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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

September 6, 2018

Rory McIlroy

Carmel, Indiana

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy into the Interview Room after an 8-under par, 62. Currently tied with Tiger Woods for the lead.

Rory, excellent round of golf especially that middle stretch, 6 birdies in a row and then I know that last birdie was important to you to sort of get the momentum back.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah. You know, for awhile there I was -- I made that birdie on the 5th hole, my 14th to get to 9-under and thinking, okay, two of the last four to break 60 and I just -- I hit a bad tee shot on 6. Actually felt I had a good tee shot on 7. Hit the tree and went left on me and that wasn't a good bogey there but, you know, it was good to birdie the last, you know, tied for the lead going into the second day.

Look, geez, if someone had given me a 62 on the first tee this morning I would have taken it. So, it's a great way to start the golf tournament. My game feels obviously in really good shape. There's a lot of good signs out there. My approach play, my wedge play has been much better. I putted well. Basically did everything well and looking forward to getting back out there early in the morning and trying to get it going again.

JOHN BUSH: Let's go right into questions.

Q. Caught a little bit of it on the TV. Can you talk about what happened yesterday and talk about this stretch that you've gone through and have you ever been through a stretch like that before?
RORY MCILROY: So, I guess I went out and played 9 holes with Tiger on Tuesday, the front-9 and then the Pro-Am yesterday I started on 10 so I hadn't played that 9 and I played that 9 holes of golf and said to, "Harry, this 9 seems a little tougher than the front-9, seems like a few more chances on the front-9."

Going to the front-9, the last nine of the Pro-Am and I make 7 birdies in a row. And then I parred it and birdied 9 and shot 27. Then I go on today and play my first 14 in 9-under par. So I played -- I played the 23 hole stretch in 17-under par. Oh, that's pretty good.

But, yeah, like it's a golf course where big wide fairways, if you carry it 300, 310 off the tee it's a massive advantage and it's a golf course that just seems to fit my eye.

I like the greens. You can work the ball in off the slopes. You got to hit it pretty wild to start missing fairways. So if you get your ball in the short stuff you can get it going.

Q. Rory, I realize this is projecting past tomorrow, how much fun would it be to have the leaderboard of you and Tiger on the top this weekend?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it would be awesome. Tiger is sort of being a regular fixture on the leaderboard this year. Carnoustie was a lot of fun with him up there. Even at Bay Hill when we were sort of both in contention and hearing the cheers from up ahead. So, yeah, it would be cool.

There's a long way to go and just need to get out there and play some good golf tomorrow. I think with the way the conditions are, especially with the rain that's forecast tomorrow, I can't see the scoring being any different than what it was today.

I think there's going to be a lot of guys going very low and probably see quite a bunched leaderboard at the end of the week.

Q. If you shot 27 yesterday, why would you have settled for 62 on the first tee today?
RORY MCILROY: Because I'm a realist, Doug. Yeah. That's why. Geez, I'm not going to turn down a 62.

Q. I know that. Two more things. You would have taken the 62 at the start, would you have thought that would have given you what size of a lead?
RORY MCILROY: No. I think, you know, coming into today, I thought, you know, I think I'm a pretty good judge of what the winning score is going to be at the end of the week and I thought it would be somewhere between sort of 15 and 20-under par.

So I thought, you know, you're going to see guys shooting 63, 62s. It's just -- I guess this golf course is meant to play a little firmer than what it is. It started to firm up a little bit out there later on in the round but when the fairways are that wide and it's still pretty soft, all these guys are going to make birdies.

Q. The last thing I want to ask you, did you realize you had to hit the shot and played a great round, did you feel like you were tested today?
Does that make sense?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah. Yes. I feel even -- I don't think -- I definitely think it's a second shot golf course. The fairways are so wide I don't think it really tests you much off the tee.

There's a certain amount of shots that you got to stand up and hit a good shot and the only thing they can do is tuck the pins away and you got to be very disciplined to not take on some of the pins and work your ball off some of the slopes and so I think, as I said, a second shot golf course, yeah, you get tested.

Q. Rory, did you watch any leaderboards out there, did you know what Tiger was doing and what did you think when you heard he shot a 62 after you got done?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. No, I looked at the leaderboards all day. I sort of realized what he was -- I think he was 7-under par after 10 holes. He had it going as well, obviously and, yeah, it was one of those days. It was out there. There was a lot of generous hole locations. You could get it close, get a bit of momentum going.

As I said, we all benefit from Tiger Woods playing well, you know. So, I'm happy he's up there and, you know, it will be a great tournament if he stays up there.

JOHN BUSH: Early start tomorrow. Let's wrap it up.

Q. How often does it actually happen where you carry from momentum from the Pro-Am into the 1st Round?
Does it happen that often?

RORY MCILROY: Not really. My stroke average in Pro-Ams is probably about 75.7. So, no, I don't really carry much momentum from Wednesday to Thursday at any point. Maybe I should try a little harder on Wednesdays. It seemed to work this time.

Q. Probably spinning heads with this question but is it disappointing more to not have shot 59 or going so close to have the card with the two closing birdies?
RORY MCILROY: Geez, Debbie Downer here. I think probably just not giving myself a better chance to shoot the 59. I can accept bogies. Definitely I can accept a bogey on a hole like the 8th hole and the bogey on 7 wasn't good but you don't get many opportunities to break 60 and today was one of them and I didn't capitalize.

I'm not going to say it stinks too bad because I'd much rather -- you know, I much rather shoot 62 today and win the golf tournament Sunday and shoot 59 today and maybe not win.

JOHN BUSH: Try to do a little better tomorrow.

RORY MCILROY: Thank you. I'll try.

Q. I must ask, what is it about this time of year, Rory McIlory seems to kick it into like 8th, 9th gear?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah. I don't know. I think you know, sometimes, you know, if a Major season doesn't go your way and you haven't done what you wanted to it's just a bit of a reset, let's go again, re-assess your goals. I guess that's what I did.

I took Northern Trust off to work on a few things. I really just wanted to get my game ready for these few weeks and obviously leading up to the Ryder Cup as well. I think a round like this, it sets me up for another run at the FedExCup and hopefully I can continue on from here and play well and give myself a better chance going into East Lake. I'm happy with where I'm at.

Q. Rory McIlroy said yesterday you felt like your game was trending. What aspects of your play stood out for you?
RORY MCILROY: My approach play. My driving as well. I felt like I drove the ball a lit erratically the last couple of days in Boston last week. Drove it much better today.

Then you're putting yourself in the fairways and in position to hit some of the iron shots. My wedge play, proximity to the hole today, was pretty good. I converted a lot of the chances I gave myself. Feel like I left a couple out there but I'm fine.

It's a great start to the golf tournament and all the I need to do is take the positives and go from here.

Q. Talk about your putting. You've admitted you've struggled some this year. 27 putts today. You made over 108 feet. How comfortable and confident are you now with the putter in your hand?
RORY MCILROY: I think ever since Bay Hill my -- I feel like the putting has been very good. So, you know, that would give me a lot of confidence. I think I putted my best I've ever putted the greens at Augusta this year even though I didn't have the last round I wanted. I putted well when I needed to. I holed some putts, could go down the stretch at Carnoustie. Putted nicely last week, again this week.

I like bent greens, I like this time of the year. We come to the courses in the Northeast and I like to get on the greens and got a little bit of slope to them but you can be aggressive but -- you know, I seem to putt well this time of year and I think part of reason is I come to these golf courses and these greens fit my eye.

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