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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 11, 2019

Rory McIlroy

Jersey City, New Jersey

Q. Rory, how would you assess your week?
RORY McILROY: A bit like today. A bit of a roller coaster, up-and-down. I made 7 birdies out there today. I definitely made enough birdies to win the golf tournament. I just made too many mistakes and I made too many mistakes over the weekend.

The good stuff's in there. It's good. I'm just hitting too many sort of squirrely, loose shots and they are costing me. I bogeyed the two par 3s on the back nine just from hitting sort of bad iron shots. And yeah, it just -- I was sort of fighting it a little bit this week. If anything, I'm proud of how I just sort of hung in there all week and finished strong today. You know, put up another good finish. I'm only going to drop one spot in the FedExCup going into next week, so still go there and play well at Medinah. I've still got a chance to get that No. 1 spot going into Atlanta.

So just need to work on a couple things in my swing and try to iron a couple things out.

Q. Do you think they are simple things in the swing?
RORY McILROY: I think so. I think so. I worked a bit on it last week. I think when you're working on some things, like this week, I sort of got the two-way miss going. I got some pulls. I got some sort of hanging it out right, where in Memphis, it was just one miss.

So sometimes it's easier just to manage that one miss. This week, I had the two misses going and sort of hard. You know, you're sort of -- there's always one good side to miss and one not and don't really know which one you're bringing into play.

But a little bit of work tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and hopefully I'll feel a bit more comfortable starting on Thursday next week.

Q. Is that the big frustration, seven birdies and you weren't really in contention?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think so. Got off to a good start. I was 2-under through six. I got to 12 and then obviously that's where I finished and it was a bit of a roller coaster from there. I think I had four birdies and four bogeys from then on in.

I don't think the frustrating thing is not winning the golf tournament. The frustrating thing is not being in control of what I'm doing out there. That's what I want to focus on the next few days going into Chicago.

Q. But you're still very much in the hunt for the FedExCup.
RORY McILROY: Yeah, still a good finish. I think it was my 13th Top-10 on the PGA TOUR season. Even if I don't feel like I'm playing that well, I'm still able to get myself somewhat in contention and finish. That's been one of the big things about this year for me, my consistency level has been there and even when maybe one part of my game is off, I'm sort of making up for that with other parts of the game, whether it be driving or chipping or putting.

Even though I didn't have my best stuff this week, it was still a decent finish.

Q. Do you like the tournaments coming thick and fast ahead of THE TOUR Championship?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, you know, decompress tonight and tomorrow. Get up to Medinah tomorrow and hit a few balls and get right back into it. I think energy levels are going to be key over the next couple of weeks, especially with how hot it's going to be in Atlanta. Try to rest. Try to find that balance between resting but still getting enough work in so that you feel like your game is where it needs to be.

Q. Keen on returning to Medinah?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, Medinah has got some good memories for me. Unbeknownst to us at the time, where I met my wife for the first time and an incredible Ryder Cup. We're excited to get back there, all year I guess. It will rekindle some pretty fond memories.

Q. What do you think about the course since Wednesday?
RORY McILROY: I think it's been great and dried up fantastically well. Got firm at the end of the round. Considering the rain we had on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I thought the course held up very, very well and it's holding its own. The guys that are leading are 14- or 15-under par and it definitely didn't look that way, considering what the scores were on Thursday.

So you know, it's held its own. It's a great golf course. I think the Firemans have done an unbelievable job here. Great vision to turn this piece of land into a great golf course, and I hope that we come back here very often.

Q. What about the fan base here?
RORY McILROY: They are still a little nicer than Long Islanders. Didn't have quite as much abuse as I did at Bethpage and not quite as loud. They were great. Any time you come to the New York or metropolitan area, you know you're going to have loud fans and this week was no different.

If I play next week how I played at Medinah that week, I'll be very happy. I played some great golf. That Ryder Cup, I played well. I beat Keegan Bradley on the final day there and got a point, which obviously helped Europe end up winning. So yeah, I mean, I think most golfers are superstitious and you're trying to look at anything to give you a little edge. It will be nice going back. Definitely some fond memories and hopefully that carries on to the golf course.

Q. A lot of talk about this week about the pace of play. Is it almost reaching a point where players are forcing the hand of the officials?
RORY McILROY: I don't know about that. So, look, you see once the field was cut in half after Friday, we got around there in three hours and 50 minutes in two-balls.

I think Justin Rose made a couple of good points yesterday when he was talking about the pace of play. If it continues to be 144 or 156 players in the field, we might be able to shave ten or 15 minutes off. That's basically what he said.

But you get two-balls and it's 70 players, and all of a sudden, you're breaking four hours to get around. So you know, I'm in a position of, you know, fortune that I'm one of the top players in the world and if they cut field sizes by 30 percent, I'd still be okay and still have a place to play. That's obviously not the case for some other guys.

But that's sort of -- that's where we're really going to get to. I mean, you have fields of 156; it's so bunched up and getting that many players around a golf course, it's going to be tough to break four hours to do that. But you get 70 players out here at the weekend, two balls, and we're cruising under four. I don't know if that's the solution, but it's definitely a -- I had no problem with the pace of play today.

Q. Does it annoy you?
RORY McILROY: It annoys me if I'm playing with a slow player in a two-ball but in a three you don't really notice it because you're expecting a three to be five hours, five hours and 15. But if you're playing in a two-ball and you're playing with someone that's taking their time, it can annoy you. But at this point, I think we're just accustomed knowing that the first two days are going to be a little slower.

In fairness, today, I felt like we ran around. I felt like it was quick.

Q. Would you ever say something to a person in a two-ball if they were lagging behind?
RORY McILROY: I'd tell their caddie. I don't know if I'd go right up to them but I'd tell their caddie, you're taking a long time here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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