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THE 148TH OPEN

July 19, 2019

Rory McIlroy

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Q. You gave it an enormously good run. You shot a course record of 65. I know that's not what you're looking for. But what are your emotions right now?
RORY McILROY: There's a lot of them. Disappointed not to be here for the weekend. Unbelievably proud of how I handled myself today coming back after what was a very challenging day yesterday. And just full of gratitude towards every single one of the people that followed me to the very end and was willing me on.

As much as I came here at the start of the week saying I wanted to do it for me, you know, by the end of the round there today I was doing it just as much for them as I was for me. I wanted to be here for the weekend. Selfishly I wanted to feel that support for two more days.

But today was probably one of the most fun rounds of golf I've ever played. It's strange saying that standing here and having had a bit of success and won this championship before, and just to be battling to make the cut.

To play in front of those crowds today and to feel that momentum and really dig in, it's going to be a tough one to get over. I'll probably rue the finish yesterday, dropping five shots on the last three holes.

But I felt like I gave a good account of myself today and I can leave here with my head held high.

Q. What was it like to have that moment on the 18th when everyone stood up and gave you a standing ovation? Could you imagine what that would have been like on a Sunday? What was that like on a Friday?
RORY McILROY: I'm trying not to imagine what it's going to be like on a Sunday.

Look, it's a moment I envisaged for the last few years; it just happened two days early. I don't get back home as often as I used to, when I'm playing over in the States or wherever I'm playing in the world. It's hard to feel that support from your home people, I guess.

To feel that over the last two days, I didn't know how people were going to react yesterday, how many people were going to be on the first tee. Is it just a lost cause. But to have that many people out there following me, supporting me, cheering my name, it meant the world to me.

I'm glad, to some degree, I gave them something to cheer about today or something to cheer on, at least.

Q. You gave it a hundred percent today and that was recognized by the standing ovation on 18. Do you take any consolation from how you played today?
RORY McILROY: Yeah. You're only as good as your last round, I guess. One of the great things about golf is there's always next week. I've got a pretty big tournament in Memphis to go to. And leaving here with a pretty solid golf game. Obviously what happened yesterday was a bit of an anomaly, and there's a few big numbers thrown in there. But I felt today I showed the real Rory McIlroy and the golf that I can play.

Even though the major season is over for me, there's still a lot to play for for me this year. The rest of the PGA Tour schedule to go, and I'm probably going to have a pretty busy fall season. I've still got to play probably between eight and ten tournaments before the end of the year.

The major season is over but the season and trying to finish the year off on a positive note isn't.

Q. When you miss the cut on a day like this, it's hard to say it was a glorious day. What you did today with your round, coming back, with the significance of this event, the symbolism, the crowd, can you say this was one of the great moments of your career?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, a hundred percent. I will look back on this day with nothing but fond memories and fondness, positivity.

As I said before, just so thankful and humbled by the support I got out there. I wasn't coming here to try and produce any sort of symbolism or anything like that. But to see everyone out there sort of cheering on one cause or one -- cheering for the same thing was pretty special. And that thing was me, fortunately.

I tried my best for them until the very end. I just came up a little short. But it's hard. It's mixed emotions. I'm disappointed, but I'm happy. There's a lot of stuff going on right now.

I'm just proud of myself, proud of everyone involved with this tournament, proud of The R&A for bringing it back here. And I can't wait to come back and play in another Open Championship here in a few years' time.

Q. Did it feel like you've reconnected with your own people out there this afternoon?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, for sure, definitely.

Q. (Inaudible.)
RORY McILROY: No, a little bit. I definitely feel, over the last week has been a real sort of, it's been an eye-opener for me. Sometimes you're so far away and you forget about all the people that are cheering you on back home. And then you come and play in front of them, it definitely hit me like a ton of bricks today.

Q. How did you spend last night?
RORY McILROY: Back to the house. Started the second season of "The Sinner," opened a bottle of wine, finished a bottle of wine (laughter), had a good night's sleep and came out and today was a new day.

Q. Did you beat yourself up at all?
RORY McILROY: No. Because it was such a blip, it was so out of the blue. If I have a run of undesirable golf, I'd start to beat myself up. But yesterday was just one of those things, you know.

So I got back home and Erica and Maggie and I just sat down and watched a couple of episodes of that "Sinner" program and had a couple of glasses of wine, and just tried to reset and today was a new day.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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