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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 16, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Orlando, Florida

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy into the Interview Room. He's making his 2nd start at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Finished T-11 here last year. Welcome back to a very special tournament with Mr. Palmer.

RORY MCILROY: It is for sure. I left here last year sort of kicking myself that I hadn't been more often and I hadn't been here enough.

You know, I got a chance to spend sometime with Mr. Palmer last year, had a really nice dinner with him and, you know, I think everyone -- you know it's great to come here and pay homage to one of the, you know, the greats of the game and someone who built this game into what it is today.

He's the first one -- really, you look at us with all our logos on and endorsement contracts and all that sort of stuff and making so much money from this game and Arnold really was the first one to do that.

You know, he's a real icon of the sport and it's great to be here and great to play at his home and, you know, obviously be great to win here one day and no better week to do it than this week.

Q. I wanted to get your impressions on the golf course.
RORY MCILROY: It's incredible. I only got one year to compare it to and last year wasn't a great year to compare it to because the condition of the golf course wasn't so good.

But the place is perfect. It really is. The greens, the fairways, the tee boxes, the rough, you couldn't ask for a golf course to be in better condition or, you know, more well presented.

So, yeah, the greens are firm. Fairways are good. Not really running too much. Greens are a good speed. The rough is pretty penal in places. I think it will be a better test.

I don't think you'll see the scores as low as they have been last year or I mean I know last year I finished 11-under and finished T-11. Something close to that will have a chance this year.

Q. Rory, if Rickie Fowler could start putting together Majors, winning those, does he have a potential to be a Arnold Palmer in terms of charisma, in terms of the fan adulation?
Is winning a Major going to be a requirement in that regard?

RORY MCILROY: I think one of the, I don't want to say criticisms, I've known Rickie since he was 16 years old. He's always been a fantastic player.

One of the things that was said about him was that, you know, the substance didn't match the style in some regard in terms of wins and whatever, but I think he's really changed that now over the past couple of years with -- when I've been on the receiving end a couple times.

Beat me in a playoff at Quail Hollow. First professional win in Korea I finished 2nd to him there. From there he just went on. I think he obviously won The Players last year and Scottish Open and Deutsche Bank and even going into this year and playing so well in Abu Dubai, having a chance in Phoenix. He's become a lot more consistent.

Obviously he's a very well-liked guy. I mean you meet anyone on Tour, whether it's a player or someone that works within the Tour or someone in the media, no one has got a bad word to say about him. He's a really great genuine guy.

He does have the capability to maybe get to that level but, as you said, all these tournaments are great but I think what we judge ourselves on is Major Championships and he's not too far away from that.

I played with him a lot over the last few years to know that his game is right there to win one of those things. When he does, I'm sure he obviously is so well-known already but I think anyone that wins a Major really takes your career to the next level.

Q. So statistically you've always been a really great player off the tee, from tee to green and you've recently switched putting styles.
I was wondering how your ball-striking style kind of relates to this course and how comfortable you feel on these new greens with your new putting style?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah. As I said earlier, I came away from this golf course kicking myself that I hadn't played it more often because I feel like it's a golf course that suits my game.

The par-5s are quite long and I feel with my length I can take advantage of those. Very strong par-3s and the par-4s give you some chances but there's a lot of strong par-4s out there.

I feel like it's a golf course that sets up well for me and with the -- you can't not feel good about your putting on these greens, they're so pure, that get the ball started on line with decent speed you know it's got a great chance of going in. Putting feels good. I'm really excited and happy about the switch.

For first week out at Doral I felt it went pretty well. An extra week to practice with it and get more adjusted to it in terms of speed of putts and lag putting and feel even better about coming into this week.

Overall, golf course really suits my game and game feels in good shape.

Q. Rory, if the logistics could be worked out and it's a big if, would you embrace the top men and top women playing a big tournament in the same week, whether it's alternate days, different courses at the same location, to give golf more of a tennis-type feel where the genders are brought together in one stage?
RORY MCILROY: I just think it's hard. If it's only one golf course, it's tough whether it be alternate today but then having -- I guess have a day in between play is fine because that's what happens in the Grand Slams of tennis.

