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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2017

Rory McIlroy

Austin, Texas

Q. Is that an odd situation playing today?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, Emiliano and I were just like, What do we do? Do we -- walking up 18, we could have just called it a half and not even bothered and did this.

Yeah, it is odd whenever you have nothing to play for. I guess that's both of our faults. We didn't win our matches on the first day. If it had been the old format, I would have already been home. It is what it is and I just needed to play better on that first day to at least have something to play for today.

Q. Are you going to stick with plan A and practice next week or do you have any intention of playing Houston?
RORY McILROY: No, not at all. I'm going to go to Augusta Sunday night, play Monday and Tuesday. Then I'll just be at home getting ready for it.

Q. Do you feel comfortable with enough competitive rounds heading into Augusta?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think so. Every time I've played, I've played well. I did okay in Mexico. I did pretty well at Bay Hill. Had a chance to win. I think I was 7-under for the two rounds I played here this week. I played pretty well. I don't feel like match play is a funny thing.

Speaking to Sergio after the first day, if I had of played Sergio I would have beat him 6 and 5 and Soren beat me 2 and 1. So it is what it is. It's one of those things.

The injury hasn't been ideal to start the year, but I've played Houston before and I never felt like it did anything for me. I added it late before. I added San Antonio late before. The Masters in '13 and finished second there. It didn't really help me the following week. So I'd rather go up to Augusta, play a couple quiet practice rounds and then prepare at home and get ready that way.

Q. Unusual buildup for the Masters?
RORY McILROY: Even if it does work this year, I won't be trying to emulate it in the next few years. That's fore sure. Again, it's giving me a chance to prepare a little bit better. I feel like I've work on my short game. If anything, I feel like that part of my game is as sharp as it has been ever going into Augusta, so that's a good thing, I guess. It's been a bit of a strange buildup.

I did watch yesterday. I was glad not to be out there because it was so windy. Obviously when you play in the wind like that you can get into a few bad habits. I still would have loved to play and have a chance to get through to weekend. At the same time, I wasn't jealous of the guys out there that were grinding away and sort of having to deal with that.

Q. (No microphone)?
RORY McILROY: I think in essence it's still the same. You win your matches, you go through. I think, I've never -- the two times that it's been this format, I won all three of my matches in San Francisco to get through. Last year I halved with Kevin Na, I guess. Then we played a playoff and got through. Each of those two years I didn't lose a match. You lose a match here, if you get through, you are lucky. You still have to win your matches. You have to beat the guy in front of you. I didn't do that this week and that's why I'm heading home.

Q. You will be quite fresh heading into the Masters. What is the downside of that having not played much before then?
RORY McILROY: I don't know. As I said, I've played -- since coming back from the injury, I've played ten competitive rounds, I guess. I felt good. I've played well. I struggled the first round of Bay Hill, but apart from that it's been quite good. Right now I can't see a downside to not having played as much as I planned to. I feel really healthy. I don't feel any issue with my health.

Q. Freshness could help?
RORY McILROY: Freshness could help especially mentally. Mentally going in there and not being drained. So that's a good thinking as well. As I said I wouldn't be trying to emulate this buildup in the next few years even if it does work this year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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