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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 9, 2017

Rory McIlroy

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome Rory McIlroy to the interview room here at THE PLAYERS Championship. Rory is making his eighth career start at THE PLAYERS, where he owns three top-10s, and last year Rory in the second round shot 29 on the back nine, just a little nugget for you, became the fourth player ever to do that on the back nine here at the Stadium Course.

And then Rory is making his first start since the Masters, where he finished in a tie for 7th. So before we get started, Rory, with the TOUR announcing a 10-year extension with FedEx this morning of the FedExCup, as defending FedExCup champion, if you could just start us off with your thoughts on that announcement.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously it's great for the TOUR, it's great for the players. FedEx has been a huge supporter of golf and the PGA TOUR for the last 30 years. So to see that the TOUR has done an extension with FedEx and for the FedExCup for another 10 years is great. I think it's brought another dimension to the PGA TOUR. I think it's really gained traction. People are excited about it.

I can speak that it's -- it really depends what you do, it makes that last bit of the season after the Major Championships so important and so exciting because you're going into the FedExCup. The playoffs last year I was outside even getting into the TOUR Championship, and then four weeks later I'm holding the trophy. So it's exciting. It's really good.

I think the PGA TOUR have done a great job in getting that extension with FedEx, and it's exciting for the future.

THE MODERATOR: Briefly, just talk about the state of your game here after the five-week layoff. How do you feel coming into this week?

RORY McILROY: You know better than me, I guess. No, it's been great. The last few weeks have been really cool. Obviously got married and went on honeymoon and enjoyed that. Got back home to Florida last Thursday, been trying to lose a bit of weight before this week, and that's sort of been -- trying to shed a few founds before here, but, yeah, everything's been great. I feel like my game's in good shape. I needed to address a few issues in between Augusta and here, and I did that sort of with the first 10 days after Augusta and then turned my attentions elsewhere, but feel really good coming into this event.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions?

Q. Since we last saw you play, you have a ring on your finger and a new golf bag full of new golf clubs. Can you talk to both of those pretty monumental changes?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, obviously got this (indicating) going on, and then, yeah, I'm really excited that I have teamed up with TaylorMade. As I said, I needed to address a few issues after Augusta. I alluded to the fact that I wasn't really happy with the golf ball I was playing and I needed to do something. I felt like I struggled in the wind. So I sort of went back to the drawing board and tested for about 10 days pretty extensively after Augusta, worked with a lot of different things, but I worked with the TaylorMade guys one day and started just on TrackMan on the range and saw stuff with the golf ball, that new TP5x ball that they have, and I thought, wow, this is what I need, this is exactly the thing that I've been struggling with, and this is, I feel, is what I need. And then over the over the course of the next few days, I tested different combinations, a lot of different stuff, and I came to the conclusion that that was the best way forward for me to try and improve, try and win more, try to get back to world No. 1, try to win more Majors. So I'm really excited about that.

I've been on TOUR 10 years, and this is -- it's very rare that you get really excited about your equipment, but I'm -- I am, I feel like it's a new chapter in my life with a lot of stuff going on, but I really feel with the new equipment, as well, it's hopefully going to take me to that next level.

Q. Jason was in earlier and he talked about self-belief and how still at times he has a lack of it, even at the top of the game. Can I ask you, are there times where you question your own self-belief, or have you always been very strong in that regard?
RORY McILROY: Actually that's funny, I feel the longer I've played, the more my self-belief's sort of wavered a little bit. When I was 10 years old I thought I was the best player on the planet. I wouldn't want to go, I mean, obviously I still feel like on my day I'm the best player in the world, but there's a lot of competition out here, and it's -- I feel like if I -- yeah, there's times you doubt yourself and you're like, you know, am I -- of course, I think everyone has that. I think that's natural. I think you would be somewhat of a machine if you said every week that, yeah, I'm the best and I believe in myself 100 percent. There's going to be times, especially in this game, because there's so many different aspects of the game, and you might be excelling at one part but you know you're not quite there in another. So it's just like trying to balance that and balance expectations, and so I can definitely see where Jason's coming from.

