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TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 25, 2016

Rory McIlroy

Atlanta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: We'll get to it straight away. Want to congratulate our FedExCup and TOUR Championship winner, Rory McIlroy. An exciting and incredible finish. If you could, just talk through your emotions as you were going through the playoff then ultimately to come away with a victory.

RORY McILROY: Yeah. I guess it all started on 16 in regulation, whenever I held that wedge shot. I think I was very fortunate when -- Ryan really got it going sort of around the middle of the round, and I was sort of trying to hang on his coattails a little bit.

I think, when you're in a group like that, when you're both playing really well, it's easy to feed off one another, and I think that's what we did today. We both shot 64 out there, which was probably the lowest score of the week, I guess. I think, when you see a guy playing next to you like that, you can feed off them.

I knew I needed to do something. At that point, I was in the middle of the 16th fairway. You know, Kevin behind was 12 under. I think Ryan was 11, and I was 9. So I was trying to just do something, make something happen. Fortunately, I hole a wedge shot, and I get myself in position to have a chance to win, and I birdied the last. Actually, I thought my bunker shot in regulation had a really good chance of going in, didn't quite drop.

There was a lot of things that had to go right for me today as well, in terms of Ryan didn't birdie the last in regulation, neither did Kevin. Obviously, D.J. didn't have his best day. So there's a lot of things that had to go well for me today along with me playing very well. So everything just sort of aligned for me. I took advantage of that opportunity.

Q. I mean, Baltusrol really wasn't that long ago, and that was probably the most dejected we have ever seen you.
How has it changed since then, and how proud are you of yourself that you've turned it around so much?

RORY McILROY: I think you need weeks like that. I've always benefited from things like that in my career, from low points. I always feel like from a low point you can work yourself back up, and you can really assess what you need to do. I think it was blatantly obvious what I needed to do after Baltusrol, in terms of trying to fix my putting or to at least address some issues in it.

I started on a process to do that, and I didn't think results were going to come as quickly as they have done really. I've played really, really well. But I've putted well also. I've converted more of my chances I'm giving myself. It was really getting frustrating when I don't feel like I hit the ball much differently in Baltusrol, for example, than I did this week, but I'm sitting here with the TOUR Championship, the FedExCup, everything, where I was going home on a Friday night.

Just the margins are so small in this game. So it was nice to just set the reset button after PGA, and at least, I think the great thing about this FedExCup as well is you have something to play for after the major season. You have goals, you have ambition, you have drive to work hard for something else, and I really wanted to work hard to try to at least give myself a chance in these playoffs.

And then obviously, looking forward to Ryder Cup. I want to be in the best possible shape to try and help the team there as well.

Q. You talked about wanting to put these two trophies on your mantelpiece, but there was a part of you -- you were kind of snake bitten twice by the math of the FedExCup. You came in this event in 2012 and 2013 as the front-runner. Is this almost a little bit more satisfying because it had been so close before?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think so. It is satisfying. But, again, I think the last -- I don't know how many FedExCup champions have won the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup. I don't know how long that goes back. But it really puts a lot of emphasis on the last tournament, whenever they reset the points.

I think it's a great thing. I knew coming in here -- I was a little disappointed at Crooked Stick that I didn't make that top five. I was in that sixth position. So it wasn't quite in my hands. But at the same time, I would have had to have been a little bit unlucky for me to win this thing and not win.

D.J. didn't have his best day today, and I needed stuff like that to happen. But I think after 2012 and 2014, it definitely -- it feels that little bit sweeter that I've been able to get it done.

Q. Two quick ones. Where do you sort of rank this in terms of your accomplishments? And secondly, if you could just speak about the head-to-head battle with Ryan down the stretch and obviously terrific golf by both of you.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's up there. I mean, I think -- you know, the golf that I needed to produce today to win, it ranks right up there. I mean, to go out and shoot 60 -- to shoot 66, 64 on the weekend to win the TOUR Championship and ultimately win the FedExCup, that ranks up there with just some of my best performances on the golf course regardless of tournament. But it was just nice to -- I've won the Race to Dubai three times over in Europe. As I said, I've been close a couple of times here and haven't quite been able to get it done.

So to finally knock this one off and sort of check this off the list, I guess, it ranks up there. I mean, obviously, the Majors are set apart and they're very different, but I'd rank it up there with --

You know, I birdied the last four holes to beat Justin Rose to win the Race to Dubai in 2012. Had a great battle with Andy Sullivan last year to win the Race to Dubai. Honestly, it's probably a little more special than that, but it's up there. It's very satisfying, and I'm just happy to have my name on that trophy.

