-fought match out there. You got down early but then made a great comeback. I think that up-and-down at No. 6 had to give you some confidence.

PHIL MICKELSON: I felt like I hit the ball better today, even though coming down the stretch I hit a couple of squirrelly ones that kind of cost me. I thought we played a good match. We were both under par for quite a while there. I had played 15, 16 holes without a bogey, and then 17 kind of grabbed me. I don't know what to say because I hit it better today than I did the first two matches, but I didn't get the ball in the hole as well.

Q. Just crazy how match play works some days, isn't it?

PHIL MICKELSON: It is. Stewart is playing very well. He was hitting a lot of solid shots and early in the round, made a lot of putts, and that's what you need. He missed a couple there on the back to give me a chance and get back in it but I wasn't able to close it out.

Q. What happened on 17?

PHIL MICKELSON: You know, I originally saw that putt going left, and then I thought it might go right, and I just hit it tentatively. I didn't hit it aggressively and pulled it, I guess. That was for bogey; I shouldn't have been putting for bogey.

You know, I thought I hit the ball pretty well. I had a tough time getting the ball close today, and then the last few holes I hit a couple of squirrelly ones. On 15 I drove it in the bushes and on 17 I hit that poor iron shots. But I enjoyed the match.

Stewart is playing very well, hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts, the front nine especially, and I think he's going to be tough to beat and certainly was tough for me to beat today.

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