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PGA GRAND SLAM OF GOLF

October 15, 2014

HAMILTON, BERMUDA

JULIUS MASON: Rory McIlroy joining us. I think I would like to say something optimistic to you right now, like nice par on 17.

RORY MCILROY: Thank you. It was actually a very nice par. The rules official thought he saw me ground my club, but ended up that -- I didn't remember it and they didn't have any film of it, so that's why it took me a little bit longer to get in here.

JULIUS MASON: That would have been really ugly if you were in first or second place.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, but thankfully I wasn't. It was a battle for fourth place between myself and Jim so it's all good.

JULIUS MASON: Some thoughts on the day, if you don't mind.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, obviously it was a little trickier today than yesterday. The wind was a little stronger and coming out of a different direction, so that's why the scores weren't quite as good. But, yeah, it's been an enjoyable few days here in Bermuda. It's always nice to, any time you're at the Grand Slam of golf you know you've had a great year and it's just been a pleasure to be here and unfortunately a lot of people are trying to get out tonight or tomorrow, but it's been great while we have been here.

JULIUS MASON: Martin and Bubba don't mind about getting out of here too quickly, do they.

RORY MCILROY: No, Bubba has a flight at five, so he's wanting to get this done.

JULIUS MASON: Questions?

Q. With the wind changing like that, I noticed that when you had an opportunity on the front side, no one was making any putts to catch Martin.
RORY MCILROY: That was, that's probably the part of the game that I find most difficult when we play in the wind is the putting. Because, not only do you have to -- especially on these greens -- you got to read the grain and the slope. You also have to put the wind in there, you have to take the wind into consideration as well. So there are three variables that you have to think about and it makes it very tricky.

Q. As you know, this is the last Grand Slam in Bermuda. Just wondering whether you have any thoughts as to what the players kind of want or think the Grand Slam ought to be. You got a paradise setting here, golf course 6700 yards, would you like to play in front of more people for the four Major champions?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I don't think that's what is the priority here. It's just about celebrating the Major champions of the year and being able to come to Bermuda and being able to play in a setting like this is fantastic. So, I've been here twice and really enjoyed my time both times that I came. Maybe the Grand Slam will come back here in the future, who knows. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it works well the way it is. It is moving to another location next year, and hopefully I'm there again wherever it may be.

JULIUS MASON: Rory, thanks for hanging out with us. Safe travels.

RORY MCILROY: Thank you.

JULIUS MASON: So, Mr. Furyk, can you look at the day and smile at any part of it?

JIM FURYK: Yeah, I did a lot of good things today. The one bad thing I did was score. I hit the ball great, drove the ball in play, hit a lot of great iron shots. I said my wedges were bad yesterday, hit a lot of good ones today, gave myself a lot of opportunities. I putted atrocious. I think we all did as a whole group. We really had a tough day on the greens. Martin was able to sneak a few in. But I gave myself a ton of opportunities and I made four birdies in two days on this golf course. You have it make hay on the front nine and I plate beautifully. I just wasn't able to make any putts and I 3-putted number 8. That's my lone bogey. Then played beautifully for the first six holes on the back nine. Had some great birdie opportunities and some tough wind. Made one real bad swing at 16 and a bad swing on 18 tee. But I look at the day and there's two swings I would like to have back. Other than that, I played a lot better. So, I'm kind of disappointed that I actually played a lot better than 3-over and just scored really bad.

JULIUS MASON: Thank you. Questions?

Q. As you know, this is the last Grand Slam in Bermuda, just wondering whether you have any thoughts as to what players, including yourself, obviously, would like this event to be, would you like to play in front of more people perhaps that might be lured to come out and watch the four Major champions of the year, but you got a paradise setting here, 6700 yard golf course that obviously the players like.
JIM FURYK: As far as I can remember back -- I guess I didn't watch the event 25 years ago -- but as far as I can remember it was in Kauai, it's been in Bermuda, it's always had a beautiful destination. It's always had kind of a quiet quaint feel to it. It's actually nice for the players to -- it's always been a relaxing event, I guess, as well as you get out there for 18 holes, you don't see us kind of grinding it out on the practice tee and working hard on our games like you would at most events. Guys here kind of tend to relax because of the setting and I think that's kind of part of the PGA of America's thinking and the way I always looked at it as it was kind of a reward for winning a huge event. And at the end of the year it's a reward to go to one of these island paradises, enjoy the stay. So, I have no idea where they're headed, I'm sure it's not going to be a shoddy place. They always seem to pick some wonderful venues.

Q. You've had a good solid year and not obviously the year you wanted to have, but you've always been in the hunt, what do you foresee for the way you're preparing for the year to come and beyond?
JIM FURYK: I'm going to do a lot of the same that I've done the past four or five years. I'm going to do a lot of nothing, to be honest with you. Right now, I need to kind of recharge mentally a little bit. My patience level out there, decisions I made on the golf course have a lot to do would the score. A little tired at the end of the year. I'm ready to take some time off. So, I really will take -- most of the next month, I won't have a club in my hand very often. Only when I have to, to be honest with you. Then I'll practice for a week or two before Tiger's event trying to get ready for that and then I'll take another month off, to be honest with you. And then I'll use the month of January to get ready for the start of my season, which will be Pebble Beach there in the first week of February. So, right now, it's more about recharging, getting not physically recharged, but more mentally recharged and excited about getting out there and teeing it up and starting a whole another year over. I think at the end of the year you kind of need to decompress, because, for me, I need to kind of get the fact that 2014's gone, it's done, it was a great year, it was a very good year, I played solid, I was in contention a lot, played well under the heat, but it's over with. So next year's going to start over fresh zero on February 1 and have to do it all over again. So I need some time to decompress, think about that, and think about what I want to improve on and do for next year.

JULIUS MASON: For once Jim Furyk is not your PGA Grand Slam of Golf champion.

JIM FURYK: I'm batting for the cycle now. Two firsts, a second and a third and a fourth.

JULIUS MASON: Thanks for hanging out with us.

JIM FURYK: Thank you.
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