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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 16, 2015

Rory McIlroy

Lake Forest, Illinois

Q. Just start off talking about the course today. You just got done with the pro-am.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, the course is in great shape. I mean, it's much different than how I remember it a couple years ago. First of all, it was soaking wet when we played it, and actually the last couple days -- yeah, it's firm, the rough is up. I don't think we're going to be seeing too many scores near the 59 number this year. I mean, it's still gettable if you can hit it on the fairways. You still have a lot of scoring opportunities.

But greens are rolling really well. Everything is in good shape, so I think the key this week is going to be keep it out of the thick rough, and we should be able to do okay.

Q. How did you spend your off week?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was really nice. I was in Bermuda for six days, so I just completely shut it off, which was nice. I went down there with my girlfriend and a few friends. And then I was in Bahamas the last three days practicing and getting ready down in Albany, did some really good work, had Michael and Steve over for a few days. A bit delayed getting here today, but was great to just get out and play a few holes of the golf course and see how it was playing. I definitely preferred to do that than play it blind tomorrow.

Q. They redid the greens since the last time you were here, even since last summer, and there's a few other little tweaks. Do you think the course will play much different than it did two years ago?
RORY McILROY: I think it will. I mean, the conditions are going to be different, especially with the wind that they're expected to have the next couple days. That'll dry the golf course out even more. But again, I think the guys are so good these days that if they get the ball in the fairway, the greens are so receptive with shorter irons, so there's definitely a score out there. The par-5s are reachable, and there's a few reachable -- a couple reachable par-4s that you can get to. There's opportunities out there, but I don't see there being as low scores this year as there was the last time.

Q. How is the ankle? Are you 100 percent or just still making progress every week?
RORY McILROY: I'd say -- it was my answer for every time I get asked that. It's 100 percent to do what I need to do out here. But it's still making progress. It's still not -- compare the left ankle to the right ankle, it's still not quite there, but it probably won't be for a while. But again, to do what I need to do out here and walk 18 holes a day, hit golf shots, it's totally fine.

Q. Any one area of your game last week you focused on more?
RORY McILROY: I worked a lot on my putting. You look at my ball-striking stats from Boston and then you look at my putting stats, they didn't quite match up. Yeah, I worked a bit on that. My pace was off a little bit. I chatted with Dave Stockton a little bit about that, and he gave me a couple little things to work on. So that's been feeling more and more comfortable every day, so hopefully I see a little bit of progress in that this week, as well.

Q. I know when you come out here, you expect to win all the time, but do you feel like you're ready to win again, you've come off from the layoff and played enough golf that you're ready?
RORY McILROY: I feel like I'm ready. I'm really looking forward to playing two weeks in a row, so hopefully I can have a good week this week and then go to Atlanta. I feel like the last couple of times, I've only played probably the last 11 weeks or whatever it is, so the last three times I've played, it's felt a little bit -- physically not rusty but mentally just trying to get back into the rhythm of playing tournament golf and just having positive thoughts all the time. So that's why it'll be good to play this week and then follow it with straight back-to-back weeks. I'm looking forward to that.

Q. The rankings say you're No. 1, but do you feel like you're No. 1?
RORY McILROY: I feel like I've been flying under the radar a little bit for the last three months just because I've only played a couple of times, and in that time period, Jason has done very, very well, Jordan has kept up his pretty good play, apart from the last couple of weeks, but that's golf, that happens. Rickie had a great week last week. I feel like I'm sort of not being talked about as much, and that's not a bad thing. It's nice to just go about your business. It would be nice to go out at least the first couple of rounds and just go about my business and play hopefully well and get myself on the leaderboard and into contention for the weekend.

I mean, I don't know, it's hard. The ranking is based on a two-year rolling system, and if you look at it over the last two years, yeah, I feel like I've played pretty much the best. I think I have seven wins in that time period. I don't know if anyone has more. If you look at it over a two-year period, but if you look at it over even the last 12 months or the last six months, then obviously no.

Q. When you've taken a break in your golfing career for a week or 10 days, has it invariably helped your game in the next tournament?
RORY McILROY: For the most part, yes. For the most part I've always felt that coming back -- there's a balance to be had between feeling very fresh and then feeling like you're a little bit rusty. You always want to feel fresh, but you want to feel like you've had enough rounds under your belt so you can go out there and you can compete. But as I said, last week was -- it was a bit of both. I had a nice time in Bermuda, and then just a few days of really hard work to be ready for here. Happy with where my game is and I feel fresh and feel pretty ready to go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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