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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 17, 2015Rory McIlroyCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome our 2015 Wells Fargo Championship winner, Rory McIlroy. You're the first two-time winner of this event. You moved to 3rd in the FedExCup Standings. You've accomplished a lot of great things at this tournament, birdie records, the most strokes over the competitor. Just kind of talk about this last round and your win here at Wells Fargo. RORY MCILROY: Yeah. Obviously delighted to get the win. You know, the way I played yesterday really set me up to go out there today. I was in control of the golf tournament and I just needed to shoot a solid round and that was going to get me over the line. As you've said, I accomplished a lot of things this week or the last few weeks. After the Masters I think I was might have been outside the Top 100 in the FedExCup ranking, now up to 3. Wanted to make a push and get up there even though there's still a long way to go in that, but it's always nice to see your name up around the top. It's just a great momentum builder. Going into the thick of the season, still got three Majors coming up. Still got a lot of golf -- lot of things to play for, lot of golf to play and I don't feel like my game has ever been in better shape so excited for the next few months. Q. Not the first time you've blown away a field, Rory. When you're on top of your game, what do you feel it is exactly that allows you to dominate so well? RORY MCILROY: I just feel like all aspects of my game are working well whenever I get into -- whenever I win, here by 7 shots, U.S. Open, PGA by 8 shots. If I miss a green I'm able to get it up and down and giving myself plenty of chances for birdies. You know, I'll always go on a stretch in a tournament like I did -- even at -- even at Augusta I shot 31 on the back-9 on Friday and then I shot 32 on the front-9 on Saturday. I get stretches of golf during tournaments where I'm on and I make a lot birdies and then that -- if you can do that, it sort of makes the rest of it a little more -- you can pick and choose where you want to be aggressive. You can play a little bit more conservatively here and there. I got on a great run there yesterday obviously and that was the real -- that's what won me the tournament. Q. It's hard to compare but looking back five years how would you compare this victory to the last time you won here? RORY MCILROY: Sort of boring (laughter) in terms of there wasn't as much excitement on the back-9. I finished with six 3s the last time I won here. Would have been nice to finish with six 3s again but I didn't quite need to. It was more controlled -- I feel like I'm a much more controlled player. As I said, I took command of the tournament yesterday and then I just needed to play a solid round of golf today and I feel like the more times I get in that position where I go out with leads like this -- in Dubai at the start of the year I went with the 3 shot lead. Shot a solid 70. Got the job done here. Shoot 69, get the job done. I've learned how to handle these positions and I'm finishing the job off the way I should, which is very pleasing. Q. Does this remind you of your form last July and August and, if so, what part of your game was reminiscent of that time last year? RORY MCILROY: It does. Last summer I felt very much in control of all aspects of my game. I felt like I was firing -- I was probably playing a little bit better last summer I guess, you know, I felt like everything was really on. I putted well, I was chipping well, everything was on. I still feel there's a couple little areas of my game I can sharpen up on heading into the U.S. Open but it's very close. Q. Rory, how close were you to not coming, and what made the decision to decide to come? RORY MCILROY: It was never on my schedule. I make my schedule at the start of the year. Where it fell, I felt it was going to be very difficult to come and play and I felt like I could have given my best but then maybe the two tournaments after that back in Europe would have suffered a little bit because I might have been tired, might not have played my best. The week after Augusta, as I said, I looked at the FedExCup Rankings. I was outside the Top 100. I said, "I need to play a little bit more. I feel like I'm playing well." So it's been on my mind sort of since then that I wanted to play here and I think I entered -- it was always on my mind I was going to play after that. Sort of mid April, that's when I made the decision to come back here. Q. How difficult is it playing with the lead in the final round when you know that nobody is making a charge at you, keeping that focus and keeping that drive? RORY MCILROY: That's where you have to set your own goals and you have to motivate yourself to reach those and I set myself a goal today of trying to birdie all the par-5s and birdie the two drivable par-4s, the 8th hole and 14th hole. If I made six birdies right there there was a good chance no one was going to catch me. I didn't quite do that but I still shot a solid round and did what I needed to do so -- but, yeah, it's still -- even on this golf course, I was standing on the -- standing on the 16th tee with a 4 shot lead and I still felt like I needed to play well coming in because you never know what can happen. I hit it in the water a couple of times. Patrick Rodgers got it to 17-under. He could have birdied the last couple of holes and got to 19. It can change very quickly. You got to keep focused the whole time. Q. Rory, my question is a little similar but you're up 8 shots with two holes to go. What goes through your mind at that point? Is it hard to maintain your focus and maybe hit a straight shot or two at that stage? