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DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN HOSTED BY THE RORY FOUNDATION

July 7, 2017

Rory McIlroy

Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Q. Obvious to see the disappointment on your face?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, look, I'm really disappointed. The last two times The Irish Open has been in Northern Ireland, not playing at the weekend, it's obviously not where I want to be.

It's been a really frustrating year. Just hasn't really went the way I wanted it to. And yeah, it's been tough but I felt like I was playing well coming in here. I played a lot of links golf last week. I was shooting good scores. I was confident. Just when I needed to play well and shoot the scores that I was shooting last week, it just wasn't quite there.

So just back to the drawing board and practise a bit and get ready for next week in Scotland.

Q. What do you think it is? Is it the lack of competitive golf? Is it putting pressure on yourself when you're playing at home in Northern Ireland?
RORY McILROY: I think it's a combination of both. Yeah, I haven't played as much as I would have liked this year. Yeah, I think that, as well as just -- yeah, I need to play more. I feel like I'm starting on a run of doing that. I'm make next week in Scotland, The Open. I'm going to play a lot of events over the summer.

But I really need to get my game in order if I want to challenge in them. So bit of practise over the weekend and hopefully I can find something and go with it over the next few weeks.

Q. A shame you won't be involved here, such an exciting tournament, big crowds.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's a great atmosphere. It's great that there's some big guys that are up near the top of the leaderboard. Obviously Jon and Hideki both played well there the first two days. Justin is teeing off in a little bit, he's on 5-under, Shane 4-under, PÃ¡draig 4-under.

So a lot of guys are in with a good chance today to really make this tournament exciting. Yeah, it's just a pity I'm not part of that.

Q. How confident are you that you can get your game back on track for The Open Championship?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't feel like I'm that far away. I really don't. It's a little -- a few putts dropping here or there. It's a few up-and-downs that I haven't been able to get the last couple of days. It's all that stuff that isn't so obvious.

If I can do those things right and do the simple things right, I think that's -- I can hit a 5-iron from 220 yards and hit it in the middle of the green, but I can't get it up-and-down from 30 feet. So if I can do the simple things right, then it makes the game a lot easier. I just need to concentrate on that.

Q. Is the most disappointing thing, you have six competitive links rounds between now and The Open --
RORY McILROY: Hopefully. I think, yeah, I'm just happy I've got a tournament next week to play. I'm happy that I did add the Scottish.

I think the most disappointing thing is not being here for the weekend. It's an important tournament to me and one I want to play well in. To see some of the guys that are up near the top of the leaderboard, going to battle it out over the weekend; disappointing that I'm not going to be a part of that.

That's the disappointment right now. But just got to sort of dust myself off and practise over the weekend, and do some good work between now and next Thursday and get ready for the Scottish.

Q. Does the Scottish take on more importance now?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think so. I'd like to get a good tournament under my belt going into Birkdale.

Yeah, every tournament is important to me coming up in this summer stretch. I haven't played a lot and every time I go and play, I need to make the most of it.

Unfortunately the last three outings since coming back from injury hasn't been quite that way. Just need to play a few more rounds and play a few more tournaments. I'm confident it will come together but just trying to stay as patient as possible at the minute.

Q. Is it a matter of taking the form --
RORY McILROY: A little bit. I'm seeing really positive stuff in practise and I'm seeing positive stuff when I'm out playing. Then just when I get into tournament situations, it's all there, but it's just about putting the pieces together, and I'm not able to put them together when I've been out on the golf course the last couple of days.

As I said over there, it's the simple things I haven't been doing well, and golf becomes so much easier when you do the simple things well. Getting up-and-down off the front edge of 1 today, for example; the same thing, getting it up-and-down from the front edge at 7 on the par 3; getting up-and-down on 6 from not that far away.

So the simple things I haven't been able to do well and I haven't been as efficient with my scoring, and that makes it really tough, no matter who you are. You can't keep hitting quality golf shots all the time and giving yourself chances. You have to get it up-and-down. You have to be able to hole putts to keep momentum going. I wasn't able to do that over the last two days.

Q. This is a totally unique event because you're the host of it. Is there an element that those hosting duties, while not physically draining you, they are a distraction and it's hard to actually focus on the task at hand, which is playing the tournament?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, for sure. It's definitely not a normal week for me but I'm proud to be part of this tournament and I'm proud to say that we started with a 2.5 3 million Euro prize fund and it's up to 7 million and it's part of the Rolex Series.

So the tournament has become a much bigger tournament because of, not just my involvement, but The European Tour and everyone else that's been involved at Dubai Duty Free. It has become a bigger tournament. I just wish I could be a part of it over the weekend.

I don't know, look, it's disappointing, of course it is. But I don't know, I don't want to make an excuse that I'm busy the few days before. Because when I get out on Thursday, I should be able to go out there and play, and even if I had not of done any practise over the last week, with the way the conditions are, I should be able to go out there and shoot two scores in the 60s standing on my head.

Q. You've been here before when you had technical problems and you tried to solve them and they seemed good on the practise ground and don't go quite right on the golf course with a card in your hand. Do you know maybe some of the checkpoints to look at and get it right for the next couple of weeks?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think it's really about staying patient. I don't feel like there's so much wrong. It's hard to say that because I just missed the cut and I'm 13 shots behind one of my playing partners. But it doesn't feel like it's that far away.

So I just have to keep at it and stay patient and keep practicing. I feel like I'm working on the right things and keep believing in those, and not trying to, need to stay on one path and not try to change and change ideas. You need to keep believing in what you're doing, and I feel like I am. It's just a matter of being patient with it.

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