|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BY COCA-COLASeptember 13, 2014Rory McIlroyATLANTA, GEORGIA JOHN BUSH: We'll get started. We'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy into the interview room, our co‑leader after 3‑under par 67, spurred on by that eagle on No. 15. If we could get some comments on your day as a whole. RORY McILROY: Yeah. I guess when you look at the score, 67 is a good score in the circumstances, but it really wasn't much to look at out there. Yeah, I haven't played my best golf by any stretch this week, but I'm just sort of grinding out scores and trying to keep myself at the top of the leaderboard. Being tied for the lead going into the last day tomorrow with the way I've played this week, I can't really ask for any more. Q. Rory, why does a 21‑foot birdie putt somehow look easier than a five‑foot par putt? RORY McILROY: I guess for me, this is the first time we've played on Bermuda greens for quite a while, and especially late in the day. You know, the green can really have an effect on the ball, and I guess I didn't really trust the green too much on the second hole, on the tenth hole. And then some of the shorter putts coming in, I really took a closer look at where the grain was going and hit some better putts after that. So I think I just put it down to Bermuda greens and not having played on them for a while. You know, held a good third putt on the tenth hole there to save four putting it for the third time in two weeks. That was nice. Q. You spoke well yesterday, Rory, about playing like you had nothing to lose because of the year you've had, but it would seem like that when you're in this position now, as you were all day today and going into tomorrow, that that would kind of change kind of the outlook because you're so close. How do you balance those two? RORY McILROY: Yeah. Sometimes you do make sense. You know, I'm sort of just looking at it as I'm just trying to win another tournament. I'm just trying to win my tenth PGA TOUR event, I guess it is, and my fourth of the season. But obviously I know what comes along with the FedExCup and cash and all the rest of it. But you know, I just want to win. I just want to‑‑ just want to get myself back in the winner's circle again, even though it hasn't been that long. It's been three events, but I've got a very good opportunity to do it tomorrow, and playing against not just Billy. There's a lot of guys that are in form on that leaderboard, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler. But it's just another chance to win another big tournament, and I really want to take advantage of that. Q. Rory, you talked about not playing your best all week and yet here you are tied for the lead going into the last round. Just wondering if you've noticed that sort of process of not playing your best and still yet being in this position and what that maybe does for you. RORY McILROY: Yeah. It gives me a lot of confidence knowing that even when my golf game isn't feeling 100 percent, I can still tee it up and get it around and grind the score out. That's really‑‑ you know, today could have been a 71 or a 72, but all of a sudden it's a 67 and I'm tied for the lead. So I think that really just comes from experience, and not pushing too hard. I talked before today going out there and I'm not trying to chase Billy at all because it's a golf course that you really can't chase anything. It's a golf course you gotta stay patient, try and hit fairways, hit greens, take your chances when they present themselves. But, you know, I was really pleased with that. I'm really pleased, even the last few weeks, I definitely haven't played the sort of golf that I've played over the couple of months there in the summer, but I'm still able to get myself up to the top of the leaderboard and you can only take confidence from that. Q. At what point do you feel like that maybe changed for you, because you've talked about going back a year ago you probably wouldn't have been able to do that. RORY McILROY: Yeah. I've been able to do it in spurts over the past couple of years, but I think, as you get older and you mature a little bit more, you learn to stay more patient and not press as much. I guess I've sort of learned how to do that a little bit, and it seems like when you are playing well and you do have that little bit of momentum on your side, even if you're not playing well you still sort of find a way to hole the putts when you need to and grind out scores, as I've done this week. Q. Rory, just following on from that, two quick questions, will it be Valhalla you'll draw on most tomorrow because it feels like you won there in kind of similar circumstances? RORY McILROY: Yeah. In a way I definitely‑‑ I didn't feel like I played my best at Valhalla, but was able to come out on top again. Yeah. I think it's probably the week that I‑‑ or the performance that I can draw on the most. But all these experiences over the past couple of months of being in contention and being able to win, those will all stand me in good stead tomorrow. Q. You and Billy obviously got off on the wrong foot years ago, but you're having fun out there on the golf course and he's got momentum with the way he's played the last few weeks? RORY McILROY: Yeah, he has. He's been‑‑ you know, I'm sure Tom Watson is kicking himself at the minute with some of the‑‑ but anyways, he's playing great. That's another story. You know, he's playing really well. You know, had a great chance to win Boston, got the job done in Denver and now he's got another chance here this week, and that's the great thing about the PLAYOFFS. You just need to get yourself