Mickelson: "I don't think we've had massive equipment changes."

Phil Mickelson, speaking as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am defending champion and hot off a T3 in Saudi Arabia, touched on a number of topics Wednesday. Besides confirming he will not take a special exemption to the U.S. Open should he not be exempt, Mickelson answered this question about the USGA/R&A Distance Insights Study.

I’m not sure those who pay him lavishly to say that his equipment has helped him gain distance will be thrilled with Phil after this answer:

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I don't know. I didn't really read anything tangible from the report. I only saw that they were, they didn't want each generation to continue getting longer and longer. I also don't feel that you should punish the athletes for getting better. I don't think that we have had massive equipment changes. We have just had athletes that have been able to take advantage of the equipment more so than in the past.

So no need to get this year’s driver? Got it. That would also mean if the equipment has peaked in offering a boost, there should be no harm in tweaking rules a tad to help restore some sanity, right? No.

And I hate to see that discourage. You look at what Bryson has done getting in the gym, getting after it, lifting weights, and hitting bombs, and now he's -- now you're talking about trying to roll it back because he's made himself a better athlete. So I don't know if I agree with that.

No one else in the world but PGA Tour pros. At least you recognized that…

But I also don't really understand the whole scope of how it affects the game and how it affects agronomy and golf courses and so forth, so I'm not sure I'm the best one to really comment on it. I just know from the small little bubble of the PGA TOUR, I hit a seeing the athletes be punished or discouraged from continuing to work and get better.

Now last I checked, if there is a rollback, golfers will keep everything they can to gain an advantage, including efforts to gain “speed.”