But at the same time you have to believe. Like I always say, like when you're playing good, you never can believe how you play bad. And then when you're playing bad, you can never believe how well you've been able to play before. So confidence comes and goes a little bit in this game, and I think that's what -- it's the mental part of it, which is if you can master that part of it, which I think very few players have over the course of their careers, someone like a Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods, they were the best mentally, and that's why their records are so good.

Q. Jason was talking earlier about using the analogy of climbing the mountain because he wants to get back to No. 1. And going back to the playful admonishment you had of Paddy after you won the U.S. Open, when he was talking about what you would do in breaking all of Tiger's records, now that you've been through the grind of trying to do this and this process, could you yourself talk about the difficulty of how hard it is to get back there.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I always have always felt like getting to the top of the mountain is easier than staying there. I think it takes just as much hard work to stay there as it does to get all the way up. And it's golf; it's life; it's human. The way we are, there's going to be ebbs and flows in everyone's careers and you just have to accept that and realize that there's going to be some times when it isn't quite what you want and it's not going your way, but there's going to be other times where you get on a run and you have to ride that as much as you possibly can. So as long as those -- obviously the highs you want to be super high, but as long as its lows aren't too low and you can get yourself back up, then that is sort of you think about Everest, you don't want to go all the way back to the bottom; if you sort of fall back to base camp, you're fine and then back up again.

Q. What are your thoughts on the new drivable 12th hole and what's your experience out here taking on big risk successfully and unsuccessfully?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, this is a golf course where I've had to rein in my game over the years. I think I missed my first three cuts here, and then since that I've had four pretty good finishes. I think my worst has been 12th in the last four years. But yeah, I've definitely limited the amount of drivers I've hit. It just doesn't allow you to -- it gets tight at 300 yards a lot out here, and you just have to make sure that you position yourself in the right areas, and I've always felt that driving is a big advantage for me if I can drive the ball well, where here it's sort of -- it just doesn't let me do that, and earlier on in my career I had to come to terms with that and come to terms with hitting the ball in the same positions as everyone else off the tee and then trying to beat them in from there. So it's that sort of golf course.

But the 12th hole with the changes offers you a little bit of risk and reward, and I haven't played it yet, so I can't really comment on it too much, but from what I've seen from the photos, even if you do get it up around the green with that little pot bunker on the right and obviously with the water and runoff on the left, it's going to be a tough 3. So depending where the pin is, where the tee is, I think you're going to see a mixture of guys laying up and going for it.

Q. When you were doing your big club testing I think at the end of last year, how much was TaylorMade in the mix at that point?
RORY McILROY: The woods were. I probably -- if anything, I sort of chickened out a little bit with the ball because I just went back to what was familiar. I went back to something that I had played for awhile, and I really didn't give any other golf balls much of a chance. But then after -- once I played two tournaments pre and post injury, and they were both at altitude with no wind, so you can't really -- don't really know what it's really doing. Once I got back to sea level, played Bay Hill, played Austin, played the Masters, and I got a little bit of wind, I realized it just wasn't right, wasn't performing for me, so I had to go back to the drawing board.

I tested quite a few balls, and the one that I landed on -- and that was really it, the ball was what led me to this point, because it was like, this is the best ball I've hit in -- well, ever. I feel like it's really the best ball for me going forward, and then it was just trying to match everything up to that, and that's why I feel like this is the best way forward.

Q. Secondly, of all the players you've tried to -- that have been No. 1 ahead of you that you were trying to catch, what kind of different challenge does Dustin present?
RORY McILROY: He just keeps doing it. He's been so impressive, no matter whether it's before the Masters, when he won those three times. Obviously he got very unfortunate what happened at Augusta, but then I hit balls -- I was actually hitting some balls the week after Augusta and he was out at the Bear's Club and he looked okay. He was still a little -- he couldn't really get through it with the driver that much, but to see him then, to I watched a little bit of the golf at the weekend and he just, he's on a roll and he keeps going. I think he's got a five-point lead in the top of the world rankings at the minute, which is huge, it really is. It's a big lead, and he's played great and he deserves that lead.

