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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 6, 2020

Rory McIlroy

Orlando, Florida

Q. How much of a grind was it out there for you today?
RORY MCILROY: It was a grind. I think I made it more of a grind than I needed to. But yeah, it was tough. I mean, conditions were tricky, greens are getting firm, wind was out of a different direction today, so that made things a little interesting too. So but all in all, it would have been nice to get back to even par after a double on 8, but it was nice to make birdie on 17 and I'm still right there in the golf tournament.

Q. Speaking of that double at 8, what did you make about the decision-making there, especially on the second one, not just the first one?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, the second one was lying a bit better, so I thought I could do it. Honestly, it was -- the decision off the tee was what I was most annoyed about. I should have hit 5-wood just right at the middle of the bunker. I was trying to thread a 3-wood sort of in between the edge of the bunker and the right rough and trying to get myself down there so I had a shorter shot in. And I just tried to sort of take more on with the tee shot and put myself in a really bad spot and compounded that error with a couple other ones. So a couple bad decisions, but bounced back with a birdie on 9 and then played a good back nine.

Q. You told us how special it was to win Arnold Palmer's event. How much joy do you think he's getting watching you guys, the best players in the world, get rewarded for great shots but also get punished for bad ones?
RORY MCILROY: I think this is exactly the type of test that Arnold would have liked to see at his golf tournament. The weather's cooperated. It's been sort of cool and breezy. The greens have dried out. But the course is in phenomenal shape. If you play well there are scores out there. But if you do get out of position you're going to struggle like I did today at times.

Q. Kind of a grind out there today. You finished 1-over 73. The putts at 16 and 17 wouldn't fall, but then you make that long one at 17. Your thoughts about how it went out there today.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was a different day. The conditions were a lot tougher than we got them yesterday morning. A lot of crosswinds. And then if you did miss fairways it's really tough with how firm these greens are to get it anywhere close. So, yeah, I mean, I had my chances. I made a couple unforced errors on the 7th and the 8th hole, but felt like I bounced back well after that. Birdied 9 and then played the last 10 holes in 2-under par to keep myself in the tournament. So obviously still a lot of golf left. The conditions are tough and I expect them to be tough for the rest of the weekend and just got to sort of, it's going to be one of those tournaments where you just have to hang in there and hang around and take your chances when they present themselves.

Q. Take us through 8. What were you thinking there? You were in the right rough, kind of the ball up above your feet and it didn't go well.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it didn't. It was -- I thought I would be able, if I could get good contact on it to chase it up into that right bunker. And then from there I was thinking it's definitely an easier up-and-down from where that pin was than to just chip it out and have a 9-iron or wedge to that pin. I mean, I could just see myself sort of hitting it 30 feet long and sort of taking 5. In hindsight it would have been nice to do that and save a shot. But I thought I had a decent, a good enough lie to be able to do that and I didn't. And then with the second one, the lie looked better than the first one, so I was like, Well, I can definitely do it now and it still didn't come out. So but if anything -- what happened, the tee shot was what caused that. I was trying to, I had 5-wood in my hand and then I was trying to, I ended up hitting 3-wood trying to sort of thread it between the bunker and that right rough and try to get it down there so that I could get some spin for the second shot to the front pin, and I just, I tried to, I took, I took off a little too much with the tee shot. It was a tee shot that led to ultimately what happened. So it was more an error of that. And if I had of just hit 5-wood down the fairway it would have been a different story. But hopefully that's my one mental blip out of the way and I can focus on the weekend.

Q. You won going 18-under a couple years ago. It's going to be a totally different tournament this week.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it definitely is. I think if I shoot two scores in the 60s and get myself to double digits under par, I think I'll have a really good chance.

Q. Do you think that single digits could win this thing?
RORY MCILROY: I think that, you know, maybe. I don't know. We'll see what the wind does over the next couple of days. If it persists like this and it's sort of that 15 to 20 and gusty, maybe. But I would like to think that if I play the way I know that I can play I can definitely get into double digits under par.

Q. With being in contention constantly, consistently, what's been the challenge of that where every shot seems to matter more?
RORY MCILROY: I don't think it does. A golf shot's a golf shot at the end of the day. And if you can break it down to its simplest form that's sort of what I try to do. No shot is really more important than any other shot. They're all worth one at the end of the day and that's the way I try to approach it.

Q. What's the most challenging facet out there right now? The rough looks ridiculous.
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, the rough's thick. I think the crosswinds off the tee shots and trying to hold fairways, that's -- especially with how firm the fairways are getting, that's going to continue to be pretty tricky going into the weekend. You're going to see a lot of guys taking less and less club off tees just to make sure that they're holding fairways and hitting their approach shots in from the short grass.

Q. As tough as you expect the conditions to be, how much bigger does that make yesterday and hanging in there, like you said, after the first 36?
RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I said over there that I feel very fortunate that I got this end of the draw. I took advantage of the benign conditions yesterday and was able to post a low one. So, yeah, I feel fortunate that my side of the draw was maybe a shot or two easier, so it gets me into the thick of things over the weekend. But everyone starts on a level playing field again starting tomorrow, and as I said, the later you go out, the tougher the conditions are and the firmer and faster the greens get. So just got to try to keep you wits about you.

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