|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDMarch 22, 2015Rory McIlroyORLANDO, FLORIDA Q.  With Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world. You made a big deal, you wanted to come here and pay homage to the king and play in your first ever Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. How was the experience of the entire week for you? RORY MCILROY: It was great. I had a fantastic week. Never played Bay Hill before and I really liked the golf course. Got to spend sometime with Arnold, which was a real treat and got quite a lot out of this week, actually. Wasn't the way I wanted to finish but gives me what I need going into the next couple of weeks preparing for Augusta. Q. You talk about what you need. Another thing you told me on Wednesday was you wanted to see some progress after missing the cut at Honda and tying for 9th at Doral, never being a factor, how would you measure your progress made this week? RORY MCILROY: I definitely feel like I've taken some strides in the right direction. You know, there's still a few things in my game I need to tidy up and work on. What I was working on last week, you know, I feel like I've made progress in that and I get a couple weeks to work on some more stuff and hopefully be ready for the start of Augusta. Q. Try to win the career Grand Slam. Rory, how would you sort of assess where you are at this point now, three tournaments, I guess not playing again until Augusta? RORY MCILROY: I feel okay. I mean, you know, there was progress made this week considering what I was working on last week after Doral. Couple -- a few areas of the game that I need to tidy up going in there but, you know, saw enough good signs, positive signs to be optimistic in the next couple of weeks and I know what I need to work on and that's -- I guess that wasn't the main goal, obviously the main goal was to come here and try to win. Couldn't do that. At least I got a couple of things out of this week which is good. Q. What do you think needs the most work? RORY MCILROY: Wedge play needs quite a lot of work. Not taking advantage of getting it up close to the green. If I'm getting ready just for Augusta and I'm thinking about it, there is quite a few wedges for me there and going to concentrate a lot on sort of from 120 yards in the next couple of weeks and try to get that as sharp as I possibly can. Q. How do you feel about your concentration, your focus? RORY MCILROY: Good. I concentrated -- mentally probably a little soft for a few holes yesterday, probably for a few holes again today, just more, you know, caught in between swings or caught in between shots instead of just being really decisive and committed to one shot, you know, that's something that -- but I think that all comes with just being more and more comfortable and I feel like I'm getting there. Q. Is that a switch you can turn on when you get into Augusta, that like grinding mental tenacity? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I think it's something that you need. I think Augusta is one of the most mentally challenging weeks of the year. You get off there on Sunday night and you're sort of done. So, it is, it's a tough week and in that regard. But I said, I can just feel I've made good strides with my long game, if I can just tidy the wedge play a little bit around the greens. Hopefully that will be good to go in a couple weeks time. Q. Not going to Houston? RORY MCILROY: No. Q. Kind of surprising number of missed short putts. What do you kind of attribute that to? RORY MCILROY: I don't know. I missed a few sort of 6-footers in the middle of the run today. Just I didn't give it enough break or -- most of the time I feel like I make pretty good strokes so I feel like I start the ball where I want to. It's either just don't give it enough break or under-read it or whatever. Feel like I've been starting the ball on line. Q. Rory, when you won at Valhalla, in the desert and through the Florida swing, the amount of hype or questions, was it above your expectation or not meet your expectations? RORY MCILROY: I think it was sort of right there. I mean I was expecting to get a lot of questions, you know. For the casual golf fan the Masters is the start of the golf season. So, I was expecting it. I mean I feel like I did get a lot of questions about Augusta even at the start of the year but that's -- you know, it's naturally. It's a big deal what I'm trying to achieve over there. Q. Given how you've been playing, do you feel like you should be the favorite? RORY MCILROY: Given how I've been playing. I guess if you go on form then probably no. But it depends how far you take that form back and you got to look at previous results there and all sorts of stuff. I'm not a bookkeeper "laughter". No. I mean there's a lot of guys that are playing well to be up there, but maybe not the favorite. Q. How fine a line is it wanting to be peaking when you get there as opposed to having some things to work on going in? RORY MCILROY: I sort of like that because if I had played really well the last few weeks how do I keep this doing. You know, it's almost like it's nice to be able to try and build yourself up. I don't feel like I'm right there. I feel like I'm just gradually building myself up so it's actually not a bad position to be in. 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
|