So, yeah, he presents some -- I don't think it will faze him being where he is in the world of golf. I don't think anything fazes him, that's probably the understatement of the year, but he -- I can't see him falling off or dropping off. It's up to the other guys to try and catch him.

Q. Could you give us a little bit more insight into the TaylorMade clubs in your bag?
RORY McILROY: Just what spec, what they are? Yeah, so I went with -- so the woods are all M2, M2 driver, and actually the same fairway woods I used at Augusta. Then they very kindly made me a prototype set of blades that I've put in the bag which are beautiful. And then similar sort of wedge setup, the mill grind wedges and the 48, and then depending upon the course it's either going to be 52, 56 and 60 or a 54 and a 60. And then I've got a 1-iron in the bag this week that could be helpful for around here. I think it's the same one that D.J. plays, as well. So again, with driver being taken out of you your hands a lot, that could be a club that could work really well around here this week.

Q. Without wishing to be too nosy, what can you share with us about the wedding? How exciting was that?
RORY McILROY: It was awesome. It was obviously the best weekend of my life and hopefully the best weekend of Erica's, as well. But, yeah, it was really cool. Just we obviously tried to keep it as private as possible. We didn't -- it was between our friends and families, and we didn't really want anything else.

It was really good. It was a weekend of celebrations. People got in the Friday night. We sort of had a welcome reception. Obviously you got the whole wedding day on Saturday, and we had a farewell brunch on Sunday. So we spent three really nice days with the people that we cherished the most, and that was really special.

Q. I know it's only been a couple of weeks since you had the ring on your finger, but do you see it changing you as a golfer, or will that occur maybe when you have kids?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, look, everything -- it seems like with everything that's went on the last few weeks with getting married and teaming up with TaylorMade and everything, it seems like everything's very settled. There's not really -- and there's not many question marks -- going on in my life right now I feel like everything's exactly where it's meant to be, and if you feel like that off the golf course, then I can only imagine that it will help you on it.

Q. Between yourself and Jordan and Jason and now Dustin, you've kind of been passing the baton as the hot guy, the No. 1. Can you talk about, first of all, can you feel that coming yourself when you get into that hunt, and just as a follow-up, how energized are you in the chase right now?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't know if you can feel it coming. It's more like there's been -- like at the start of 2014 before I went on the run during the summer and played well, I sort of was on a run like this. I was having a lot of Top-10s. I had a couple of chances to win. Didn't quite do it, but very consistent finishes. So it means that your game is pretty much all there, it just -- you're waiting for that moment where it's going to click and everything starts to go your way, and instead of shooting 12-under at tournaments, all of a sudden you're shooting 17-, 18-under, and that's the difference between finishing top-5 and winning. So you can sort of sense it coming, but you're never quite sure when it's going to happen.

Yeah, we have been passing the baton, I guess, for the last little while, and Jordan had a phenomenal year in 2015, one of the best seasons we have seen on the PGA TOUR for a long time. Then Jason does what he does the end of 2015 through sort of middle of 2016, and then D.J. starting at the U.S. Open last year and the run that he's put on, it's great. I think golf is in a great position. We have got a lot of young guys that are playing really well, that are hopefully good role models and project a good image for the game, and it's great to be a part of that conversation.

Q. Do you feel any different sort of walking on to this event as a married man? Is there a sort of different approach that you bring in, and do you think going forward that's going to be a help that you maybe won't be so hard on yourself?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I think I'll still -- this game is what I've wanted to do for my whole life, so I'll always be determined, I'll always be intense and try to get the most out of my game. I don't think that will change just because I'm married or not. My mentality on the golf course I feel will just be the same. It might help me get over tough losses a little bit easier. I don't know, I'll have to tell you when the time comes, but as I said, I'm in a great place in my life and I feel very settled and very lucky to be in this position, and now it's just about trying to make the most of, I guess, the fortune that I've had.

