BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2020

Rory McIlroy

Olympia Fields Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. It said on the broadcast today Erica is expecting?

RORY McILROY: She is, yes. We're about to be parents very soon, so we're obviously super excited. Yeah, we've been sharing the news with friends and family, obviously, but I didn't think it was something that I really particularly needed to share out here. It's a private matter, but we're really excited and can't wait for her to get here.

Q. Is it the kind of situation where you're waiting to see what happens, whether you keep playing --

RORY McILROY: I'm just waiting for a phone call. I was waiting for a phone call last week and it didn't come, and then Harry has been keeping his phone in his pocket just to make sure, but nothing as of yet.

Q. If that call comes --

RORY McILROY: I'm out of here. Yeah, out of here.

Q. How would you assess your play given the conditions today?

RORY McILROY: I played okay. I probably didn't drive it as well as I did the first couple of days, which put me out of position. And then from there, it's so tough to get it close. I had nine birdies through the first two days and only had two birdies today. So yeah, I just didn't drive it in the fairway enough to give myself enough looks. Felt like I hung in there and I was sort of scrappy, some good two-putts on the back nine. Sort of got on a nice run of pars there after 11, and then it was just a shame to bogey the last. It would have been nice to go into tomorrow one closer to the lead, but I think I'm still right in the thick of things. If I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, hopefully I'll be right there.

Q. With everything kind of going on on and off the course, does Olympia force you to narrow your focus with how stern a test it's been this week?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think from the get-go my mind has been wandering the last few weeks, and now you guys sort of know the reason why. So yeah, it's such a demanding golf course out there, you just have to think over every shot. You can't have a lapse of concentration. Yeah, it's definitely narrowed my focus, and I've played a little better this week because of that.

Q. How much has it played into that narrative of your focus sort of drifting?

RORY McILROY: What's that?

Q. The baby on the way.

RORY McILROY: Not so much the first few weeks, but the last couple of weeks, when you're sort of -- you're going out to play and maybe not knowing whether you're going to finish the round or not. That's sort of a little bit -- look, it's definitely not an excuse. I just haven't played well enough. But again, it's a nice -- I keep talking about perspective. If you do play bad, I've got some awesome stuff coming up on the horizon, which is really cool, and it makes the bad days a lot easier to handle.

Q. Just on the putter switch that you did the other day and to now, I feel like today you hit a lot of really good putts that were unlucky?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, a lot good putts that caught edges, dived across the front of the hole or maybe a touch firm and caught the top side. I hit a few like that today, so I felt like I putted -- I had a couple tentative ones on the front nine, but once I got the speed down a little bit more I felt like I actually putted okay, even though not much dropped.

Q. Is there a situation where the timing of the baby could cause you to pull out next week from East lake?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, definitely, just depending on what happens. I'm going to play in many more TOUR Championships and it's only going to be the birth of your first child once. That trumps anything else.