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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 25, 2017

Rory McIlroy

Old Westbury, New York

Q. How would you assess your round today?
RORY McILROY: Pretty scrappy. I haven't driven the ball that well over the past couple of days, and this golf course, with this rough, you need to put the ball in the fairway to give yourself birdie opportunities.

But it was okay. I just had to battle hard to be in for the weekend and I was able to do that. Hopefully I can get out there tomorrow and hopefully drive it a bit better and try to post a low one.

Q. How is your body feeling?
RORY McILROY: It's actually feeling okay. I hit balls for about an hour before going out today. I may be hit a few drivers too many and I just said, okay, I need to stop there. But I wanted to work on a couple of things in my swing.

Overall, it's feeling a bit better, so that's good.

Q. You said it was more after the round than during the round. Do you do anything after your round to try to mitigate whatever pain or discomfort?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, there's not much you can do. A little bit of ice, some soft tissue work if I feel like I need it, and I haven't been working it too hard, so that sort of spasm hasn't been -- I feel like there's a cup of knots in there where the muscle starts to protect the joint but overall it's actually felt okay. I try to warm it up really well in the mornings and do some sort of band exercises, some foam rolling, and then it's actually felt okay.

Q. When you see some of the highlights, chipping in on 17, putting off the green, does that help lift your spirits somewhat?
RORY McILROY: My spirits are okay. I'm not getting down on myself. I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy I can play and trying to make the most of it. I'm happy to be here for the weekend.

But it is; my short game has been good, and that has been something that saved me, not just this week but over the past few weeks. My short game's been pretty good. I think I've holed out from off the green five or six times in the last three tournaments.

So maybe that's the way forward. I'm trying to hit more greens. I wish I could hit more greens.

Q. When was the last time you felt as if the game was coming to you during a round, instead of having to exhibit your scrappiness to get the score?
RORY McILROY: I think a couple of the rounds at Akron felt like that. And then before that, probably have to be pre-Augusta, I guess. I felt like the first tournament back in MÃ©xico after the injury, I started to -- I shot a 65 in the second round. Bay Hill, played well. I shot a couple of good scores there.

But that's really it. I've been trying to piece it all together. After coming back from the second injury, it's been a little bit tougher, just because I didn't have that much time and in the middle of the season, you're focused purely on results. You're not focused on the process, where at the start of the year, the process is nearly the most important thing, and if you can do that, the results will follow. It's been tough but it's been sort of scrap I all year to be honest. But I've been hanging in there and battling and just trying to keep myself going, really.

Q. Roger Federer just talked about the six months he took off, and it was exactly what you were just saying; that when you're always trying to compete or getting ready to compete, you really can't get away from it and improve yourself, your body, your game, your mind to the extent that you need to.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, exactly. And that's why I've repeatedly said this week, I'm excited for the next few months.

I'm excited to go through this process and to improve and feel like I have the time to improve and really work on some things and not try -- you know, try and improve something for a week and then go play a tournament and then you're focusing on results and competing and trying to shoot scores. So I'm really looking forward to that.

I want to play well these next few weeks but I keep saying, I've got one eye on the last three months of this year, and I'm excited to go on that journey and hopefully turn up in 2018 a better golfer, a healthier golfer and start -- not the second half of my career, but I think if you're in a job for so long, you can take a sabbatical for a few weeks, and I feel like this is my sabbatical. I feel like I can sort of refresh my mind, reset and start over again.

Q. Do you think you are going from caterpillar (ph) to butterfly?
RORY McILROY: (Laughter) I do like that. I'm getting there. I'd love to live in a cocoon, protect myself from everything, that would be nice. Yeah, definitely, I feel like I've been through a bit of a journey this year, not just on the course; off the course, as well, and things have changed in my life.

Yeah, it's quite a nice metaphor.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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