Q. You said that you guys aren't machines. Was Tiger maybe the closest we will ever see to a player who was a machine?
RORY McILROY: I think for a stretch, yes, but I don't know if -- I'm sure a lot of you watched the Jack documentary after Augusta. And I mean, it was incredible what he did. It really was. You grow up in an era and you don't really -- I never saw Jack in his prime. He won the Masters in '86. I was born in '89, so I never really saw him when he was right at the peak of his powers, but that three-series documentary and just some of the stuff that he's done and what he was able to accomplish, I think he had a great balance in his life between going and being with his family but also being this unbelievable competitor on the course.

So Tiger for a stretch, yes, of course, I mean he was so dominant, but then you see what Jack did over the course of a 25-year career, 30-year career. That's so impressive.

Q. That was my follow; that plays right into it. When you are so contented in your personal life, it would be easy to maybe find your base camp and just stay there. The mountaintop, that's a tough climb. When you look at what Jack was able to do, maintain that balance, does that give you hope? How will you do that, take yourself out of your comfort zone when you are comfortable?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, definitely. I think that's something that -- it's something I've struggled with a couple of times in my career. Once I got to world No. 1, it was a huge goal of mine, and I think Jason alluded to this at some point; it's like when you get there, okay, what else? What else do you do? No, you do it all over again. And then you do it all over again. So, yeah, there's a certain level of comfort that professional golfers have nowadays, because of the likes of the FedExCup and that golf has made us very comfortable, but I still don't think that we lack the drive to become the golfers we wanted to be when we were kids. I still don't feel like I'm halfway there to achieving what I want to achieve. So I'm 28 years old; if I can play competitively for the next 15 years, I feel like I've still got a lot left to give.

Q. Is the putter going to be the same that you've been working with, and also, once you decided that the golf ball was going to be the element that was going to change, what was the biggest challenge in sort of setting everything up to match the ball that you had decided this is what I need?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think, again, it's -- when I played the Titleist golf ball earlier in the year, I felt that I was on the TrackMan and numbers were good, and only thing is it shows up in play, it shows up in competitive play when you're put under the gun, and that's when you start to learn more about your equipment. So you can stand on TrackMan as much as you want, but it's being able it put that stuff into play.

So instead of just standing and beating balls on the range with a TrackMan behind you, it's getting out on the golf course, playing different shots, and that's basically what I've tried to do. I started practicing again on Friday, so I've had, whatever it is, five days to do that. Obviously going in here, first competitive event, there may be some tweaks that I need to do coming out of this event because there's just some stuff you don't learn until you put it in play in a tournament. But I'm comfortable with what I've got right now, and I'm excited to put it -- I'm excited to go out on the golf course on Thursday and see how it performs.

And the putter, I'm working through a few things. I've got a Spider in the bag that I've tried over the past few days, but yeah, it's a work in progress. So we're trying to find the right one.

Q. It's funny to hear you talk about being out here 10 years. Does that period seem long or short to you? And secondly, when you talk about the good runs you get on and how good finishes build into those runs, is there any one part of your game that seems to spark those runs more than anything else?
RORY McILROY: Not sure. 10 years, yeah, it hasn't felt long, that's for sure. I remember my first tournament as a pro as if it was yesterday. It goes so quickly. It really does go quick. I'm not sure if -- I think it's more, I alluded to it earlier, it's the mental aspect. If you get yourself right mentally, no matter what your physical capabilities or limitations are in terms of swinging the club well or not so well and hitting fairways, not hitting fairways, if you are in the right place mentally, you can get your ball -- I mean, you look at probably the best two players over the last generation were Phil and Tiger, and mentally in terms of where they may have driven the ball sometimes and what they have done to be able to recover and put it behind you and move on, that's what -- I mean that's more than half the battle of this game. So, I think it's all to do with where you are mentally, if you're in a good place and you have confidence. And I don't know if confidence comes from seeing good golf or if confidence comes from hitting it well in practice or there's -- it can come from any sort of different place, but if you're confident and you've got the right mindset, I think that's the thing that sparks a good run more than anything else.