I think the U.S. Open two years ago worked pretty well where we had Pinehurst back to back. That worked well. It would definitely -- it would help the women get a little bit more exposure and so in a way it would be great for the game in that regard.

But, again, it is logistically. I would be all for it. There's no reason why we shouldn't, you know -- it's worked in tennis and though there are 20 tennis courts at a tournament, whatever, if you could find two golf courses.

Again, it's hard because I don't want to say any disrespect but golf courses on the PGA TOUR and golf courses on the LPGA are set-up slightly differently. It's not just a matter of tee boxes, rough length, green speeds. It's green firmness, it's all that sort of stuff.

So, whether you could just get a location where you had two golf courses and two tournaments were getting played at the same time, but I feel if it were to work something like the U.S. Open model where either the ladies one week and the guys are after or the guys one week and the girls are after, I see no reason why it shouldn't happen.

I think it would be great for exposure of the overall game.

Q. The run that Adam is on right now, his last three tournaments, you've had a couple of those at the end of '12 into 14.
If you were to be honest with yourself, what's going through your mind during that stretch, you're going to play like this forever or how much longer do I have?

RORY MCILROY: I think there's a bit of both in there. Definitely your confidence is so high but at the same time you're thinking I'm playing this well, I have to take advantage of it, I have to play and I have to keep on this run and sort of ride this wave of momentum.

I feel when you are in that position it's almost automatic that you get into contention, you know, you're almost on autopilot that you turn up the tournaments and it's not like you're nonchalant or complacent in anyway but, you know, if you play your game you're going to have a chance come Sunday.

Then it's about being mentally the toughest on the back-9 on Sunday to get the job done. Adam, I played the last round in L.A. with Adam. I played the third round at Doral. He's playing, very very well. He seems very confident with his overall game.

I think this -- I think we should bring the anchor putting back (laughter). I was all for getting rid of it. Now I'm all for keeping it.

He's obviously put a lot of work in with the putter and it's paid off big time so it's great to see. Adam has been one of the best players in the world for a long time and great players are going to get on runs like this and it's just up to us to try and keep Adam -- try to chase him down. He's playing fantastic golf.

Q. On the two runs, I was kind of referring to them both of them included Majors. Speaking for yourself, have you ever worried about peaking too early?
RORY MCILROY: Sometimes. Sometimes. But only for one event because you've got the U.S. Open to the PGA is in a nine, ten week span. I feel like you can keep that run of golf going for that long but I mean you're basically thinking about the Masters for 7, 8 months and I'm sure there's a time in that 7, 8 month period I wish I could go to the Masters now.

There's a little bit of that. But I think that's why you have to pace yourself and have to discover the right schedule for you and the right practice routine to make sure when you get to every event you're ready to play.

But it is all about peaking but, at the same time, I feel like you want your level of consistency at a level where you can compete week-in, week-out even if you don't have your very best stuff.

Q. Rory, when you're preparing for the Masters, when you're thinking about what it would be like to win a Green Jacket, how much of that thought process is compounded by the fact you also win the Career Grand Slam?
How much do you think about that, how much does that enter your mindset?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I don't know -- I really don't know what a bigger achievement is for me of whether it's to win the Masters or to win the Career Grand Slam.

One goes with the other so -- I really feel like I can't think that much about it. Of course it's one of the biggest things that's left on my CV that I haven't been able to achieve and I want to achieve it and I hopefully will one day but, at the same time, as I was alluding to, that there's 7, 8 month between Majors.

There's a lot of time for overthinking it and putting so much emphasis on that when you get there, not that it becomes a bigger deal than what it is because it's a huge deal, but you try so hard and you think about it so much and I think people can get into the bad habit of overpreparing like really thinking about it so much that instead of -- you can prepare all you want, I think I've said this before, if you don't go out on the golf course and execute the shots, doesn't matter what you've done in preparation.

So, I think for me it's just a matter of getting my game as good as I possibly can. This is my 8th time going back to Augusta and the Masters.

I'm pretty familiar with it and it's just a matter of not putting so much emphasis on it and trying to stay patient and get it into my head if -- I would love it to be this year but, if not, I'm going to have plenty more chances but feel like I've been trending in the right direction so, you know, I'm pretty confident going in there.

