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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDMarch 20, 2015Rory McIlroyORLANDO, FLORIDA Q. (Inaudible). RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. You know, 2-under front-9 was the high point yesterday, hit some good shots. Couple of good up and downs. Just trying to stay as patient as possible and then made a few good putts in the front-9 -- or back-9, which got me going a bit and played the par-5s better today which was a big help. Overall a good day and gets me back into the tournament. Q. Can you talk about that stretch you had? That was five birdies in a row. How did that many birdies in a row, what is that like? RORY MCILROY: It feels pretty easy. You're trying to keep going and, you know, start with a nice one, great wedge shot on the green, up and down on 4, another good wedge shot on 5, up and down on 6. Good putt. You can sort of feel the momentum building, as you said. It would be nice to finish the round off a little better but still a good score and sets me up well for the weekend. Q. You're seeing Bay Hill for the first time this week. How much more comfortable on the course today compared to yesterday's 1st round? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I think each and everyday I'm felling a little more comfortable especially on the greens. I'm starting to learn the greens a little bit more and felt a lot more comfortable on them today than I did yesterday. Obviously we played in the morning so we got the best of the greens and easier to trust the lines you pick for yourself but happy with how I putted today and putt like that over the weekend I'll have a chance. Q. Rory, what a difference a day makes with the flat stick. 25 putts today. You shoot a 6-under 66. Thoughts on how the day went. RORY MCILROY: It was good. I probably wasn't quite as consistent tee to green as I was yesterday but, you know, the putter is a great equalizer and made my fair share today which was nice. Good to see some putts dropping. You know, considering yesterday, you know, nothing really dropped for me. Yeah, good day, you know, felt like I was pretty tidy, short game was good. Could have hit a few better shots but I mean there was a lot of good in there happy going into the weekend. Q. Can you take us through 2 through 5? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I mean it started with a nice birdie on 2. A nice putt there. And then I knew I had a few chances coming up. Good wedge shot on 3. Hit it close there. Made a birdie on the par-5 4th which you really should do, got up and down just short of the green and great wedge shot on 5 and another good up and down on 6 for a birdie. Nice little stretch. Q. Can you just talk about in general being in contention is sort of what you were looking for this week you were saying the other day. RORY MCILROY: Yeah, looking forward to the weekend. Even though Morgan is up there, 13-under, you're in there with a chance and just got to go out and keep playing the way I'm playing, trying to hit fairways and greens. Trying to hit more fairways tomorrow. Didn't do as good a job of that today as I did yesterday, so -- but, yeah, nice to be in the mix and hopefully I can creep towards the top of the leaderboard last couple of days. Q. What did you and Arnie talk about yesterday at dinner? RORY MCILROY: Lot of food. Made me have a banana split. I'll be going to the gym this afternoon. It was fantastic. It really was. We had about two and a half hours. He's telling stories of the old days and talking about a few of the things he's done more from a commercial standpoint, the drink and golf courses and all this sort of stuff, stuff that I could potentially be getting into in the future. He's had -- in 60 years as a professional golfer and commercially obviously he's done very well, and a lot of chat about that and he was very close with his father just like I was. Shared a few stories with that. It was just great to be in his presence and great to be in his company and I had a good time. Q. Talk about Augusta and all that? RORY MCILROY: No, not really. I guess those days Augusta was so much different as well. There's only so much that you can really talk about but, you know, it was a lot more than golf. It was life in general, really. Q. Rory, how much can you attribute to today's round with getting a little familiar with the golf course than previously? RORY MCILROY: I mean I wouldn't say that's the big reason but it is part of the reason why I played well today. You know, each and everyday I played here I get a little more comfortable and, as I said, especially on the greens. I was able to trust the lines a bit better today and felt like I learned a lot about the greens yesterday the way the ball was going and I felt like the ball was taking the grain a lot more than I thought it was. So, definitely helped me on the greens today. Q. (Inaudible). RORY MCILROY: Not particularly. If anything, probably the putt on 2 but I hit a couple of good iron shots before that, I hit it into a couple bunkers on 6 -- 15 and 16 -- yeah, 15 and 17 and I hit two good iron shots into 18 and 1 and 2 so that helped a little bit and then the putt on 2 sort of got things going. Q. Five in a row, talk about five in a row. Have you ever had 6 in a row? RORY MCILROY: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I guess when you're like playing you don't really think about five in a row or six in a row, it just sort of you're getting lower and lower and it was a nice little stretch and I feel like that's part of the course where you can make up some ground and make some birdies so good to get off to a fast start like that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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