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THE HONDA CLASSIC

February 23, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Q. Just takeaways after day two?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, another tough day. I think today probably played tougher than it did yesterday. Greens are a little firmer. The wind is pretty similar.

But yeah, it's tough. I mean, seemed like every hole that we had a right-to-left wind, the pin was on the right and vice versa, so it was hard to get it close. But grinded it out. Especially after the 6 on 17.

You know, to play a good ten holes after that, and be level par for those, that's sort of all you're hoping for out there today, which there's a couple of decent scores out there. But anything around 70 and you're going to be doing well today.

Q. Can you take us through 17? Obviously it's a difficult hole but what are the specific challenges?
RORY McILROY: It was sort of in, maybe a little out of the right, and I hit 5-iron yesterday and it pitched 194. We had 183 this morning and I knew 6-iron wasn't going to get there, so I was trying to take a little -- I was trying to just play a little bit of a different shot with the 5 and sort of cut it in there and I just got a way ahead of it. Ball started much further right than I wanted to and it just drifted into the water.

Again, tried to play the shot that was the right one. I just didn't make a good swing.

Q. What's good about your game at the moment and what's giving you a headache? Everybody's commenting about your putting at the moment.
RORY McILROY: Putting feels good. I think probably I'm pretty sure I was strokes gained today on the greens. Held some nice ones when I needed to. It was nice to hole that sort of 6-footer at the last to sort of guarantee being in for the weekend.

I feel after the last couple of weeks in California on the poa annua, I started to second guess myself with reads and lines. Just a little more commitment, a little more trust over the last couple days. It was nice to see a couple putts drop today.

Q. Not losing any sleep if you have a bad putting day?
RORY McILROY: Not at all, geez, no. Not at all. I think I've made, as I said, I've made big strides in my putting, and I'll have days like I have yesterday where I might lose a stroke to the field but I'll have days like today where I probably gained over a shot on the field.

Yeah, I feel good about it. Mechanically it's much better than it has been, and it's just, again, it's more of a mind-set and being committed and trust what I'm doing out there.

Q. Fair to say doesn't look much like Masters preparations at the moment.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, that's a fair comment. Sort of Open conditions, U.S. Open scoring. Yeah, pretty much the preparation for everything but what we want it to be. Yeah, I guess the greens are getting a little fast, so that's one thing. Seems like it's been quite blustery the last couple years at Augusta, anyway. But yeah, it's probably the furthest thing from Augusta right now around here.

Q. What is Masters preparation? Not counting Augusta National being there, but what are you looking for in March?
RORY McILROY: I'm just looking for my game to be in good shape. Being able to hit the shots that I see and different flights and being comfortable with everything, and that's basically it.

I've always said, you can do as much preparation as you want in tournaments, but if you can't step up and execute the shots, then preparation means nothing. So the biggest thing is just having your game in shape.

Q. Did you have a pretty good par save on 9? Is that right?
RORY McILROY: Yeah.

Q. Any details?
RORY McILROY: So that ball would have rolled back into the bunker if some guy's foot hand of been there. Yeah, the guy was asking -- I guess the guy, one of the FBI guys that's following our group, he was asking him about the rules and he goes, "I'm a cop. I'm law enforcement, so don't be asking me."

That was one of the best fours I've made out here the last couple days. That shoot-around back into the bunker and should are had a straightforward second shot, but basically, I think it's probably the longest I've ever taken to try to hit a golf shot because I didn't know whether to stand in the bunker, out of the bunker. Ended up making a good four in the end.

Q. Just to piggyback on Doug's point, when conditions are this tough and this is nothing like Augusta, what do you hope on Sunday afternoon to have taken out of the week?
RORY McILROY: World Ranking points, FedExCup points and some cash hopefully. That's about it. I don't think there's anything else you can really -- there's nothing I've done over the last two days where I can say, oh, yeah, that will help at Augusta. 5-irons from 170 yards isn't really what we do around here.

Q. The grass last week on the green wasn't the one that suit you, and this week, it's very thin and not so much grass. Which grass you wish to see?
RORY McILROY: Some grass. Some grass would be nice. Yeah, I mean, I guess Tampa, I've never played. I think the greens are bermuda but most of everything else is overseeded.

Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks where the surfaces haven't been perfect, but it's the same for everyone. We'll try as hard as we can the next couple days and try and make the best of it.

Q. Living locally, can you talk about the importance of playing in this tournament?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, look, it's always nice to play a tournament and sleep in your own bed. I've gotten to know Ken Kennerly and the folks that run this tournament over the years and I know how much the community benefit from us turning up and playing. Obviously the Nicklaus's have done a lot and the beneficiary of this tournament is their charity and the children's hospital.

Jack, I played in 'The Jake' on Monday and Jack raised $3.1 million for the hospital. They are going to raise at least another million out of this this week, if not more.

It's amazing, the PGA TOUR going to all these different cities all over the country and the money that they raise for charity, I think that's the biggest thing. I'm from the community and I sort of feel the impact of that, so I think it's important that I do show up and play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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