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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 13, 2017

Rory McIlroy

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Talk about how your back feels.
RORY MCILROY: The same, I guess, not any worse, which is a good thing, I guess that's positive. I think that it even felt a little bit easier out there today. Which is good. I don't know if it's just me getting used to it or if it's actually a little bit better, but it isn't any worse, so that's a positive.

Q. You going to change that taping every day or is it still the same taping?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I get it taped up every morning.

Q. You hit 4-iron a couple times out there. Was that because of the wind or what?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I've been sort of, I mean the thing goes quite a long way, so and, yeah, you keep it under the wind and it really doesn't deviate too much. I've hit that club very well this week for the first week in the bag. So it's good around this place. I don't think, I mean, it's really a course-specific club. It's not, I'll use it at Birkdale, probably, but I'm not sure, I mean, maybe for the Irish Open, probably, but you probably won't see it in my bag apart from tournaments like that.

Q. The 12th, was that partly the flag or partly the position you were in?
RORY MCILROY: On 12? Yeah, I would say most people are going for 12 today, it's the easiest pin position on the green. I hit that iron 20 yards over the back. It's playing really, really short. So, yeah, I would say you would see most guys go for that today, I think it's the logical play.

Q. Your game today compared with the first two rounds?
RORY MCILROY: It's okay. It's not, I just am not really hitting the ball close. It's hard here to hit it close to give yourself a lot of chances for birdies. You're just trying to make pars on the difficult holes and take advantage of the par-5s and try to take advantage of holes like 12. I didn't really do that today. I think I birdied two of the par-5s, maybe. But, yeah, it feels okay. It's a golf course where it is difficult to hit it close, you're firing away from pins quite a lot and you're just sort of trying to bide your time and stay patient, especially on a day like today.

Q. Do you feel a bit like a caged animal given the restrictions that the design puts on you?
RORY MCILROY: A little bit, yeah, I've always felt it does, it handcuffs players a little bit, it dictates to you where you have to -- you can't really dictate how you play it, it sort of makes the decision for you, I guess. But I've learned that over the last -- I tried to overpower this golf course the first few times I played it and that didn't work so well. I'm here talking to you on a Saturday, so that's a positive.

Q. What's your treatment like after a round for your back?
RORY MCILROY: It's not too extensive, there's not really much we can do, just apart from flush it out and keep it loose. So it's three sets of different sort of active release, I guess, I'm moving in a certain way and Steve is sort of helping tissue go the same way, just sort of actively trying to loosen it while I'm making certain little movements and so it's not -- we do three sets of that, it takes 15 to 20 minutes and that's really it.

Q. Did you get a good sleep at night with the back?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I'm sort of having, I'm conscious and trying to sleep on my right side and that's sort of facing away from Erica and she's like, "Why? Are you not happy with me? What's going on? "I'm like, "No, no, it's fine I'm just taking care of my back."

Q. Didn't take long, did it?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, yeah, I know, exactly.

(Laughter.)

Q. Do you have any theory on how you did it at all, how you tweaked it. Lifting that TaylorMade check?
RORY MCILROY: No --

(Laughter.)

I wish.

I think it was just -- I had the injury at the start of the year, I did everything I needed to get myself back and healthy for the run-up to Augusta and Augusta. Then after Augusta I shut it down for three week, didn't really do much. Obviously I had other things on my mind. And when I went back to practice last Friday I might have just went in a little bit too aggressively. I hit balls for four or five hours on that Friday and then I hit balls, I practiced all day again on Saturday, and then I started to feel stiffness on Sunday. And then I hit a couple of drives on Monday morning and that's when I felt it.

Q. Some of that might just be soreness?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, a bit of soreness, maybe I didn't warm up properly because I've been doing these exercises with bands before I hit balls all the time and on Friday I didn't. So, only myself to blame. I probably just didn't warm up the right way and then it just got a little bit stiffer as the weekend. And obviously with the force that I go at it with a driver, if the muscle isn't quite loose or warmed up enough, it's either a slight tear or just a little bit of an aggravation.

Q. How many drivers did you hit today? How many does this course allow you to hit?
RORY MCILROY: I hit seven. You got the par-5s and then there's a couple of par-4s playing quite long today.

Q. Tomorrow what would be a nice reward, given your position?
RORY MCILROY: Obviously I would like to go out and shoot a good score and make this worthwhile in a way, in terms of collecting some World Ranking points and some FedExCup points and just trying to move forward. So anything in the 60s, depends what sort of day it's like, but if I can shoot something in the mid 60, move up back door a top-10 like I seem to do quite often and move on.

Q. Do you have any fear about what the MRI might be on Monday?
RORY MCILROY: Well I'm hoping that it just shows a slight little tear in the muscle or something like that. A little strain. Again, like I've said, it's so much, it's in the same place as before, but it's so much better. I have full rotation, I don't have trouble breathing, so all the signs point that it's not going to be too serious, it's just giving me a bit of discomfort and I just need to get it checked out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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