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WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Miami, Florida

Q. What's your assessment of the day?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, felt like I played pretty solid actually. Tee-to-green was pretty good. Made a couple of mistakes but apart from that, I felt like ball-striking-wise, it was a good day. Always disappointing to end the way I did. I feel like struggling a little bit in right-to-left winds just trying to hold the ball up. I'm actually overdoing it a little bit, cutting it back a little too much back into the wind. Did it a couple of times last week at the Honda and did it again there on 9. So going to try and work on that. And then my speed wasn't too good on the greens. I was leaving a lot of putts short.

But I guess to be expected. It's the first day competitively with a bit of a new grip for the putting. But I felt like it was pretty good. But yeah, just disappointed about the finish. Just need to get out there tomorrow and try and pick up those shots quickly again and try to start from there.

Q. How aware are you in your mind of the dynamic between the three of you guys, so much attention on the three-ball group?
RORY McILROY: Not a whole lot. I'm really trying to concentrate on myself. I'm trying to battle my own -- I'm not really looking -- I've got a hard enough time thinking about myself at the minute. Just trying to concentrate on that and go from there.

Q. You spoke of the unnecessary errors creeping in, does it feel like it's the similar sort of --
RORY McILROY: 3-putt the eighth hole and double the nine. I said to JP, I thought I was going to get away without making a double at least one round. Yeah, just need to tidy it up a little bit.

For the rest of the round it was pretty tidy. I was giving myself plenty of chances hitting a few fairways and a lot of greens. Probably took a couple of my opportunities, but not a whole lot. The good stuff's in there. It's just a matter of not hitting shots like the one I hit on 9.

Q. Why are those errors creeping in?
RORY McILROY: I'm trying to hit the right shot. The wind is into off the right, I'm trying to sort of hit like a cut 6-iron back into the wind to get it to sort of stop pin-high. I just over did it. Maybe leaned on it a little bit too much. Maybe being a little bit overly aggressive after making -- just making a par on the eighth hole.

So it's all these little things. It's tiny margins and when you're playing well and you're sharp and you're really on your game, you don't make those mistakes, right now, I'm struggling with that part of the game. I just need to tidy it up.

Q. You changed your putting to left-hand-low, how did it feel in competition?
RORY McILROY: It felt good. I've putted enough with it, obviously over the last few days, but in the past, as well, that it does feel pretty comfortable. I guess it's a little -- because the right hand is really not there, with the longer putts, I do feel like I have to hit them harder. I don't know if that's a combination of me thinking the greens are a little bit faster than what we are and just having to adjust for that a little bit. So that's why you see me leave a lot of putts short out there.

I feel like the greens this week are definitely not quite as fast as they were last week at Honda or at Riviera. Need to adjust for that tomorrow, but overall, felt like it was -- it felt good.

Q. Is the golf course different from last year?
RORY McILROY: The golf course is much more receptive. It's softer, the fairways are softer, the greens are softer. You can fire at pins and know that it's going to stop pretty much where the ball lands. I think that's why you're seeing a few lower scores out there today.

Q. Nobody in the group, it seemed like it was a bit of a grind there, just inconsistency. A lot of times you see players feed off each other when they are playing well. Similarly, is it hard to get things going when nobody in the group is particularly sharp?
RORY McILROY: I think Jordan and I were both 3-under through eight holes, so we're -- that's a pretty good start.

It's the sort of golf course that it is a bit of a grind at times. It's not like you're having looks at birdie every hole. It's a bit of a grind, and you know that anything in the 60s is a pretty good score. It's only the first day, as well. You don't want to be overly aggressive, especially on this golf course.

Might have looked like a bit of a grind out there, but I feel if I had not of done what I did the last there, I would have been coming off the golf course pretty happy, and even Jordan though he bogeyed the last is pretty happy, as well.

Q. How would you describe the atmosphere out there? You've got the top three players in the world, and to us it felt a little flat.
RORY McILROY: I think the front nine, the atmosphere was better. I think the first few holes it was good. Then the sun went in, so the people went away, basically. I think that's what really happened. (Laughter).

Q. The changes to the golf course, did you play it any different this year because of some of the changes?
RORY McILROY: Slightly. I played the 7th hole slightly differently just hitting 3-wood off that tee instead of driver. But apart from that, no, it was sort of the same thing. I didn't play the front nine and it seemed like most of the changes to the golf course were on the front nine. But 7 looked different. You could tell that they had changed something there. But for everything else, it played very similarly.

Q. Just to confirm, was that your putter that you sort of jokingly went to throw in the water --
RORY McILROY: It was the only club I had in my hand, so yeah, if I had had another one -- after the 3-putt, yeah. One club in the water here is enough I think. (Laughter).

Q. Do you go to the range now?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think I will. I think I'll go to the range and hit a few putts and maybe work on a couple things.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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