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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Augusta, Georgia

Q. Can you talk the ebb and flow of your round?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think it was one of those days. You had holes out there that you could take advantage of and birdie like the par‑5s and the par‑4s that were downwind. But then you turn back into the wind on some holes and it was hard to pick a club, especially some of the holes down by 11, 12, where the wind does swirl there in those trees and down in that little bowl and it makes it very difficult with club selection. So you just have to be really decisive out there and trust your club, trust your swing and go with it and luckily most times it worked out okay for me. But I'm happy with how I played, happy with the score in the end. It could have been a couple better, but at the end of the day, being here on a tough day in the top 10 and still within touching distance of Jordan, I'm pretty pleased with that.

Q. Your 2‑under 70 is one of your best opening rounds here. Your frustration was pretty evident on 18, the bogey on 16 and then again on 18. Was that just the frustration?
RORY MCILROY: A little bit. I felt like I let a couple of shots get away on 16 and 18. But again, I'm sitting here and if someone had have given me a 70 on the first tee, I probably would have taken it. It was a tricky day. But out being in the position on the 16th tee where I was 4‑under par, thinking, 16, if you hit a good shot and it feeds down it's a birdie chance. 17's downwind. I was probably thinking on the 16th tee I could sneak in another one or two out of this round and to start going the other way is disappointing.
But I feel like I can get off to a good start tomorrow and pick those shots up again in the first few holes and just get off and running again.

Q. When you see Jordan off to such a good start, do you feed off that?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I guess I didn't pay attention to it much. I saw the leaderboards and saw what was going on. He's very, very comfortable here. You look at the way he played in 2014 and 2015 and look at what he's done this year, it's a golf course he's comfortable on and he's going to be tough to beat this week. But I feel I'm going to have to play good golf, but I feel there's enough good golf in me to that I can reel him in over the next 54 holes.

Q. (No Microphone, Re: drawing positives)
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think it is drawing the positives. Obviously, Jason's probably going to be a little more disappointed than me, he really had it going. I saw what happened at the end of his round. But it can happen around here. And a 72-hole golf tournament is a long time and there's a lot of golf to play and there's a lot of golf left and a lot can happen over those next 54 holes.
So it's just about staying patient. Especially the way the conditions are, you have to stay patient and bide your time and pick up your birdies when you can and know that par's going to be a pretty good score and the golf course is only going to get firmer and tougher as the week goes on with this wind. So, it's going to be a good test, it's going to be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. What do you mean by patient?
RORY MCILROY: I don't know, there's some opportunities, knowing that, the five I had on 11 was a decent five at the end of the day, not trying to take on too much there. I guess knowing that, on the front nine, for example, I was even through six holes and there was some guys that got off, Shane got off to a great start ahead of me, and knowing that it's going to happen to some people and even par through six holes here is okay, it's fine.
And I birdied 7, I didn't birdie 8, but I birdied 9, and if I can go out in 34 the next three days, I will be ecstatic. So, that's the plan, try and get it in, try and get out under par and I feel like I've played the back nine very well here throughout the years and no reason why I can't do that again.

Q. What happened on 18?
RORY MCILROY: I had 157 hole. Wind was sort of ‑‑ it's a very exposed green ‑‑ and the pin was really blowing down and I just came off it. Honestly, it was probably a bit of a tired swing. It's been a long day. And I just came up and out of it. It came out right. And I think that's the first ever plugged lie I've gotten at Augusta, so, yeah, again, knowing that five is going to be a decent score there, so I would take my five and get out of here, get some rest and come back out.

Q. What did you do all morning?
RORY MCILROY: What did we do? We got up around seven, watched the Today Show, wake up with Matt and Savannah usually, that's what we do. And then I went to the gym at 8:30 for about an hour for a little R&R. I got back, I had breakfast before the gym and then I had a bit more breakfast after and then I had a little bit of lunch I feel like I was eating all day. I was just trying to pass the time.
I watched a little bit of the coverage on the Masters app just to see what the pin positions were and stuff and see how the course was playing, but apart from that, just tried to take it easy.

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