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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 7, 2018Rory McIlroyAugusta, Georgia MODERATOR: Good evening. Welcome back, Rory. A 65, five birdies and an eagle, bogey‑free round. Can you fill us in? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, a great day. I'm closer to the lead than I was starting off the day, which a bonus, especially when you see Patrick goes out and shoots 67 and obviously played very well. I rode my luck a little bit out there. You know, the chip‑in on the 8th hole, finding my ball in the azaleas on 13, not the first time. Then hitting the tree on 18 and coming back in the fairway and making a birdie from that. You know, I rode my luck a little bit out there today. Hopefully I don't have to rely on it too much tomorrow. But yeah, just a great day. To get myself into the final group, you know, and have a chance to win another major, I'm excited. You couldn't ask for much more out of today. Q. You've waited seven years to be in the final group here on a Sunday. How much does that situation mean to you, and perhaps maybe putting into practice a lot of the things you learned, maybe that day specifically, even though the circumstances are different? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I've been waiting for this chance, to be honest. I always have said that, you know, 2011 was a huge turning point in my career. It was the day that I realized I wasn't ready to win major championships, and I needed to reflect on that and realize what I needed to do differently. But now I am ready. I learned a lot from it. I'm happy to be in the final group. Obviously I'm not in the lead like I was going into that day, so I probably don't have as much pressure. I don't have to protect anything. I can go out and sort of free‑wheel like I did today, which is a great position to be in. I wish I was a little closer to the lead or leading, but I'm in the final group and I've shot 65 on moving day at the Masters. It's all I can ask for. Q. Could you take us back to the situation you had at 13, what the lie looked like, what kind of gap you had to get it back in play? RORY MCILROY: It was a sea of pink. I was lucky just to see the ball, and I had a stance‑‑ you know, it's actually‑‑ azaleas are actually pretty thin down below. They look pretty thick on top, but down below they are actually not too bad. I could take a stance and just sort of pick the club straight up and get it back down on top of it and just trundle it out through the pine straw and back on to the grass. You know, I made a couple of really key up‑and‑downs coming in there‑‑ obviously 13; the up‑and‑down on 15, on 16, on 17. That was the hardest it was raining all day was when I hit my second shot on 13, and I probably rushed it a little bit. I probably shouldn't have hit when I did. But yeah, I wasn't too comfortable over it, but thankfully I made 5 from it and I was able to move on. Q. What kind of apprehension did you have, and if it didn't work out, did you even think beyond that point? RORY MCILROY: No, I mean‑‑ yeah, at that point, when it sort of went into the azaleas and I didn't see it coming rolling back down, I sort of thought, well, you know, I've been up here before and I made six, so hopefully if I can make six, move on, birdie two or three of the final few holes, and get in the clubhouse. I said to Harry walking down 134, I sort of set myself a target, let's try to get to 12‑under here. Didn't quite get there. You know, I played the final few holes as well as I could, and as I said, I rode my luck a little bit, and I was lucky enough on 13 to get away with it and make a five. Q. We all remember the events of Hazeltine a little while ago, but how important is it for you tomorrow to not get into a head‑to‑head struggle with Patrick? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, there's a lot more players in this golf tournament than just Patrick Reed and I. You've got Jon on 8, Rickie on 9, and even looking at Henrik on 7 there. I know guys can get off to hot starts on a Sunday here, and you get a bit of momentum and do something‑‑ Rickie was 5‑under for the front nine today; if he goes 5‑under for the front nine again tomorrow, golf tournament is wide open. It's definitely not a two‑horse race at this point. There's a lot more guys. I told myself today, leaderboards are huge here; it's hard to miss them. But I said to myself, don't concentrate on them too much. Try not to look at them. It's hard not to, but ‑‑ because I just wanted to set myself a target today and go for that. Tomorrow, I'll obviously know what Patrick Reed is doing, but apart from that, I'm going to set myself a target, try to get to that, and hopefully it's enough. Q. Did you hear the cheer when Patrick chipped in on 15, and can you just talk about the vibe out there of hearing those cheers bouncing back and forth? It felt like a Sunday afternoon. RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I heard it. I don't know if I‑‑ I think I was on 17 tee at that point. So yeah, and then I saw that he went to 15. But yeah, look, it's hard. As I said, you have these huge leaderboards out there, and the roars, it's hard not to know what's going on. But yeah, it was a great atmosphere out there, even though the weather wasn't great. I'm going to‑‑ you have to expect a lot of roars in front of you, especially tomorrow. I remember even on the first hole on Sunday in 2011 and hearing roars from, you know, Charl chipped in in front of us on the first, he holed his second shot on the third. There's loads of stuff that goes on, and you have to try to zone out as best you can and not let that affect you. Q. Can you go over the fairway bunker shot on 5 and the hole‑out on 8, and when those things happened, how much wind does that provide at your back as far as what's going to happen? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it gives you a huge boost of momentum. Considering what happened on 5, I felt like I could have stepped up and hit that putt left‑handed and it would have went in, from the look I got from the second shot. Yeah, some days it's with you and some days it's against you, and today it was with me and I took advantage of it. But yeah, you know, as I said, hopefully I don't need to rely too much on luck tomorrow and I can go out there and play a good round of golf. Q. I know it's not a two‑man duel like at Hazeltine, but can you talk about the match that you had with Patrick there and what do you expect the atmosphere to be like tomorrow with the two of you out in the last at Augusta? RORY MCILROY: I think it will be slightly different. It's not Europe versus America. It's hopefully not such a partisan‑‑ or bipartisan‑‑ partisan? ‑‑ partisan crowd. But Patrick went to Augusta State. He's not a local, but he played very good golf here when he went to college, and I'm sure he'll have a lot of support. So yeah, but I know that there's people out there that are wishing me well, and you know, hoping that I play well. So it won't be quite as intense as that Ryder Cup match, I don't think. I think we'll obviously still be feeling it. It's the last round of a major championship, and we're both going for‑‑ Patrick is going for his first and I'm going for something else (laughter). It's going to be good fun (laughter). Q. Great scoring today. How was the golf course different? Was it just the rain or was it also setup? RORY MCILROY: It was just a little bit softer. The fire was just taken out of the greens a little bit. The greens were probably a foot slower than they were yesterday, and that made all the difference. You know, the tee was up on 4. So it was only playing a 7‑iron instead of a 3‑ or 4‑iron. It was a slightly different wind, so I felt like the tough holes played easy. The par 5s played a little more difficult, but the tough holes, like if you were aggressive enough off the tee on the fifth, for example, you were only probably having a short iron in your hand. I hit lob‑wedge into 7. 10 and 11 were both down off the right, so it makes those holes play a little bit easier. The tough holes played easier, and I guess the gettable holes played a little tougher. The combination of wind direction and the course being a little soft; that's why you're seeing 65s and 66s. Q. On the TV interview, you kind of painted this picture a little bit more of almost like you were the underdog or the less‑popular guy. You used the phrase "spoil the party." Do you really believe that, or is that almost a mental approach to kind of guard yourself from having to battle him? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, honestly, I feel like Patrick has got a three‑shot lead. I feel like all the pressure is on him. He's got to go out and protect that, and he's got a few guys chasing him that are pretty big‑time players. He's got that to deal with and sleep on tonight. I feel like I can go out there and play like I've got nothing to lose. If I can do that, I feel like I'll be okay. I mean, I don't know‑‑ I used the term "spoil the party"; I don't know how much support he'll have compared to me or whatever, but as I said, this isn't a two‑horse race. There's still a few guys in this golf tournament, and we have to treat it that way. Q. After such a good front nine, getting into the back nine and not giving anything away, and your recovery play on 12, 13, 17, you must be really happy going into the final round, knowing that your game is at that? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I relied a little bit on my short game today. Yeah, the birdies dried up after that eighth hole for a bit. Yeah, I gave myself a couple of decent chances on 10 and 11, and as you said, the up‑and‑down on 12, 13, even the lay‑up on 15 and getting that up‑and‑down for birdie, I relied on my wedges and my putter, which is really nice. I mean, that's huge for me going into tomorrow, being able to get it up‑and‑down when I need to. You play the angles. Even on 17 today, I could have maybe tried to hit it on the green. I had more of a tighter gap a little bit right of where I hit it, but I knew play it just to the front left of the green. It's a pretty simple chip shot, take your four and move on, try to make three at the last. So I'm thinking well and I'm in that mind‑set where I can trust my short game, I can trust missing greens and getting it up‑and‑down, and if I can‑‑ if I'm doing that and I'm hitting shots that I know that I can hit, I'll produce rounds like I did today. So I was really pleased with that, yeah. Q. Along those lines, how would you describe your confidence level in executing the type of shots you need to hit around here? And secondly, how much more relaxed are you here specifically versus maybe some recent years here? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, as I said, I've kept saying all week, my game's right there. I don't feel there's any shot on the golf course that I can't execute, and I feel like I showed‑‑ I have shown that over the last three days, whether it be drives or second shots or chips or bunker shots or putts. I feel like all aspects of my game are in really good shape, and I'm much more relaxed. This isn't my first time in this position now. I've been able to close the deal a few times before this, and I have that to fall back on tomorrow. I've got a lot of experience in these positions and experience that I've learned from, good and bad, and I feel like all of those experiences will help me tomorrow. Q. Typically in the final round of the tournament, how much talk do you do with the other player in the group, and how do the dynamics change in the final round of a major? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it depends. It depends who you're paired with. You know, Henrik and I talked a little bit today, but not too much. Yeah, I mean, there's probably less chat; of course there is. You're trying to concentrate on what you're doing. Maybe a little more dialogue with your caddie trying to stay relaxed or stay loose. Harry and I were chuckling to ourselves when we found out that I hit it 132 today going up the seventh, so that was a nice little tension reliever I guess. Yeah, I can't imagine there's going to be much chat out there tomorrow. Not that I have anything against Patrick. We've actually got quite a good relationship, but at the end of the day, it's business and we're both trying to do something pretty special. MODERATOR: Thanks very much, Rory. Best of luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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