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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2014

Rory McIlroy

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

MIKE WOODCOCK: Rory, you've shown a second success of 6-under par, 66. That gives you a four-shot lead after the second round. You must be very pleased with your form so far this week.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. Going out today I'm watching some of the coverage earlier this morning. I saw that it was a little trickier today with the wind being up. It seemed like the guys out earlier were struggling to make many birdies and try to push their way up the leaderboard. Starting off I was just trying to keep it steady and solid, and knew that I would have some chances on the par 5s and some of the holes that were playing downwind. So even though I started a little shaky with that bogey on the first, I was still pretty confident. I had some chances coming up. It was nice to be able to take them.

Q. Were you worried a bit your lead getting a bit small after what happened at Aberdeen? What was the key to your round?
RORY McILROY: I saw Dustin behind me hit it about ten yards past me. I said yesterday in hindsight I should have hit driver off 17. And today I went with that play and it worked out well for me. Set up a nice birdie there. I set myself a target in the middle of the back nine to get 12-under it par, and I was able to do that. And some of that was down to how I drove it.

Q. Can you explain what happens to you when you get into this mood, because you've obviously done it a few other times at majors. You seem to just put the pedal down and keep going.
RORY McILROY: I don't know if I can describe it. It's just I feel quite, just like I have an inner peace on the golf course. I just have -- I don't know, just feel very comfortable. I'm very comfortable in this position. I'm very comfortable doing what I'm doing right now. It's hard to describe. I wish I could get into it more often. If I'm able to do it a few times a year, that's nice. I think it's a combination of confidence. It's just being mentally strong, mentally aware of everything. But I think it all comes down to if you're confident with your game and you're in control of your ball out there, it makes things a lot easier.

Q. Do you know how to do it?
RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. Can you describe how much fun it is, though, to be in this kind of a groove with back-to-back 66s, and doing it in this championship with this kind of a lead?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it is. As I said yesterday you try and enjoy every minute of it, even if sometimes it feels like a bit of a grind and you're working extremely hard to keep it together or try and make some more birdies or whatever it is. But the atmosphere out there is incredible. To be able to play in front of crowds like that is -- you have to enjoy it, really. It makes it easier when you are shooting 66s and you are in the lead. Yeah, I've been in this position before in major championships. I haven't been in this position in The Open Championship. I'm just really looking forward to the weekend and hopefully continuing the strong play that you've seen so far.

Q. You've seen your second rounds recently described as freaky Fridays, how would you describe today?
RORY McILROY: It was just another solid round of golf. I didn't have that in my head at all. Going out there, I just wanted to play another solid round of golf, stick to my game plan, stick to doing what I do well, which is take advantage of the par 5s, maybe take advantage of some of the other holes that are downwind. That's all I was thinking about. And I went out there and executed the game plan the way I wanted to. So just another really solid round of golf. And I'll need two more of those again.

Q. How would you describe your play compared to the first couple of rounds at Congressional? And how would you compare where you are in your life, your career, to that point?
RORY McILROY: Two majors does it good, which is nice. It's hard to compare two completely different courses and different conditions. But I feel, as I was just saying previously, I feel the same feelings. And maybe not in the way I'm swinging or in my golf, but just in my mind, mentally. So that's a great thing.

Q. You said that the freaky Friday thing wasn't on your mind or your playing today. It was on everybody else's. Could you explain how much of a relief is it to overcome it, people can't talk about it? And also, can you just describe when you're in the middle of a round like yours today, and a pheasant walks across the green totally regardless of you?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, in a way, you know, it's nice to go out and shoot a good one today, so I don't have to be asked about it again until I might shoot a good score at Akron, and then people are asking me on Thursday afternoon. It's understandable. People ask you. My second rounds this year have been terrible. And there isn't really any explanation. But hopefully I put it to bed today. And the pheasant on the 8th hole, yeah, I haven't run into that before on the golf course. I might have had a swan or duck or geese or something, but never a pheasant. But it was nice. It didn't put me off. I was able to regrip and hole the putt for birdie, so it was fine.

Q. Just curious if you look back on your round, at what point you started feeling this inner peace that you talked about?
RORY McILROY: Probably when I rolled the putt in for birdie on the 6th hole. I birdied 5 to get back to even par. And then I birdied to get to 6 to get under par for the day, and I thought, this feels good.

Q. Seems like you were going for the throat from there on in?
RORY McILROY: I was, yeah. Once I improved on my score from yesterday in terms of I was 6. Once I got to 7, I felt like, okay, this time I feel good. I can get to 8. I can get to 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the effect on your psyche that your driver has on you? Does everything kind of roll off your back, so to speak, when it's going well? And how many did you hit today?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've been talking about it all year, driving is the foundation to any golf game. If my driving is there, then everything else sort of feeds off that in a way. And how many drivers did I hit today? I hit six drivers today. So maybe a couple more than yesterday.

Q. Just another follow-up question on being in the zone and the inner peace that you feel: I'd be very curious to know before you play each round do you have exercises, mental things that you might go through, visualization before you leave the house even or do you just take it as you feel it and just rock up to the range?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I just take it as I feel it. I've got a couple little words, trigger words that I'm using this week, that I sort of keep telling myself in my head when I'm on my way around the golf course, when I'm just about to hit it, go into a shot. But that's really it. That's as complex as it gets in my head.

Q. I think the forecast for tomorrow is shades of horrendous depending. When you look at that, how do you feel about that? And seems you're more confident in those conditions than you might have been three or four years ago?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think that is fair. Yeah, I've seen so many different forecasts about just a lot of rain and not much wind, a bit of rain and a lot of wind. Seems like it could be doing anything. But we were saying that last night as well. And I feel like I'm ready for whatever conditions come because I've practiced the last few weeks in links-type conditions. I've practiced the shots that I might need in windy conditions or wet conditions or whatever it is. And in a way having that four-shot lead isn't a bad thing, because it makes it tougher for the guys to catch you. Whatever the weather is tomorrow I won't mind and just try and play another solid round of golf.

Q. You've been in this position in the United States, we know. But this is home, four-shot lead tomorrow is going to create a heap of interest. How do you manage that? And when does the idea of what you might win begin to encroach on how you play the game?
RORY McILROY: I think it's fantastic to be able to be in this position in front of the home fans, if you will. I felt a lot of great support out there today. Hopefully get the same for the next couple of days, as well. And, again, I'm just really trying to stick to my game plan and stick to -- keep telling myself these couple of words that I keep reciting in my head. And that's really it. Whether I'm one shot in the lead or ten shots in the lead or whatever it is, I'll just keep trying to do the same thing. But there's still a lot of golf to play. But it's a huge tournament. It's The Open Championship and one that I'd dearly love to win. I'm trying not to let myself think about that. It's only two rounds. There's still two rounds left. But I'm in a great position and we'll just see how the next couple of days unfold.

Q. Does the serenity that you speak of feel any deeper, richer, because of how hard it was for you to find it for a while? Or when you're in that place, does it feel like all the struggles that preceded it fall away and never happened?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think it's more that. It's more you just get into -- people call it the zone, people call it whatever, it's just a state of mind where you think clearly. Everything seems to be on the right track. I've always said, whenever you play this well, you always wonder how you've played so badly before. And whenever you've play so badly, you always wonder how you play so well. Golf is a very fickle game. I'm happy where my game is at the minute, and hopefully I can just keep up the solid play for another couple of days.

Q. What are the two words?
RORY McILROY: I'll tell you on Sunday, hopefully.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Thank you for joining us in the interview room.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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