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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 14, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. How were the putting greens?
RORY McILROY: I mean, it's like a U.S. Open out there. I can't really describe it any other way. I mean, it got to the point where when you're grounding your putter, you can't square it up because the surfaces are so shiny and so slippy. It was difficult. It was really difficult. And then to have -- obviously we played in the morning yesterday, and to have such a drastic speed change in the greens from when we played yesterday to today, I just found I had a really difficult time to adjust to them. I stood up here yesterday and I said it's amazing how differently the course plays from morning to afternoon, but I didn't expect it to be like that out there this afternoon. That was borderline unfair on a few holes. A few pin positions were on crowns, and you dribble a putt by, all of a sudden it's six feet by. For the way they -- I'm not sure if they expected to get the greens this firm or -- there was a few pins out there that I felt were just a little too much on the edge. It was obviously difficult, and I felt like I was holding it together okay, but I think I hit 16 out of 18 greens out there. I mean, I played well. Tee to green I played well. I think I had five three-putts.

It was just one of those days. It was tough to -- I mean, you see some of the scores, 65, 67. I mean, that's way better than any of the 63s that you saw out there the first two days.

Q. Did you find the conditions starting to affect your stroke or your confidence on the greens?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Even your uphill putts you're being defensive because you feel like you want to leave yourself below the hole, but then where some of those holes were cut, you just it going by and it catches another slope and it's off again. I felt like I got really tentative over some putts, and it's hard. Usually you're over a four- or five-footer, like okay, just knock this in the back of the hole, and you couldn't do it out there.

It's just hard because that's how I was used to putting yesterday, and for all of a sudden it to go from there to the complete polar opposite today, it just was very hard to adjust.

Q. What was the first putt that called your attention that there was something drastically different?
RORY McILROY: The putt on 2. The putt on 2. First putt, it was up and over a hill. I felt like I maybe hit it a little too hard, but I didn't feel like I hit it too hard to get it going off the green. And then the third hole, as well. I said to J.P. out there, I go, let's really try to leave ourselves below the hole, even if that means hitting it 30 feet into the middle of the green. It's nearly a much easier putt then. But yeah, even from the start you knew that it was a little different.

Q. Does it make you confused and curious on what it might be like tomorrow?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I think they've went so far, it's going to be very hard for them to get it back now. I know these greens are getting torn up Monday, so they wanted to stress them as much as they could, and obviously they don't care if they die. It is what it is. I mean, they can water them all they want tonight, but by the time it gets to that first tee time and the sun is beating down on them for four or five hours before the leaders go out, they'll be the exact same tomorrow afternoon, if not worse.

Q. Is there a score that you had in mind going into the day, and how much did it adjust throughout the round?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it definitely adjusted. It went from being something in the mid-60s to even par is actually going to be okay. You know, I ended up not shooting that, but I think anything around even par or a couple under today was a heck of a score. Look how well Jason has played over the first two days, and he's over par today, and he's had a four-putt. All these things, how in control he was, and then the golf course just changes slightly, and you have to really temper back what you're trying to do. Even like hitting 2-irons off par-5 tees and hitting a lot of irons off tees. It's not just the greens; the fairways are running, as well. The golf course is playing so short.

Yeah, it's definitely a different golf course than what it was the first two days.

Q. Have you ever seen this drastic of a change from one day to the next in a tournament?
RORY McILROY: No, not really. I don't know if the guys that played yesterday afternoon -- I know they had that thunderstorm. I don't know if they'll feel like it was such a drastic change, but for us that were playing in the morning yesterday to playing in the afternoon yesterday, yeah, it was chalk and cheese.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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