MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 5, 2022

Rory McIlroy

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody. I'd like to welcome Rory McIlroy to the press center. Rory has had six top ten finishes in the last ten Masters. His record this year has been played five events this season, in the top five twice, and one victory in Las Vegas, and is a top ten in the world at No. 9 at the moment.

Rory, rumor has it that Poppy is making an appearance at the Par-3 tomorrow. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

RORY McILROY: It's funny. When you don't have children, the Par-3 seems like a bit of an afterthought, and then once kids arrive, it sort of becomes the highlight of the week in a way. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It will be fun to get out there tomorrow and watch her run around.

Yeah, it's amazing. I think back to my first appearance here in 2009, and then this is my 14th and just how quickly the time goes and the sort of evolution that life takes on and the places that you found yourself.

But it's exciting. It's exciting to be back here. It's exciting to be here with my family and looking forward to everything in the week ahead.

Q. Rory, at a lot of these events, it always seems like there's some external news that sucks the oxygen out of the event that often seems to involve Tiger. When you are not involved in one of these, is it easier as a competitor to fly under the radar?

RORY McILROY: Not -- I mean, I try to shield myself from as much news as possible, especially this week. So not really, depending whether you're the center of attention or not. I think it does make it nice with the practice rounds. We were on the 9th green when Tiger and J.T. and Freddie teed off yesterday, and it was a mass exodus from the 9th green to the 1st tee, and then the back nine was lovely and quiet.

That's a nice way to get through the first week and sort of go about your preparation, I guess, unhindered.

Q. Rory, I just wonder if you can describe kind of the evolution of your chase for the grand slam, the pressure maybe for the first couple of tries because there was, speaking of attention, so much on it. Now I think this is your eighth go-round here. Does it become less pressurized, or is there more pressure because you haven't won a major since 2014? Where does that fall for you?

RORY McILROY: I would say less pressure. My best finish was the first go around to try to win the slam. So it's not as if I -- Jordan played wonderfully that week. I played well, maybe not as well as I could, but I played pretty much up to my potential and it just wasn't good enough that week.

I think as well, as I said, at the start I'm maybe at a different stage of my life where back then golf was everything. Obviously, look, it's still very, very important, but maybe back then I would think that -- I don't know if I would feel like I was fulfilled if I didn't win one or whatever it is, but it's less pressure. I'm not -- look, I know if I play well, I'll give myself chances to win this golf tournament. It's just a matter of going out there and executing the way you know that you can and stick to your game plan and be patient and be disciplined and all the things you need to do around Augusta National.

But I don't feel -- you know, if I think back to 2015 when I was coming off that run, yeah, there's certainly less pressure, I feel, than there was then.

Q. I was just wondering how yesterday's practice round pairing came together. I think it was you, Padraig, Shane, and Seamus, and if there's anything new you can learn from playing Augusta National at this point.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it didn't really -- Shane and I spend a lot of time together down in Jupiter now that he and his family have moved down there. So we organized that game last week. Then he texted me and said Seamus is going to join us, and that was great, and then Padraig as well. I actually didn't know Padraig was in the field, which is bad (Laughter). But I guess he played pretty well in the PGA last year.

Yeah, so it was really good fun. Shane and I and Padraig are going to play on the Par-3 tomorrow as well, so that will be good fun.

You know, the club here, it always is making little tweaks and improvements to the golf course, so there's always something to learn. The reason that I came up here a little bit early last week was just to see the couple of changes. 11 is basically a new golf hole. 15 is a little bit different. Then the three new greens, 3, 13, and 17, all with subtle little tweaks to the slopes there. Yeah, you're always learning around this golf course. I don't think that ever changes.

Q. I guess more specifically do you do anything differently here to minimize that pressure? Perhaps off the course. Or what's your week like when you're not playing?

RORY McILROY: I guess I try to stay off my phone as much as possible. Then when I get home, my attention's taken away from the golf and it's turned to family. As a professional golfer and you're away from home all the time, you don't want to feel like that absent dad, so you want to try to spend quality time when you can.

So it's nice to be able to turn your attention away from the golf when you get home and, whatever it is, draw on a chalkboard or whatever she wants to do.

Yeah, it's nice. As I said at the start, I try to shield myself from a lot of the hype and the attention and everything that goes on at this tournament just so that I can focus on getting out there and playing golf and focusing on myself.

Q. Rory, how much of a setback was missing the cut last week given the way that you'd set your stall out schedule-wise building up to this?

RORY McILROY: I think it was beneficial in the end. I learned a few things. Like you always learn more from disappointments or from times where you don't play so well. So I thought, look, if there's a cut to miss, it wasn't a bad one to miss. I got home, did two really good days of practice on Saturday and Sunday, and actually felt a lot better about where things were heading up here Sunday evening.

Yeah, if I had made the cut on the number in San Antonio and played through the weekend, I wouldn't have had as much time to practice as I did over the weekend. So I felt like that was pretty beneficial.