Q. Make it easier or harder the fact the last one you need to win is the Masters?
RORY MCILROY: I think easier. I'd much rather have -- yeah, easier (laughter). I'm not going to elaborate on that. I'm just glad I've won a U.S. Open. Put it that way (laughter).

Q. Rory I believe you played with Bryson DeChambeau.
RORY MCILROY: Saw him on Sunday at Seminole. He was there playing a round and I was there.

Q. What do you make of what he's doing and did you discuss it with him much, you know, during that round or maybe before or after, you know, just got a unique approach?
RORY MCILROY: You're not talking about staying amateur or turning pro?

Q. No. No.
RORY MCILROY: I know (laughter). Like I said, I'll say it, the guy is much smarter than I am and probably much smarter than most of us in this room. He knows what he's doing.

It's a very unique approach, obviously, but it works for him and. I think guys are so talented that if you really believe in something so strongly, and I think he even said that in the press conference a couple weeks ago at Doral.

The guys are so good out here, if they believe in something so strongly and get confidence with it you can sort of make anything work.

Look at this, a rare example, but Tiger won Majors and was the best player in the world with three completely different swings, completely different swings.

So, if you believe in something so much and you work on it enough -- it's the 10,000 Hour Rule. If you work hard enough on it you can master that. If he believes in it and has confidence in it, good luck to him and go and do it and he's been doing pretty well with it so far.

Q. Rory, what did you take away from the final round at Doral to kind of learn or to build on?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I mean it was a tough one because I mean I go out there, I shoot 71, I win the golf tournament. It's tough.

Doral is a tough place with the wind not to protect the lead but just to play with the lead because there's danger lurking around every corner and, you know, you're conscious of if you're going to make mistakes you're conscious of limiting it to a shot rather than if you hit it in the water or whatever. The only time I did hit it in the water I made par.

So, I just didn't play -- I played the way I thought I needed to play. I just didn't hit close enough. I didn't have a realistic birdie chance inside 25 feet until the 12th hole.

So, I was playing smart and hitting it to 30 feet but you're not going to make birdies, you're not going to gain ground on the field by doing that.

So, I probably could have been a little more aggressive but it was hard. The wind, it was a tough day, tricky, but if I had to have the round over again I probably just would have trusted myself a little bit more and took on a couple more flags and try to give myself some more birdie opportunities because when -- three bogies on a day like that wasn't too bad but to only make one birdie I felt was my downfall and if I had to take it back, I would have played a little bit more aggressively.

I didn't birdie any of the par-5s either and at Doral with a tough course like that you have to take advantage of the par-5s to keep your score going.

Q. One other, you know, another injury was in there in the recovery and I'm not even sure how many starts you've been making, does it feel like it's been awhile since, especially on the PGA TOUR, since you've won? Does it feel like a long time for you?
RORY MCILROY: What have I played? Two, three, four, five -- I mean it's only been five events since my last week in Dubai at the end of the year.

It hasn't been that long but obviously on the PGA TOUR it's been a little while. So, yeah, I mean it's coming up to -- I mean in May it will be a year since I won on the PGA TOUR.

I don't want to go a year without winning on the PGA TOUR. But my last win doesn't feel that long ago but obviously I'd love to start winning again and no better place than this week and on the PGA TOUR so hopefully it's not too far away. I feel like my game is in good enough shape that it isn't that far away.

Q. Rory, you got to spend some nice time with Arnold last year. If there's one thing you could borrow from him or his example, what would it be?
RORY MCILROY: I think how good he is with people. Obviously he had so much talent and success and -- but if you look at how he is with people and how generous he is with his time and how gracious he is, he's a great example to anyone growing up playing this game and playing it professionally because at the end of the day the only reason that I'm up here speaking to you guys is I'm a good golfer but if there wasn't an industry and there wasn't fans or media and wasn't everyone involved in golf, I wouldn't be up here.

So, I think in that respect he was the greatest of all in that area and just never say die attitude. I think people resonated so much with him because he could hit it anywhere and still find a shot and it was fun to watch.

I've not watched too much of it but from what I've seen and heard just that swashbuckling approach to the game and sort of approach to life in a way, carefree, and he's just a great example to all of us playing on the Tour.

JOHN BUSH: Bush, thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

RORY MCILROY: Thank you.

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