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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. 2-under par on the day, 7-under total for THE PLAYERS Championship. Not a bad week, but what --
RORY McILROY: Not a bad week. I guess it's just an accumulation of everything that's gone on. I haven't played -- fourth last week and probably going to be another top 10 this week, 10th at Augusta. I mean, the finishes are okay, but I just -- I'd rather get right in there in contention, and I felt like I had a chance to do that. I was 8-under par for the tournament after 11 holes, and with seven holes left, had a good chance on 12 and didn't convert, and then there's some chances coming in, and didn't take advantage of any of them, really.

From being in a position where I could have maybe posted a number to giving the guys behind something to think about, I was just sort of scrambling to try and get into the top 10. Yeah, it's sort of -- there's good stuff in there, and there's just a little bit of -- there's too many wasted shots basically, so that's what I need to try and cut out going forward.

Q. What part of your game do you feel like needs the work that's going to get you over that hump to get the win? Is there anything specific?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, if you look at my tee-to-green stats this week, I think they're really good, and that's the stuff I was working on because I felt that's sort of what held me back at Augusta, and then coming into these two weeks, I was working on a couple things in my swing which have really bedded in nicely and I'm feeling comfortable with that, but yeah, just not taking opportunities on the greens, and being maybe a little bit too defensive, again. I kept saying it all year, but I'm just not -- any time I am aggressive, I seem to play the wrong shot or I seem to hit a bad shot at the wrong time.

I'm just not -- it's just not -- everything is just not clicking, and hopefully as the summer approaches, everything can start to click and I can go on a run, because I really don't feel like it's too far away.

Q. Patience is hard, especially when you're used to playing as good as you've been playing. Every golfer says, I'm close. How close do you feel like you are?
RORY McILROY: I've been saying I'm close for a very long time. Feels like I've been saying I'm close all year. I feel like it's right around the corner, and it just takes one week for everything to sort of click, and you get some momentum and you get a win and you're off and running. Every week I get up on the podium before the tournament starts and say, hopefully this is the week. Next week I'll say the same thing at the Irish Open. Hopefully it's the week that can kick-start the rest of the season. But I feel like my game is in good shape. Just keep working on the things that I need to, but it's not far away at all.

Q. You talked about being aggressive. Were there any examples of that over the last four days, being aggressive at the wrong time?
RORY McILROY: 13 today, hitting it in the water at 13. It might have been a reaction to missing the short putt on 12 for birdie. Last week 18 at Quail Hollow, trying to play the right shot, trying to go for it, trying to make birdie and hit the wrong shot at the wrong time. It's been a couple of cases of those. And then there's some shots coming in where maybe if I had a -- being a little more aggressive in terms of hitting one less club and trying to hit it hard and getting it really close rather than maybe smoothing something in and putting it 25 feet past. There's just been a little bit of that. Even the second shot into 16 today, I hit it sort of left edge of the green, and that's a point where, okay, I might not be able to win the golf tournament, but there's no reason not to go at least at the middle of the green and try and let the wind work the ball into the pin somehow. I know it's a difficult shot, but there's some of the shots that I feel like I need to start taking on instead of playing so safe.

But golf courses are set up these days that that's sort of what you have to do. You're trying to get it into the right positions so you can get up-and-down to make your birdie, so it's just knowing when to play the right shot at the right time. I just feel like over the last couple weeks I haven't quite done that.

Q. You mentioned being defensive on the greens. It's almost impossible not to do that out here. How do you tell yourself to be aggressive because you see that obviously at Oakmont, right?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, but you expect it there. You're preparing the week before to play like that, so you have it in your mind that that's the way it's going to be. And it's funny, today, a little cooler, maybe a little more humidity. The greens were still -- they were holding and they were a little bit slower today, so I think they -- if they had have just kept the greens like that yesterday, it would have been good.

But yeah, I think the thing we were all saying yesterday was there was no warning. There was no warning that it was going to get like that. If there was a notice up in the locker room saying, the greens are stimping at 14 right now, then you sort of have a decent idea, okay, well, this is going to -- but just no warning was -- it was tough to adjust because sometimes you're thinking if there's a green that's more exposed than another, is that going to be a little quicker or what. So there's so many different variables, but they set the golf course up good today, so I think they learnt from yesterday.

Q. You talked about feeling like you're close, but there's a lot of sort of mental sloppy bogeys in there. How would you describe your frustration with that, and is it sort of hard to temper that now?
RORY McILROY: It is hard to temper it because I feel like I'm playing good enough golf with the way I'm hitting the shots to win golf tournaments, and I haven't won a golf tournament this year. The last golf tournament I won was in Dubai in November, so it feels like a long time ago now.

But again, I need to stay patient because if I keep pushing and keep looking for the win, that's when these sloppy mistakes start to creep in. I just need to go out there and play my game and trust that I'm playing well enough for the chips to fall my way sooner rather than later.

Q. What's your Oakmont plan?
RORY McILROY: I'm going to go up Monday, Tuesday after Memorial, yeah, so I'll play Irish Open, take a week off, play Memorial, go up there Monday, Tuesday, play 36 holes, and then I might stay -- actually I might go to Rochester for a few days and then go back down to Florida and get back up there and just prepare like any other tournament, I guess.

Q. You haven't seen it yet?
RORY McILROY: No, no, not yet, so I'm looking forward to it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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