RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 10, 2022

Rory McIlroy

St. George's Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you describe the conditions out there and how would you maybe compare them to what you guys would normally fairways at a major like you will next week?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, sort of similar. Challenging. I think the only thing this golf course needs for it to feel a little more major like is just a bit of length. I think that's the only thing that's missing.

The rough is very penal, the greens are tricky, the wind's up, it's drying out a little bit because of the wind. All of a sudden you've got a pretty testing golf course.

So, but as I said, it's, if you drive it well there's a bunch of wedges in your hand and you can still, there's so many opportunities to make birdies out here.

Overall it was a good score today. I scrambled well when I needed to. I didn't really take advantage of how well I hit it off the tee. But overall I felt it was, a couple under was a fair reflection of how the day went.

Q. You must be pretty satisfied with where you're at on the leaderboard trying to defend this title through two rounds.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, you know, a couple of really solid scores, yeah, looks like I'll be in one of the final groups tomorrow and get to play in that sort of atmosphere again today, like we had this afternoon, I'm looking forward to that.

Q. Can you just maybe just confirm that your caddie situation this week, obviously Harry not here, but Niall, is he a childhood friend?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, Niall, not quite a childhood friend. I sort of met Niall when we were both in our late teens, I guess. He actually he's a rugby player, was a rugby player, roomed with a really good friend of mine and they played for you Ulster and I met him through him. But he was a keen golfer as well. So sort of bonded through my love of rugby and him playing and our love of golf.

Yeah, he made the move over to the States a few years ago and kept close. And he caddied for me a couple of years ago when Harry had his first child. He caddied for me in Dubai and that's the reason Harry's not here this week, he's having a second child. He'll hopefully be on the bag next week at the U.S. Open.

Q. I know you're popular everywhere, but can you speak to your popularity here when you walk into the Rink and everybody went bananas, what's that like for you?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it's really nice. Everyone wants to be loved, I guess, and it's nice to feel that love here. I think people are just happy to have the Canadian Open back, it's been three pretty long years. It's just nice to be able to do this again. I certainly appreciate all the support and because of that I want to keep coming back and want to play good golf in front of all those fans. And as I said, I'm looking forward to playing in front of them again over the next couple of days.

Q. I'm not sure you caught this but on 16 someone shouted at you that they named their child after you. How does that sort of thing feel?

RORY MCILROY: I guess I don't give it too much thought. I guess it's not the first time I've heard it. I guess, that's, in a way, a big responsibility. Hope they don't meet me and end up thinking I'm a jerk. So, but, yeah, I guess it's quite an honor to have that. I named my first dog after Ernie Els, so... (laughing).