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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 4, 2014

Rory McIlroy

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, COLORADO

Q. We are back. Round one of the BMW Championship. You see the name on top of the leaderboard there along with Spieth, Woodland, and DeLaet, No. 1 player in the world, Rory McIlroy. Joining us after a 3-under par 67. What's it like out there playing today?
RORY MCILROY: It's tricky, it really is. The altitude, we have had a couple of days to adjust to that, it's fine. But, these greens have gotten so much firmer over the last 24 hours. I think that's what's giving the guys just a little trouble out there. Because you're having to land shots a good, sort of 10, 15 yards before you intended to.

Q. So, in conditions like this, someone who is not familiar with the golf course, is it a numbers game out there for you or a feel game?
RORY MCILROY: Well, a little bit of both. I think mostly feel. I think we're just going off what sort of yardages of clubs the previous couple of days, and I'm kind of going off that and adding 10 or 15 percent. But, I just tried to play a little bit more off of feel and, it seemed to work pretty good today.

Q. Good news is your not far off the lead. Talk about your thoughts on the day.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I'm a little frustrated coming off the course, because I feel like it should have been better than what I finished. A sloppy bogey or two out there. I felt like I hit a good drive off of 7, and I got into a bit of a tricky spot and made bogey there. And then to make a bogey straight after that, I was a bit frustrated with it. But, you can see by the scores, it's pretty tricky out there and it's -- low scores aren't really that too easy to come by. So a 67 is a really good start, even though it could have been a bit better.

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: The fairways are firm, so it's -- even when you're hitting irons and fairway woods off the tees, they're running out of the fairways and in the rough. And then the rough is so thick. And the greens are firm. The greens have gotten so much firmer over the last 24 hours. It's really made a huge difference.

Q. One of the highlights of your round was the 5th. A side hill lie, making a great recovery there. How difficult was that?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was a brutal lie, and I was just trying to get it somewhere on the green. But when it came out, it came out really well and landed pretty much perfect and ran down there. I was just really making sure I was going to hole the putt, because it was probably the best up-and-down I've had all year.

Q. Obviously, playing at altitude here you were saying you were adding as much as 15 percent when you hit the ball as high as you do. How difficult was it too choose the right clubs?
RORY MCILROY: I think that it's not that difficult if you just go ahead and trust it and not second guess yourself. I would say it's still over 10 percent today, even though with the cooler conditions and a bit of cloud cover. The ball's still going a long way here. You just got to trust that it is going to go that far.

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: It's not that. It's not that quick. It's only like 360 yards. But it's cool.

Q. Just by looking out there, the size of the course, it looks like you ought to be able to pitch and putt your way around, but it doesn't happen.
RORY MCILROY: It doesn't, really. I mean, like I felt like I was going nicely, and even though I bogeyed a couple of holes coming in, that the scoring isn't that good out there. Not that it's not that good, it's just not that low. It's tricky. The greens are firm. It's playing a little bit like a U.S. Open. I wouldn't say it's quite as difficult as that, but it's thick rough, especially around the greens, and firm greens. That's what they need to keep the scoring the way it is.

Q. How well could you visualize that shot on number 5 when you had the side hill?
RORY MCILROY: I was just trying to get it somewhere on the green. It just came out perfectly. It came out exactly the way it needed to come out. I was just trying to get it somewhere on the green. Really trying to take double bogey out of the equation. I was just trying to make a 5 and get out there. It was a bonus to be able to make 4.

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I was getting a little frustrated from 9, especially having to save par on 5, and running a putt by on 6, and then bogey on 7 and 8, I was pretty hot going to the ninth tee.

Q. A lot of guys around par. Do you think that's a surprise, do you feel?
RORY MCILROY: Not really. I knew that with the firm conditions and thick rough. I mean it's, it seems like anything under par is a decent score.

Q. It's early in the week, but your experience in Denver so far?
RORY MCILROY: It's been awesome. It's been really good. The amount of fans that have come out today and hopefully, they can continue to come out over the next few days. But, yeah, it's been great. I really enjoyed it so far and there's still a few days to go, and it's great just to play in front of the crowds like this.

Q. I understand the attraction of Manchester United for you, but what was the thrill, or the -- how nice was it to meet Peyton Manning?
RORY MCILROY: It was cool. Yeah, I met him in the locker room on Tuesday afternoon, and he sort of offered us some tickets for the football game on Sunday night. So, that was really nice of him. So, yeah, it's always a -- to be in this position and to be able to meet other sports people and people that are at the top of their game and profession, it's always a cool thing to do.

Q. Are you into American football?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, big time.

Q. Why? What do you like about our game? Can you enjoy it if you don't have any money on it?
RORY MCILROY: Of course I can enjoy it, yeah. What I enjoy I about it? I mean I'm a huge rugby fan. So, there's obviously similarities with that. Even though you guys play with pads on, which is, you know, I don't understand that. No, it's a great game. It's really, once you start to understand it, and I started to understand it more over the past couple of years, you really get into it and it's such a -- I think the great thing about football is how short the season is. So it's always in demand. People want it. Once the Super Bowl finishes, they can't wait for football season to start up again. I think that's the great thing about it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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