Q. Rory, in an interview over the weekend you talked about your Sunday round at the Ryder Cup and how it came good because you played like me and you were instinctive. I just wonder now how you feel if you are being you and being instinctive and how that's affecting how you're playing now.

RORY McILROY: I think at that point I was getting a little too caught up in technical thoughts about my golf swing and playing golf swing rather than playing golf, and I wasn't really -- I think when you get so tied up in technical thoughts, you don't visualize as well, you don't see the shot you want to hit. You don't try to shape shots as much.

You just basically the ball's here, the target's there. I'm going to get this from A to B and make this movement with my body and my golf club. There's no real imagination or creativity to it, so just trying to put a little bit more of that back into my golf.

I've played much better since then. I had the win in Vegas. I've been in contention to win a few times. So, yeah, it's definitely been a marked improvement from then, and it's something that I'm always trying to keep in my game.

Q. Rory, for quite a lot of people out there and indeed for some of the people in here, this is the first time back for a few years. You've been here. How does this week feel to you now? You're in a very special position to tell us.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it feels like we're back to normal life, I guess. It feels like a normal Masters again. It feels like we're sort of over the -- we're sort of at the light at the end of the tunnel, I guess, is the way I would put it.

2020 was a very strange Masters. '21 with some limited fans was much better, and this year the crowds for a Monday yesterday were amazing. Even driving up Berckmans Road, it took us -- what is a 10-minute drive usually, it took us 45 minutes to get to the club yesterday morning.

So everyone's excited to just get back out and live their lives again, and it's great to see.

Q. Rory, you mentioned 11's basically a new hole now and obviously the changes at 15 we can see. Can you just walk us through, especially 11, how different it is and how it changes the strategy and what maybe is the most significant part of what they've done to it? Because they've changed all three areas.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, so I would say obviously the tee shot is -- you know, it's a longer hole, but the tee shot is slightly less daunting. You don't have that collection of trees on the right-hand side. I'd say from the widest point of the left part of the fairway to the widest point of the right is 50 yards, 60 yards. It's a very, very wide fairway.

But if you go down that right half, you're going to be stuck behind those three trees.

But it's a more generous tee shot. It was always an awkward tee shot. You had to hug that right side, and then if you just got it slightly right, you were in those trees. And you had to be very fortunate to have a shot to the green unless you blew it way right into that sort of alleyway where people walk.

So the tee shots may be slightly easier, but then it leaves you with a longer second shot in, and I think that's where the hole becomes a lot more difficult.

The second shot is basically the same. You're maybe going to have 15 or 20 more yards into the green, but the penalty for missing the second shot is greater than it was before.

You've got that runoff on the right that, if you get to the -- if you get to the middle, like say pin high with the middle of the green, that drop-off on the right side is significantly deeper than it used to be. So the miss really now is short right, sort of front edge, level with front edge of the green and just a little right, but that brings those mounds into play.

Then what people probably don't realize is that pond on the left has been extended another ten yards back towards the tee. So that pond used to start at the front of the green. That pond now starts ten yards before the green. So now it brings in those mounds and the water. So the penalty for missing that second shot is much greater, and then if you do miss it, obviously it's a very, very difficult up and down from there.

So I think it's going to be a more difficult golf hole than it used to be. That's 11.

Then 15 they've extended the tee a little bit. Then I feel like they've cambered the fairway a touch more from right to left to sort of have balls feed sort of behind that collection of trees so you maybe have to play a shot with your second if you want to go for the green, and it forces you to hit the tee shot up the right-hand side to have a clear view of the green. So the tee shot's a little more demanding.

Then if you do hit it down that left side, you're going to have to play a shot.

Q. In the past, you've talked about varying strategies coming in here, approaches for how to unlock this, how to make it happen. Anything different this year in terms of your approach, the way you think about this?

RORY McILROY: No, I think I said it in a previous answer, just patience, discipline, don't make big numbers. It's very -- in a way it's -- for me, anyway, it feels like a very negative way to think, but it's the way to play around this place. You don't have to do anything spectacular.

I played with D.J. in the first two rounds when he won here in 2020. I think he was 12-under after two days, and I got off the golf course thinking I don't really feel like he -- 12-under is a helluva score after two days here, but I wasn't in awe of the way he played. It's just he did the right things and he put it in the right spots and he held a few putts and he took advantage of the par-5s, and he basically did everything that this golf course asks of you.

That's what this place is all about. It's as much of a chess game as anything else, and it's just about putting yourself in the right positions and being disciplined and being patient and knowing that pars are good, and even if you make a couple of pars on the par-5s, that's okay, and you just keep moving forward.

Q. Where do you think your game is right now? And specific to this course, has there been something that doesn't match your game that you're really focused on specifically trying to improve this week?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, so I would say my game's in -- it feels in good shape. I think it's felt better than the results have maybe suggested the last few weeks. Like the big key here, you look at all the previous winners, especially over the last five to ten years, their iron play and their approach play has separated them from the field. That's a really important part of your play this week.

