MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2023

Rory McIlroy

Quick Quotes

Q. Rory, not quite what you were looking for on day one. Can you give us your assessment of things?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, just a little untidy in places. I missed a couple of tee shots left on 7 and 17 that I sort of got penalized for, like an untidy bogey on 3, a three-putt on 11. So just stuff like that that's -- you know, it's not disastrous, but I just need to sort of tidy it all up.

I didn't feel like I was too far away today. I made five birdies but just a couple of too many mistakes on the card.

Q. Just how big a test of your patience was it out there today during the round?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it was in a way. Obviously you see Sam playing beside me goes 4-under for the first four. You've got three guys at 7-under on the leaderboard. So, yeah, it's hard to stay patient when you just want to try to get yourself in there.

I've got a quick turnaround overnight and looking forward to getting back on the course pretty quickly and obviously trying to get myself back in the thick of things.

Q. Do you feel with the rain and weather coming up the next few days, that that gives you a better chance of making a run or worse?

RORY MCILROY: I think when you're chasing, it's probably the harder the better because it plays easier for everyone. The more difficult the course is, I think that's probably favorable conditions for chasing a little bit or trying to catch up.

Look, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Hopefully we don't get affected by it too much, and we can get out there and play 18 holes uninterrupted. I can shoot something in the mid-60s and get myself back in it.

Q. You were the first at the Masters to use the walk and talk. Talk about that and how it came about.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, so the club reached out to us last week and just inquired if I would be interested in doing it. I did it a couple weeks ago at the Match Play. It definitely feels a little less intrusive with the ear piece rather than someone right up next to you with the microphone like they've been doing it in Europe for a couple of years.

I thought it would be a cool thing to do. I did it in Austin and didn't feel like it took me out of my rhythm in any way or made me think about things too much. So it's nice to provide the audience at home a little bit more insight into what's going on out here.

Q. Given the traditional nature of this place, were you surprised that they decided to do this?

RORY MCILROY: No. I mean, I think with the previous chairman, he definitely brought things forward. Then I think since Chairman Ridley has come along, he's really tried to push the envelope as well. So I think Augusta have a great balance of blending that history and that tradition but also making sure we're keeping up with the times, I guess.

Q. Would you have changed your mind, Rory, if you hadn't just birdied the 8th?

RORY MCILROY: No, it's fine. I'm temperamental. I'm not that temperamental.

Q. How would you characterize what's ahead of you? Clearly the scoring ahead of you has been hot today? There are big name players a fair number of shots ahead of you, and bad weather coming in for the weekend. How would you characterize the position you're in?

RORY MCILROY: I'm probably two or three shots behind how I'd like to be, considering how I played today. I think, if I had gotten the most out of my round, I would have shot 68 or 69. So a few shots back, but nothing that's not insurmountable. I think I can go out there and give myself plenty of chances and play a great round of golf tomorrow and get myself back on that big white scoreboard.

Q. Do you like monitoring those walk and talks yourself?

RORY MCILROY: I did. I thought Max's was great at Torrey. I thought Keith Mitchell's was good at Pebble. I think they're the only two that I've watched, but I really enjoyed them.

I thought Max provided some great insight into the hole he was playing, and I thought Keith did a really good job as well.

Q. Were you thinking at all about what you were going to say as you were walking up to the tee there?

RORY MCILROY: No, I was wondering what they were going to ask me more so that what I was going to say.

Q. Are your friends thinking you're talking to yourself?

RORY MCILROY: I think on the 9th tee they saw me put the ear piece in, and they're like what's he doing? But it's fine.

Q. Who would be the player you'd most want to see who hasn't done it yet?

RORY MCILROY: Tiger. There's only one answer there.

Q. What's the chances?

RORY MCILROY: Zero (laughter).