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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

November 2, 2019

Rory McIlroy

Shanghai, China

BRIONY CARLYON: Thank you for joining us in the media centre this afternoon. You must be very pleased with the round, and solo lead heading into tomorrow.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was nice. It's funny, I was on the phone to my manager, Sean, last night, and I just shot two 67s and he said another two 67s and should get the job done. I'm halfway there for that. I think if I can go out tomorrow and play similar to how I did today, I should have a good chance to win.

But I probably played the best today that I've played all week. I drove the ball well. Hitting my irons pretty good for the most part. I feel like I didn't quite get as much out of the round as I could have but I'm not going to complain. I'm in the lead going into tomorrow, so yeah, just need to rest up and try to get out there and play another good, solid round of golf.

BRIONY CARLYON: You spoke this week about the consistency you've had this season and how often you've been in contention. We spoke, as well, another 67, in your mind is something that will get the job done, but how do you approach tomorrow and what do you look at going into the final round?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I keep saying, I think my consistency this year, I've been able to take that to another level to what I've been able to do previously.

Yeah, I mean, right now, the game feels pretty simple. I know that it's not going to feel like that all the time, but when it does, you have to take advantage of that feeling. I've given myself another opportunity to win a very big golf tournament, a tournament that I've never won before.

So I want to go out there and be committed, play aggressively, and shoot a good number. I took a lot from the win in Canada earlier this year. I went out tied for the lead, and I just said from the start, I'm going to keep my foot down and I'm going to go for everything. It was a good lesson that when you do have something right there, in front of you, a tournament to win or something to achieve, you just have to grab it with both hands, and that's what I'll do tomorrow.

Q. Did you see the leaderboard on 8 green, and did you think you were going to get more out of your round than you were getting at that point, and going forward tomorrow, do you feel like this was a day where you have to keep the foot down, as you said, about Canada?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I did see the board at the back of the 8th green, and I just was like -- 13, 12, 12, 12, 12, 11. It was really bunched at that point. I feel like everyone got off to a hot start, it seems. Haotong got off to a hot start and it looked like Adam and Sungjae both did, as well, and Matt and Xander.

I felt like I was 2-under through eight, but I felt like that was almost a slow start. I kept plugging away. That birdie on 9 was a bit of a bonus, so I guess at that point I felt like I needed to get more out of my round to get into the lead, but the back nine played tough. I think it was -- there was a lot of stopping and starting today, which didn't help.

It was hard to get into any sort of rhythm. The round was very slow. People sort of struggled on the back nine, and I did what I needed to do. I birdied the two par 5s, and didn't drop any shots. So that was good.

Yeah, tomorrow, I think there's enough people around the lead. Obviously Louis at 14, Fitz is on 13, Xander is on 13. There's enough guys close to me that I just need to go out there and play aggressively. Just have a similar mind-set to the mind-set I've had over the first few days.

Q. Does it almost hurt somebody like yourself to go for the safe option at 16?
RORY McILROY: Well, today, no, because the hole was in a location where -- I saw Matt hit a good tee shot into the bunker and had no shot. It was a tricky pin to try and go for it. But yeah, look, there's sometimes when, you know, I like to try and keep it interesting and fun and try to test myself at times. But sometimes you have to realise that the prudent play is to lay it up on the fairway and give yourself a chance from there.

Yeah, sometimes it hurts me, but most of the time, it's for a very good reason.

Q. Well, obviously a lot of people feel that between you and Brooks Koepka, it's a great competition, and this time he's not here. Do you think was that a loss that he is not here because you are playing so well this year, or you would be wishing that he's here while you're playing so well, and if you do, I mean, if you do play well today, this week, being able to capture the championship, does that mean that you can send a strong statement to Brooks Koepka, that yeah, we decided a winner?
RORY McILROY: Look, first and foremost, any time a tournament field has the world No. 1 in it and he can't play, it's a loss to the tournament. He's a big draw in golf right now and unfortunately he's not healthy enough to play. Hopefully he makes a speedy recovery and can play the Presidents Cup in Australia.

But no, look, people can say that Brooks and I are the two best golfers in the world right now, and the rankings say that, as well, but you know, there's no part of me when I'm out there this week, you know, trying to win this golf tournament, am I thinking about Brooks Koepka. I'm thinking about myself. I'm thinking about trying to do the best that I can, and I'll leave all those other discussions to other people.

But I have massive respect for Brooks. He's had an unbelievable few years in golf, and as I said, hopefully he makes a speedy recovery and he can get back on the course soon.

Q. Firstly and shortly, what were the clubs you hit on 9 and 14, and outside of 3, was there another time you were stressed to make par?
RORY McILROY: The first hole I was stressed to make par. I missed the fairway right, then missed the green right and held a good probably 8-footer for par on 1. The clubs -- the club on 14 was a 4-iron.

Q. Secondly, I overheard someone earlier this week, when they saw Louis hit a shot speak with amazement that he only has one PGA TOUR victory. Do you find yourself thinking the same thing and do you have much recollection of the final round you played in Boston back in 2012?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, Louis, he's been up there a lot. I think -- has he finished second in all four majors? So that's a pretty -- it's hard to win. He obviously won The Open in 2010. I feel like a lot of times where I've played well, he's played well. We've played in a lot of final groups together. The first tournament that I won as a pro, the Dubai Desert Classic, we played in the final group. Obviously the tournament that you talked about in Boston, we had a good battle down the stretch there in what was the Deutsche Bank tournament.

If the golf was just about the golf swing, Louis would be probably No. 1 in the world, but unfortunately it's not. It's more than the golf swing. There's so many different elements of golf, and it's so hard to have them working all at the same time. You know, it's very rare that you have them all working at the same time and you just have to manage it every now and again.

Louis has been a great player for a long time and probably more important than that, he's been a great person for a long time and he's wonderful to play with. I'm excited to play with him tomorrow. We played the final round in Japan last week together, also. I'll be sitting beside him tonight as he'll be cheering on South Africa to try and win the World Cup.

So I'm looking forward to spending some time with him.

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