And as I was just saying there to Jimmy, it beats you into going for flags that you shouldn't go for. So, again, it's about being very disciplined with your approach play, knowing that, if you hit a wedge to 20 or 30 feet, that's okay. Middle of the greens, you hole a few putts, that's what it's about. It's about hitting greens. It's about playing to the fat part of the green, being somewhat conservative.

I think that's what wins you Masters. You see the highlights of people hitting heroic golf shots around here, but that's just one golf shot. The rest of the time, they're doing the right things and being patient and being disciplined, and that's what wins you green jackets.

Q. Rory, obviously this tournament stands on its own above all, but when Tiger Woods is in the field as opposed to when he's not, what does that do to the competitive environment and just the feel of the event? Secondly, would you be surprised or shocked if he was in contention on Sunday?

RORY McILROY: I think -- I mean, look, Tiger has been wonderful for us all in this room. He creates attention on the game of golf that no one else can. That's great for his peers. It's great for the media. It's great for this golf club. It's great for everyone. So any time Tiger Woods is involved, it's a wonderful thing.

I think in terms of the competitive nature of it, if he's in the field or not, I don't think it really changes much. You're trying to focus on yourself, and he can't stop you shooting a 67 if you play well. It's not like any other sport. So I don't think that changes much.

But would I be -- I wouldn't be surprised. I've spent a little bit of time with him at home, and the golf is there. He's hitting it well. He's chipping well. He's sharp. It's just the physical demand of getting around 72 holes here this week. That's probably the question mark. But the golf game is there. So would I be surprised? No, I'm not surprised at anything he does anymore.

Q. Rory, you mentioned '09 and when you first came here. You were a kid yourself. Now you're back this many years later with a kid of your own. Is there any other place, or how does this place and this setting sort of enhance or add to that perspective each year, kind of the milestones or the way your life has evolved and changed when you come back here each year?

RORY McILROY: I've missed other major championships before through injury, so I think this is -- this and maybe the Open Championship are the two majors that I've played the most over the years. Yeah, I think every time you come back -- I hear it's my 14th appearance. In four years time when I'm 36, I'll have played my 18th Masters, and that will be half of my life spent here. It's pretty crazy to think about it at 36 years old. If I qualify for those events obviously (Laughter).

But it is, it's -- I think it just -- you know, as I said at the start, time does go so quickly, and you think about where does the time go? 14 years being here and everything that's happened in those 14 years, I think you start to realize how quickly time goes whenever it just starts to hit you, wow, 15 years, 14 years here is a long time.

But it's great. I've had wonderful times here and wonderful memories and looking forward to create even better memories with my family and at the Par-3 tomorrow. So it's cool.

Q. Rory, you kind of outlined what it takes to win a round here, at least in your own mind. Is that against your golf nature what you've talked about?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, yeah. Again, to me it feels like -- it feels playing very negatively, playing away from trouble, not firing at flagsticks, not being aggressive. It feels like a negative game plan, but it's not. It's just a smart game plan. It's playing the percentages.

Look, Sunday, if you need to take risks, you take risks obviously, but for the first 54 holes, you just have to stay as disciplined as possible. To me, yeah, that goes against my nature a little bit, so it is something I have to really work hard on.

Q. You mentioned you've learned from past failures. What did you take away from the experience of the setback against Patrick Reed when you're leading going into the final day?

RORY McILROY: It was a strange day. I didn't have a great warmup on the range. Then I was missing everything left on the range that day, and then my first tee shot on the 1st hole on Sunday, missed the fairway right on 1 by 40 yards. That was a bit of a -- I made a great 4 from there.

Even though the way I was feeling, I got off to a decent start. I should have eagled 2, but I made a birdie there, missed a short one. I was always just a little uncomfortable that day. Some days you wake up like that, but I think I could have done a better job mentally of just sort of positioning my way around the golf course even though I didn't have my best stuff.

I felt like I was three behind going into the last day, so I felt like I needed my best stuff to win. Whenever you feel like you don't have it, I probably forced the issue a little too much when I didn't really need to. I think, again, going back to you don't have to do spectacular things here. You just have to be solid and play your game and execute your shots and stay out of trouble and avoid the big numbers. If you do that, you'll always hang around and have a chance at some point.

Q. Rory, just talking about how time goes so quickly again. The top five in the world now nearly are under 30 or pretty nearly, but at the same time, you've got Tiger still going. You've got Lee, Paul Casey, Richard Bland playing great at his age as well. Does that take the pressure off as well? That you see you can keep going for so long. How do you feel? Do you feel like you're middle aged now, in your prime, or how do you see it?

RORY McILROY: You think about like when I'm their age, I'll have been on TOUR 30 years. So it's amazing. Golf is amazing. You can play it for a long time. You can have an unbelievably long career if you keep yourself healthy.

Look, I've always said time is on my side, and I'll keep saying that until it isn't, whenever that is. But right now I still feel like time's on my side. I'm 32 years old with a ton of experience. So I still feel young. I don't -- look, I'm still -- look, I'm only a few years older than those guys. I've got a few more gray hairs than I used to, but I'm still young at heart.