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. Whenever I hit my tee shot on 17 I mean I was -- I was going anywhere but left there. I was walking -- I was walking to the green and I saw that I had a big lead. I didn't know I had quite such a big lead on the tee. So it's just a matter of trying to -- I was trying to save par on 17 and trying to play the way I have been playing and play the golf holes well and yeah, I felt like I got complacent before and it's not a good mindset to be in so I'm very aware of not becoming complacent out there. Q. You mentioned Augusta. Would it be fair to say since the start of the final round on Sunday -- it seemed like you went to Augusta you had that expectation with the media of trying to win the Grand Slam. Better golf here? RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I'm not going to lie. There was a lot of expectation going into Augusta, a lot of hype, lot of expectation that I put on myself. It was a great opportunity to do something that very few players in this game have done. I'll go back next year with the same opportunity. But, yeah, since then I guess it was a little bit of a weight lifted off the shoulders and free up and not think about it and just go on and play the rest of the season and play the way I know that I can play and that's why I'm excited about what's coming up with the three Majors still to play and everything else. Q. I know you answered this at the Masters, given the weeks that transpired, how motivated or inspired are you to Jordan and Rickie, what's your thought? RORY MCILROY: It does push me. I think you see guys that you knew well, guys that are your peers and they're winning golf tournaments, big golf tournaments, golf tournaments that you want to win. It does. It motivates you and spurs you on to go and maybe practice a little bit harder or just try and play a little bit better. You know, I said yesterday I feel like as the best player in the world I want to go at it every week and not so much prove it but just show that. Q. I don't know if you saw Rory what Mike Davis said, anyone who turns up at Chambers Bay for only a couple practice rounds will have no chance of winning. How many rounds do you intend to play and when do you intend to arrive and what's your plans after the Irish Open? RORY MCILROY: What's Mike Davis' handicap? Q. I'm not sure. RORY MCILROY: Yeah, exactly (laughter). With the way the Tour is, no one is going to go out there and play ten practice rounds. I'm going to go up a little early. I'm going to play a couple practice rounds the weekend before and then I'll probably play another, you know, 18 holes. So I'll play three practice rounds. At the end of the day there's going to be someone lifting the trophy at the end of the week. It's a bit of an unknown to most people so you have to prepare but I think there's -- I think you can get into -- you can fall into the trap of trying to overprepare and then -- you can do all the preparation you want. If you don't go out there and execute the shots on the week, all that preparation doesn't mean anything. So, I'd much rather have my game in good shape going in there and play practice rounds the way I usually would. I think that will do well for me. Q. Anything left in the tank the next two weeks? RORY MCILROY: I hope so. I'm going to try and get a lot of sleep in between now and teeing it up on Thursday at Wentworth. Hopefully. Q. One of the areas you like to see sharper or felt like were sharper, what are your thoughts on the Open Championship and PGA venue? RORY MCILROY: I like to get a little bit more consistent with my putting. I have days where everything falls like yesterday and days like today I feel like I putt okay but nothing really drops then in that sort of 8 to 12-foot range. Just sharpen up a little bit on that. But then most other areas of my game are, I feel, in a really good place. Q. St. Andrews and played them both. RORY MCILROY: Played in 2010. I played really well. Sort of ruined my chances on the Friday there with an 80. I was only one shot out of the playoff at Whistling Straits. Courses that I have good memories at, St. Andrews I know very, very well, somewhere that I've always played well and a place I really enjoy, and Whistling Straits the same. I didn't like it at the start of the week I remember last time. I told myself just like it for the this week. But at least I know how to play it. I'm going back to a golf course I know and I'm excited for that. Q. If I told you on Wednesday you'd shoot a 21-under this week, how fast would you have me carted off? RORY MCILROY: I mean it's out there. It is out there if you don't make many mistakes. You take advantage of the holes -- realistically with someone -- for someone with my length off the tee, you should be making six birdies out there, the four par-5s and the two drivable par-4s. There's 6 birdies a day. That's 24-under. Then throw in a few mistakes here and there. It is possible. I wasn't thinking that that was going to be the winning score this week. Usually somewhere between 12 and 15-under gets the job done here. If it wasn't for what I did this week that would have been the case again. Q. 250 competitive holes in the last three weeks. Are you surprised at all you've been able to keep your energy level so high? RORY MCILROY: No, because I've been trying to manage it. I've been trying to stay away from the golf course as much as I can, not spend the time I need to there. I went back home after The Players, I played 18 holes on Monday and 9 holes on Tuesday just because a couple of my buddies were in town and they wanted to go play the Bear's Club. Perfect. I'll go play. You play in a cart. It's not like you're taking much out of yourself. It hasn't caught up with me yet. Hopefully it doesn't catch up with me in the next two weeks. As I said, I'm going to try to get a lot of sleep in between now and teeing it up on Thursday and hopefully I'm ready to go. MARK STEVENS: Thank you for your time. Best of luck next week. RORY MCILROY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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