Q. There's been a lot of rumblings about the possibility this tournament moving back to March and a lot would have to happen for that to occur, but just wonder what your thoughts on that would be, if you would welcome that or if you would prefer it to stay where it is?
RORY McILROY: I guess I've never played this tournament in March. Every time I played it's been at this date. But I can definitely see why it would move back to March. It would then be a big event every month. You would have THE PLAYERS in March; you would have the Masters in April; you would have the PGA in May; you would have the U.S. Open in June; you would have the British Open in July; and then the FedExCup run would be a little bit earlier and the playoff run and it would mean it wouldn't clash with football, which is obviously a huge thing, as well, with TV ratings. I can definitely see the reasons for it. And, yeah, if it did go that way, it would obviously take a few different courses off the PGA rota, the places up north that wouldn't quite be ready, so that's a little bit of a -- I don't know how they would feel about that, seeing that my wife's from Rochester, Oak Hill might have to be crossed off and I don't think people would be too happy up there. But we'll see what happens. But I can definitely see why it would happen, but I think there's a lot of things to cover until we get to that point.

Q. To follow-up on the 12th hole from earlier, even though you haven't played it yet, but from seeing it, does it seem almost too much risk versus reward from what you've seen?
RORY McILROY: I think so. I haven't been out there, so I don't know how steep that bank is left of the green that goes into the water. It sort of seems like you get a ball turning at all and it's at the middle of the green, it turns, it might just want to find its way -- a little bit like, remember the 8th hole at Doral, the par-5, just after they changed it, and everything would just funnel into the water, and then they sort of banked it up the next year and it was a little more fair. I don't know if it's going to play a little bit like that.

So it's hard. It's hard to know that. If you want to drive the green, you've got to aim it at the water and cut it back and try to work it away from it. So it will be interesting to see how the guys approach it.

Q. You got another fifth Major coming up in a few weeks, the BMW PGA. Would you please reflect on your victory there and your thoughts on yet another round of changes to Wentworth.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's -- yeah, that was a weird week. But it was -- I mean, I never -- I enjoyed Wentworth at the start like in 2008 and 2009, when I was on the European Tour, because it was the way I remembered it. I went and watched the World Match Play at Wentworth when I was a kid, and my mom and dad and I would fly over and watch for the weekend, and I always remember that was like a really cool -- it was like halftime in October, and to go over. That's the way I remember Wentworth being. And flat greens, and yes, if people went really low, who cares, it's enjoyable. And then over the years they tried to toughen it up and I think made it a little too severe, so I was never really a fan of that, and then obviously winning in 2014 I still won on the golf course, it didn't change my attitude towards it.

So I think these round of changes, they look good. I know that they have put a different strain of grass on the greens, I think the they've put like a strain of creeping bent on it. I was reading about it last night, actually. So hopefully that solves that problem, because it is, I mean May in London you can have really good weather or it can be pretty poor. So the greens are always a little hit and miss, but I think they have sort of figured that out with putting this grass on. I think they put SubAir under the greens, as well, which will help. So I'm excited to go back. The European Tour is very -- I'm very loyal to it. It's given me a lot of chances starting off in my career, and I always have and always will appreciate that, and so I'm looking forward to going back, seeing the changes. It's part of this Rolex series that they're trying to promote on the European Tour, and it's great to be a part of the first one, and, yeah, excited to go back and see what it's like.

THE MODERATOR: Before we finish up, as defending FedExCup champion they have made a Bobblehead in your honor. So to present you with that, and hope you -- I think it looks like you a little bit there, so...

RORY McILROY: Made me look really old, all these wrinkles around my eyes. It makes me look like I've been on TOUR two decades instead of one.

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