	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM

February 8, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Pebble Beach, California

Q. Happy with the round or happy with the way your dad played?
RORY MCILROY: Actually he didn't play that good.

(Laughter.)

I was happy with my round. I think that any time you can get it around in a decent score at Spyglass in this tournament, it's sort of the tougher of the three golf courses out of the way. So, yeah, I was pleased. I recovered well. A couple of messy holes coming in. In the end made a good bogey on 16. Made a great par on 17. It was nice to finish with a birdie at the last. So all in all pretty pleased.

Q. If your dad didn't play well, it still had to be fun being out there with him?
RORY MCILROY: It was awesome. It was great being out there with him. It's been such a good week so far. He went over and he abandoned me on Monday to go play Cypress, which is understandable. And then we have had a blast the last few days. We played Pebble on Tuesday, Monterey yesterday, and then here today and it's awesome. The weather and just everything, it's been a really good week so far.

Q. You're in contention, you guys are together, fun three days ahead for you.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, for sure.

Q. Did you play Spyglass before today.
RORY MCILROY: I played on Monday, as my dad was over at Cypress, so, yeah.

Q. Did you see anything funny or goofy out there, your dad?
RORY MCILROY: No. He, like we played early in the morning so there's a few shadows out there, and I was about to take my driver away on the 7th hole and I saw his shadow move. So I backed off it. I said fine, standstill. Blocked it way right and hit my second in the water. So I'm like, hard to say anything, chipped in for birdie. So I was like, you're forgiven. But no, he was good out there and like Jimmy and him have a blast. They're both members at Seminole and see each other all the time. And I've developed a really good relationship with Phil over the past couple years and it was a really nice group.

Q. Did it feel any different being out there with your dad?
RORY MCILROY: A little bit. I mean I've had it before at the Dunhill where it feels a bit different. And sometimes I get too much carried away with the team aspect and not actually, this is a golf tournament and there's a lot of World Ranking points at stake here and whatever. So I sort of made a conscious effort this week to treat it as that and not warm up right next to him, not -- actually get my, I don't know, my game head on and just sort of try and go through the things that I need to do to play well. It worked today, I guess, so.

Q. Is this the best that you've felt at this point in the year in a while?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I feel good. A couple of really good weeks in the Middle East. But, yeah, like I'm healthy and I'm able to practice, I'm able to do everything I want to do, so I feel good. I'm in a really good frame of mind and that helps too.

Q. Did you get practice rounds in on all the courses here?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I got in Sunday night and then, yeah, I played Spyglass here on Monday, Pebble Tuesday, Monterey Wednesday.

Q. That's another kind of aspect to this that makes it a little bit more challenging?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, for sure. I've played Pebble before, but only for two rounds in 2010 U.S. Open. Feels a long time ago. I played with Tom Watson those two rounds, so that's -- yeah, that makes me feel old. But, yeah, and I remembered Pebble, but I didn't remember the nuances of it or how small the greens were or how you really can't leave yourself above the hole. I didn't really remember all that. So to be able to go out and play and refresh my memory with all of that was good.

Q. Have you played with Phil since Valhalla?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I played with him in Mexico last year. Bones and I were running to the toilet every other hole.

(Laughter.)

Q. Is there any part of your game that's not working right now?
RORY MCILROY: Everything's pretty good. I scrambled, I'm scrambling well when I need to. I feel like I've made good strides with my putting over the off season. Driving the ball good. Everything -- from when I spoke to you guys last until now, everything, I feel, has gotten better, which is a good thing. So, no, I feel really comfortable with it all.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297