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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 10, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. How did you feel about your round today?
RORY MCILROY: Okay. It could have been better. It could have been probably a little worse as well, it was probably a fair reflection of how I played. I had some chances that I didn't take advantage of, but then like I got up-and-down a couple of times and chipped in and so, yeah, it was okay. I mean, I didn't, looking at the scoreboard, it looked like it played easy out there but I didn't, our group didn't feel like that, with what we shot. But yeah, I guess there wasn't much wind and greens were pretty receptive so you could have shot a low one. But, yeah, I don't expect anyone to go too much lower than that today. Wind's getting up a little bit and the course is drying out, so it's not too bad, it's just hopefully make a few more birdies tomorrow.

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was. I don't think people would probably appreciate how tough that was unless they were down there. So, yeah, no, that was nice. It was a bonus, I was contemplating putting it, but even if I putted it I might not have got within six or seven feet, I just wanted to try to leave myself a putt, but that checked into the hill quite nicely and, yeah.

Q. (No Microphone.)
RORY MCILROY: No, I thought it was actually going to go across the front side of the hole and you hit chips like that a lot, or not a lot, but when you do it's rare that they go in. It's sort of a bonus if they drop. And I think that if you give me another hundred shots I wouldn't get them in the hole from there, so that was nice.

Q. When you see some of the low scores that are going up early on do you start thinking about, what is this course going to give and what can I do with it or do you take it hole by hole?
RORY MCILROY: Obviously you see some guys shooting 6-under par or so and know it was out there. We did have the opportunity to do that, I just didn't quite take advantage of it like some of the other guys did. But it's a long week, the golf course is just going to play firmer and faster and harder as the week goes on. And if I, from here on in, shoot three scores in the 60s I don't feel like I'll be that far away.

Q. The No. 1 ranking is up for grabs this week. How formidable has Dustin been at the No. 1 and just how hard is it to get there now?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I mean I think he's done a great job because I feel it's harder to stay there than it is to get there. I think that once you're there, you have a lot of points to defend and there's a lot of that that goes into it and that there shouldn't be added pressure -- obviously Dustin, he doesn't look like he feels anything on the golf course, so I don't think pressure really gets to him. But maybe an expectation with being the world No. 1 than there is if you're not. So I think the impressive thing is staying there for as long as he has. Obviously a lot of guys, he hasn't played the last few weeks, so a lot of guys have a chance now to sort of take it from him and yeah, it's sort of, I guess it's sort of where we are in golf right now, everyone, it's very tight at the top of the game, I guess.

Q. Any surprises from Jordan? Some ups and downs here for Jordan today, especially early.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, look, we talked about it out there a little bit and I said, look, the way I played at the Honda and Valspar, no one would have thought I would have went to Bay Hill and won, it's never that far away. And that's basically what he was saying to me, it's not too far away and he figured a couple things out at Houston and Augusta and he played pretty well, but, no, it's not -- I actually thought he drove the ball really, really well, it's the best I've seen him drive it in a long time. He's not putting like the Jordan that we know, but I think just talking about that a little bit, it's a very simple fix for him. And I think he, look, he obviously knows what he's doing and this golf course as well, it makes your misses just that little bit worse. On other golf courses some of the shots he hit today probably would have got away with and made pars, but around here you make, you hit one slightly errant shot and you're making a double. So it just sort of magnifies your misses around here as well.

Q. I asked you about playing in this grouping before you went, now that you played in a tournament of this stature, what was the experience like to play with those guys?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, look, I played with both of those guys before in tournaments and it was actually quieter out there than I thought it would be. It wasn't bad. It was a nice morning round, I didn't feel like there was any, any more atmosphere out there than there usually would have been. That might be a little bit different tomorrow afternoon, I'll take a look and see how the that group gets on this afternoon and see what that's like, but it was nice, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

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