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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARDMarch 10, 2019Rory McIlroyOrlando, Florida Q. Just the take away from today? RORY MCILROY: Tough day, tough to get it close to the hole. I feel like I really didn't play that badly. I missed a couple of shots but I felt like I was hitting good shots to 30 feet all day and it's hard to sort of shoot a score. My mindset going out was play that way, take care of the par-5s, I thought go out there, do that, shoot 68, I would have been close and obviously that was the winning total. I just didn't play the par-5s well enough. Short little putt on 4. Sort of missed it in the wrong spot on 6. Two great shots into 12 and wound up in a tough spot. So if I played the par-5s a little better it might have been a different story. But it's just so firm out there, I did everything I wanted to do, I hit fairways, I hit solid shots into greens, it's just asking a lot of yourself to try and hole 25-footers all day to make birdies. Q. With how firm the conditions got, did you adjust? RORY MCILROY: It got really firm. As I said, even going in with 8-irons, 9-irons, wedges into these greens, 25 feet was a good shot and then you're trying to take your chances from there. The way how slick the greens are, you're not going to have a run of 25-footer, you're almost -- I was saying to Matt walking up 17 it's like we're hitting really good shots, but we're leaving ourself putts that were sort of being defensive with, because it's hard to -- you don't want to run it six feet by trying to hole them. Q. Are there positives you can take from this and even so are you kind of over the moral victories at this point? RORY MCILROY: No, not at all, I'm playing well, I'm getting myself into contention every week, continue to do that, going into next week, that's the great thing about golf, you don't have to wait too long to get back on the horse. So, no, I'm happy with everything, I just think today I could have played the par-5s better, but really apart from that it was an unbelievable round from Francesco to shoot what he did. I would have needed to go out there to shoot 67 to better him, which would have been one of the best scores of the day, and anything under 70 out there this afternoon was a great score. And as I said, if I took care of the par-5s a little better, it might have been a different story. Q. Is a frustrating Sunday, even more frustrating when it comes from the final group? RORY MCILROY: No, I mean, look, it doesn't matter whether it's Thursday or Friday or Saturday or Sunday. I shot 72 on Thursday here, felt like I didn't play that good, felt like I played much better than the 72 I shot on Thursday. So it doesn't matter what day it is, I just -- Q. But the final group part. RORY MCILROY: It doesn't matter if you're final group, fifth group, it's golf at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. Q. Francesco said that his duel with you at Wentworth was sort of the start of the building of the confidence that's carried him through the rest of the year. So In a weird way you had a role to play, you raised the level of his game. Do you see that? RORY MCILROY: Yeah, look, we have had some good battles on the course, Wentworth was one of them. I didn't have my best stuff and I sort of grinded away and had a putt on the last what looked like to be in a playoff, so, but that was the start of Francesco sort of lighting it up. He went on to win in DC, then he won the Open Championship and then obviously he wins here, so he's been on a great run. Q. What clubs did you hit into the par-5s? RORY MCILROY: I hit 5-iron into 4. 3-iron into 6. 4-iron into 12. Wedge into 16. Q. The final group thing, and the frustration of not being able to get it done, is that unfair in some ways in that what you look at is you keep giving yourself that chance? RORY MCILROY: I'm playing well, I would much rather be putting myself in position to have a chance to win. I'm playing good golf, it doesn't matter if I'm playing that golf on Thursday, Friday, Saturday -- yeah, my Sundays haven't been what I would have liked, but I'm putting myself in that position, so good golf is good golf, I keep saying that, at the end of the day. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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