THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY

June 2, 2023

Rory McIlroy

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes

Q. Going back to yesterday, what were you looking for when you went to the range, and did you find it?

RORY McILROY: No. I'll do the same today, just building on the feels that I've been trying to work on. I was saying in that interview, like, this is a process that will take -- the swings that I make on the range compared to the swings I make out there, they're not the same. They won't match up for awhile.

So it's just a matter of working little by little, sort of trying to do it every day that the feels become more and more comfortable so that over time it just sort of beds in itself.

Q. Walking with you this afternoon I saw you smirk a couple times at some things that Hatton said or did. Is he as entertaining to you as he is to us and is he the same person off the course as he is on the course?

RORY McILROY: No, he's a lovely guy off the course. I'm not saying that he's not a lovely guy on it, but he can get down on himself sometimes. But yeah, Tyrrell, he's entertaining to play with and he'll say some things that will make you chuckle.

Q. Is there a sense of inner pride that you're able to shake off how you finished yesterday and just come straight back into contention?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I felt good about everything that I did yesterday. I got one bad break on 18 with that ball finishing on the bank of the bunker. So I really feel like I'm one shot out of leading this golf tournament. That rolls down it into the bunker, hopefully able to hit it on the green and make a 4, and instead of standing here at 4-under, I would be at 7-under and feeling really good about everything.

So again, I felt like I did a lot of really good things yesterday and I did a lot of good things right, so I can't let that one sort of unlucky break sort of hide the fact that everything else was working pretty well.

Q. Why does it take so long to go from the range to the course as you were talking about your swing? We have seen it forever. I'm just curious, is it purely trust?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's purely -- I think as well when you've been doing something for so long, you can't expect a week of working on it to -- if you're --

Q. Elite athlete?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, so if you've let your swing get to a certain place over the course of, say, six months, there's no way that you're going to work for two weeks and all of a sudden it's going to be where you want it to be.

So it's just a -- I think it's the smart way to do it, to just let it bed in over time. I'm not saying it will take six months to get it to where I want to, but it will certainly take longer than a week or two.

Q. How empty is your head out there?

RORY McILROY: I think an empty head isn't great, unless you're -- you know, unless you're a -- yeah, no comment.

So an empty head's not great, but then obviously a head that's full of clutter is no good either. So it's trying to find that balance where you've got a couple of thoughts or a couple of ideas in your head, but you don't let that overshadow what you're really trying to do out there, which is being visual and trying to play shots and be as instinctive as possible, I guess.

Q. You won in Dubai. You were right there at Bay Hill. Had these things been creeping in at that point?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think these things were creeping in at the end of 2022, probably. And again, that's why it was -- you know, we have all been advocating for an off-season and there's certain reasons why guys want -- it's very hard to try to play your best golf when you're really thinking about your golf swing.

So that off-season time would be nice to work on your mechanics and your fundamentals so that you've got those sort of bedded in so that you can sort of roll going into the bulk of the season. I didn't really feel like I had the necessary time to do that over the -- you want to take a little bit of time off over the holidays, get yourself back into it.

So it's just -- my reluctancy to work on -- like I know it's been creeping in, but reluctancy to work on it was more to do with the fact of how much golf we had coming up and just not really wanting to be thinking about my golf swing a ton.

Q. They're kind of working on the 2024 schedule. It's getting close. There will be some changes in terms of dates. Where do you fall, over your career, playing the week before a major? Are you kind of pro just take it as it comes?

RORY McILROY: I'm pro it. I really like playing the week before a major. Look, there's no better way to get sharp for a golf tournament than to play a golf tournament, I think. So I really like playing the week before a major. I've done it both ways. I've won majors not doing it and won majors doing it.

But I think in an ideal world -- my favorite two weeks of the year were always Akron, PGA. I felt like Akron was a great tournament, but it also got you prepared for what you were going to face the next week. So I love those sorts of stretches.

Q. Have you, what's your LACC experience? Did you go over?

RORY McILROY: Zero. A couple of YouTube videos. A couple of -- shout out to Andy Johnson and The Fried Egg.

Q. What are your plans for the next -- you have none, you got to go to Canada, right?

RORY McILROY: I mean, yeah, I'm going to -- I don't have to go to Canada, but I am going to Canada, yes.

Q. You're an independent contractor.

RORY McILROY: But, yeah, I'm going. So I'll lay eyes on the place Monday for the first time of the week.

Q. Seems -- and I know the answer to this anyway, but I'm just going to ask it -- that everyone always goes to Augusta February, March, it seems like for a week or for a trip. That's the one course you guys know like the back of your hand. But nobody goes ahead to the PGA or to the U.S. Open --

RORY McILROY: Don't worry, I was telling myself that for the two weeks afterwards. I'm like, Why I spend so much time here, I know it like the back of my hand. Exactly. It's the one course we play from memory, rather than what's just right in front of us. And from my experience I play better when I just react to what's in front of me, instead of playing by memory and, Oh, I remember in 2012 I hit it here. Don't hit it there. So, sometimes it's nice playing courses a little blind.

Q. The concept of playing a U.S. Open in Beverly Hills, is that kind of interesting to you?

RORY McILROY: That's awesome. I can't wait. I think it's going to be one of the best U.S. Opens there's been for awhile.

Q. Course or location?

RORY McILROY: I think everything. I just think, I think West Coast U.S. Opens always deliver, for some reason. I think Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach, even going back to like Chambers Bay. West Coast U.S. Opens I really like.

Q. You know about Hef's mansion there, the Playboy mansion?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I've heard of it.