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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2019

Rory McIlroy

Pebble Beach, California

Q. Talk about the importance of bouncing back, and walk us through 14?
RORY MCILROY: Obviously very important to do all that hard work over the first 12 holes, and then to lose it in -- in two holes in 13 and 14 was disappointing. You know, 13 was -- I wasn't disciplined enough with my second shot. I was trying to hit something into that back right corner of the green when I've really been preaching middle of the greens all week.

I was feeling good about myself, 6-under par, and felt like I could squeeze a couple more out of the round, the last couple of holes and maybe get the lead going into the weekend. I bogeyed that, which is fine, you're going to make some bogeys around here.

But it was just the wedge shot on 14. I hit a club that I knew could pitch pin-high, but probably not very much further than pin-high, and then anything right of that pin, pitching there is going to come off the green.

I saw this morning what happened to Tiger, what happened to Jordan. I knew that that could happen. When you're standing there with a wedge in your hand, the ball is above your feet on the fairway, you don't really want it going left. It's very easy to tug it just slightly off the hill and go into that heavy rough on the left just off the green.

So I was sort of guarding against that, and I probably missed by four or five yards right of where I needed to. And it came back down the hill, and then you're in an awkward spot, you're trying to play a very precise shot to get it close to the hole to save your par, and that didn't go to plan. It just sort of compounded the error with another error, which you never really want to do.

I bounced back well. I didn't hit a great tee shot off 15, but the bunker shot, the fairway bunker shot sort of turned everything around. It was nice to see a shot like that and roll the putt for birdie. And then it was sort of a bonus holing from the back of 16, as well.

I said to myself going into the 14th I want to get those shots back that I just lost, I want to get back to 3-under par. 15, 16, there are short irons in your hand, and you've got the 18th, as well. I didn't quite get those three shots back, but 2-under for the last four after what happened, very pleased with. Really happy with my position going into the weekend.

Q. Today we haven't seen a lot of really low numbers. Gary and Jim Furyk put up some low numbers today. But 2-under, all in all --
RORY MCILROY: Hey, two rounds in the 60s, if another couple rounds in the 60s, I'll take my chances.

Q. What do you like best about how you're playing? Is it something physical or more mental?
RORY MCILROY: I think physical. Or physically. I always like when my swing is in a place where I can feel I can hold it off through impact and I can still hit a one-yard draw, and that's sort of where it is right now. So that makes it very easy for me to control my flight. Something I've worked on for a while and it's pretty comfortable. And then, yeah, mentally I've been pretty good this week. I wasn't as disciplined as I needed to be on a couple of those holes on the back nine, but I bounced back from that, which was a really good sign.

And look, it's not going to be easy over the weekend, you're going to make bogeys, you're going to make mistakes, it's going to happen. And if I can keep responding to those mistakes like I did today I'll be right there.

Q. Are you going into this weekend feeling about as good as you felt going into a major championship weekend in some time?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I would think so. Carnoustie last year I was right up there. I played really solid golf and had a chance on Sunday. But coming off the back of a win last week and having another win this year, as well, and just the consistency that I've shown, it's the best I've felt about my game in a while for sure.

Q. What are you going to decompress tonight?
RORY MCILROY: There's no basketball or hockey to watch anymore. I've got two episodes of Billions to catch up on, so I might have to do that. But, yeah, that's really it. We've had room service like four of the last five nights so might maybe venture into Carmel and have dinner in there. But that's really it. Just sort of think about anything else but this.

Q. What would you like to see out of this course over the weekend? Do you want to see it get firmer or see it play like it's played the last couple of days?
RORY MCILROY: It definitely played firmer than it played yesterday. And I think if they'd -- I'd like to see that trend continue. It was just a little firmer today than it was yesterday. If it's a little firmer tomorrow than it was today. And saying to Tim over there, like yesterday it was -- say 175 to the hole you're sort of trying to pitch it 170. Today you're trying to pitch it 165. Tomorrow if it goes from sort just a few yards short to maybe ten short and then if they can get it to the point where on Sunday you're just looking at that front number, that front yardage and just saying if you can just play to the front edges of the greens, I think that's where the course can get to and I think that's sort of what I envision it will if I know U.S. Opens. But my experience on weekends here, I don't really know. So we'll see.

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