in and you can have a great stretch of golf and compete tomorrow for ten‑‑ well, 11.4 million dollars. You think about the first prize here as well. But yeah, he's a tough competitor. He's gritty. He made a couple of good up‑and‑downs there on the back nine, but it's not just Billy. It's Jim Furyk who's played great all year. There's a few guys at 6‑under par, even 5‑under, maybe even going back to 4‑under par. I think Adam is at 4‑under. Anyone within five shots of the lead can still have a good chance this week. Q. It would seem that as the top players progress in their career, they think less about the money, the prize money. Obviously it helps them with their success. Can you recall when you did think about it, like when it mattered, if you ever thought about how much a made putt meant in terms of the money and when you maybe moved past that point? RORY McILROY: Yeah. I'm not sure I ever‑‑ I ever thought about it that way, about if I had have held that putt, it would have meant another 70 grand. I don't know. I mean it's always nice‑‑ you know, like you go into your‑‑ you know, you draw some money out of the ATM and you've won the week before and you check your balance and it's nice, yeah. (Laughs). But I mean, I don't think I've ever thought about money on the golf course. I don't think that's ever really‑‑ I can't say I ever have thought about money on the golf course. Q. How important do you think that is to your success, because obviously there are guys that probably do, ones that are struggling, you know, what it means for keeping their card or even, you know, if they're hurting financially knowing they need the money? RORY McILROY: Yeah. I guess it has. I mean, money's never been the biggest deal to me at all. You know, it's never‑‑ and even my closest friends and family will tell you that. I mean I really don't‑‑ I mean it's nice to have it, and you can do a lot with it and you can help a lot of people with it, but it's never been one of my main focuses or priorities about becoming a professional golfer. I mean, I remember a couple of weeks after I turned pro, I did well at the Dunhill Links, and I checked my bank balance the next week and I was like (indicating). I mean I'm 18 years old, and just‑‑ most of my friends are just going into their first week at university. I checked my bank balance, it was‑‑ I don't know, I did well. It might have been like 180,000 pounds in there. I was like oh my goodness. It's crazy to think about now. But yeah, you know, I guess growing up and knowing the sacrifices my parents made, I sort of knew the value of money a little bit, and you know, these ridiculous sums that we play for, no matter what happens I'm going to be okay, my family, and hopefully if I have kids one day, they're going to be okay as well, so it's not like‑‑ I don't really have to worry about it too much. The money is obviously nice, but no one at the end of your career remembers how much money you've won. They just remember the titles that you've won. Q. We understand the way that the FedExCup is set up. The winner isn't necessarily the best player of the season, but is it sort of poetic justice if that does happen? RORY McILROY: In my mind it would be yes. But you know, that's what the FedExCup PLAYOFFS are all about. They're about creating excitement at the end of the season after the major championships are over. In a way, I mean I just really‑‑ I feel like I've had my best year today and I feel like I've had the best year out of anyone on TOUR and I've came here with the ultimate goal of trying to cap it off and trying to put an exclamation point on it or the icing on the cake or whatever you want to call it. Would it be poetic justice? I mean, it would be a little‑‑ I'd feel really good about it just because of what happened in 2012, feeling as if I was a little bit hard done by. But at the same time, you have to accept that this is what the FedExCup PLAYOFFS are, this is what they're all about, about creating excitement, giving guys like Billy Horschel a chance to win that jackpot at the end of the year. But yeah, it would definitely make up for a couple of years ago. Q. What club on 15? And secondly, could you explain how you hit that shot behind the 18th green? RORY McILROY: 5‑iron on 15 from 209 up the hill. And I'm taking it, you mean the chip shot on 18, not the first shot? Q. Yeah. RORY McILROY: I didn't draw the best lie, but I guess playing under this Bermuda rough all week, you sort of become confident knowing that you really need to accelerate going through there, and I just picked a spot on the green that I wanted the ball to land and knew it was going to give a little bit of a shoot forward from the hill and was going to land down drain as well and it came out perfectly and rolled down there and took the slope and the break and ended up three feet away. So it was a little bit of imagination involved, but it actually wasn't as difficult as it looked. Q. Following up on Doug's question, Rory, how would you rate your short game today, and what was the shot you were most impressed by? RORY McILROY: Yeah, my short game really saved me today. On a few occasions, a great sand save on 5, a great sand save on the 7th. You know, a good par putt on 11, great save on 13. I think the par putt on 11 was a big momentum putt in the round after just 3‑putting 10 and Billy being in there pretty close and just narrowly missing for birdie. I think being able to hole that par putt on 11 was big and gave me a little bit of momentum going into the next few holes. JOHN BUSH: All right. Rory McIlroy. Thank you, sir. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|