Ryan played, as I alluded to earlier, to play in a group like that where both players are playing very well and you can see guys making putts and you can sort of feed off one another's momentum, it helps. But he's a fantastic player. He's been playing well for a long time, for a few months now. He's just such a gritty competitor. He even showed with the putts he held coming down the stretch. That putt he held on the fourth playoff hole to at least make me hole mine.

You look at his match play record in amateur golf as well and some of the stuff he's done and he's accomplished, I mean, he's a great player. He's gritty. He's a competitor. He doesn't quite have the length that some of us do, but he definitely makes up for it in different areas of his game. I was really impressed with him today.

Q. Rory, yesterday you said this week is all about limiting mistakes, and today besides that early bogey, you played very, very solid. Did you think you needed a 64 to clinch it?
RORY McILROY: Honestly, I didn't. I thought another 66 might have got it done for me today. I think I said yesterday I need to play something similar, but I think as the week goes on, people sort of start to figure out how to play this golf course a little bit better and be a little bit more aggressive on it and take some more chances. So, yeah, I didn't think I needed 64 today, but thankfully, that's what I shot to get myself in the playoff, and here I am.

So I'm just glad that I played so well when I needed to. As I said, a lot of things had to go my way today, and thankfully they did.

Q. Rory, for a moment of levity, would you like to issue Dustin Johnson an apology?
RORY McILROY: No, because I've had this FedExCup taken away from me twice before. So I know exactly how he feels.

Q. Rory, when you were telling us the other day that you look at leaderboards. When did you get a sense that Dustin was not having the best day and that, if you won the tournament, you'd be able to win the FedExCup?
RORY McILROY: I think when we made the turn. There's not many scoreboards out there until the back nine. So I looked at the scoreboard on the 12th hole, and I saw that he hadn't got off to the greatest of starts. I knew then that I had a chance. I think I said to -- I said to J.P. on -- I sort of saw it -- I think Dustin maybe, did he double 12? He doubled one of those holes, and I saw it on the board after we played 13.

I said to J.P., Okay, let's win this thing. Now we have a real chance. It's just a matter of trying to keep close enough to the leaders that I could do something special over the last few holes, which I was able to do thankfully.

Q. Rory, you were saying at the start of the week you didn't think this would have too much of an effect on the rest of the European guys. But you may have seen the Twitter message where they were all watching and celebrating when the putt went in. I just want to know that you have won it, whether you think perhaps it will add to the feel-good factor?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, maybe. I've had a couple of minutes just to go through some text messages. Obviously, I've had a lot of text messages go through. But Paul McGinley, the previous captain, he texted me and said, this is sort of the first of hopefully a lot of momentum for Europe during the next few days.

Hopefully, in some way, it helps the team. It helps the team sort of galvanize, and we can all get off on the right foot. I'm just looking forward to meeting up with the guys tomorrow afternoon. I think they'll get into the hotel around 4:00 tomorrow, and I'll already be up there. I'll be probably nursing a bit of a sore head, but apart from that.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the day off tomorrow. It's obviously been a long day, but really excited to catch up with the guys and get into that team mode and the team spirit and turn my attention to something else.

Q. Rory, have you ever gone into a Ryder Cup with more confidence and better form? Especially when you've got a habit, when you get on these hot streaks, you tend to ride it for a while, don't you?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think when I get myself in situations like this, I seem to -- over the last couple of years anyway, I seem to produce my best golf when I need it. Yeah, I've obviously never gone into a Ryder Cup with this much excitement coming off the back of something like this. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

As I said, if in some way this helps the team a little bit, then I'm glad to be able to do that.

Q. So are you in favor of keeping the nines flipped this way permanently?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, actually, I wasn't so sure about it at the start, but now I'm a big fan. But, yeah, I think so. I think it provides a lot more drama, especially coming down the last few holes. The way the nines were, the original layout -- there can still be drama. Obviously, there's water on 17, but it's more people are making mistakes rather than making birdies, and I think that's what, obviously, everyone wants to see, and that's what's exciting, and that was the sort of drama that was produced today. So I think it was a good move to do it.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Rory. Great finish. Great season. And worst of luck to you next week.

RORY McILROY: Come on, Europe!

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