RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 9, 2023

Rory McIlroy

Oakdale Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Nice round out there. How much closer was today's round to where you want to be with your game?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, a lot better. Yeah, I felt like I did everything, maybe not everything better today. I felt like I putted pretty well yesterday. But iron play was better, wedges were definitely better, got it in play a little more off the tee. So, yeah, it was a better, more solid round. It was nice to actually play the front nine and have it, I actually knew what I was doing and where I was going, so that was good. And, yeah, like the front nine's one of those nines, you get round in 1-, 2-under par and then you've done pretty well. Obviously the back nine gives you a ton of opportunities to score.

Q. Can you think of a course on the circuit or a major that you played in that's so drastically different front to back as far as scoring?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, Royal Troon in the Open Championship. Like I felt like everyone in that tournament was like 4-, 5-under through nine and then just had to hold on for dear life coming in. Where it's obviously the opposite way around this week. But knowing if you get through that front nine in pretty good shape you've got plenty of opportunities on the back.

Q. How do you like your position where you are right now? I mean, it's obviously not quite finished out there, but...

RORY McILROY: Yeah, three back going into the weekend, that's, I'm pretty pleased with that. Finished strongly out there this afternoon. Yeah, I feel pretty good with where I'm at. Would have been nice to be one or two closer to the lead, but I thought today went well.

Q. Yourself and Justin seemed to be sharing a joke there. You were bouncing off each other all day. Was that feeding you a wee bit as well?

RORY McILROY: A little bit. It's hard -- I was saying to Rosie, Omar and I had just made birdies on 17. If you're that third guy to putt and you're three feet away, for whatever reason, there shouldn't be more pressure, but there is. And his putt sort of caught the right side of the hole and like, I just said to him, I know the feeling. I hate that whenever the two guys in front of you hole a putt. But, yeah, it was good. It was a nice group and obviously I played a ton of golf with Rosie and very comfortable in a pairing like that.

Q. With the sun coming out and people getting a couple pints in them, the atmosphere really built in the evening at St. George's last year and here this evening. It's been years since a Canadian won, but the crowds just seem to have a love for you and a real kind of passion for you. What do you put that down to, do you feed off it a little bit?

RORY McILROY: I do, yeah. I mean, I think winning the tournament the last couple of times helps. I think, am I the only player in the top 10 in the world that's here this week maybe? So I guess maybe that appreciation that I've come back up to defend. But, yeah, I've since the first time I played the Canadian Open I feel like I've got a tremendous amount of support. And it's great just to play in an atmosphere like that out there this afternoon.

Q. On a week in when which you probably couldn't focus on the course too much early week, how hard is it to learn a golf course kind of on the fly?

RORY McILROY: I sort of like it. I like reacting to what I'm seeing out there and targets. And I'm not a great player at playing a course by memory. And like I, there's certain venues on TOUR that I go back to and I play well, but it's not really because I remember how putts are breaking or where to miss it. It's just I feel comfortable at that venue. So I'm not saying I'm better at playing a course blind, but I'm, sometimes it's nice not to know where the trouble is. You just sort of react to your targets out there and you really get into your shots. So sometimes I don't feel like it's that much of a disadvantage.

Q. You haven't seen LACC.

RORY McILROY: Haven't seen LACC, no.

Q. With Corey Conners obviously in the mix to win his National Open wondering if you see him at Bear's Club or if you know him at all from down in South Florida?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, so gotten to know Corey quite a bit. Yeah, we're always on the practice tee together at the Bear's Club. Corey came on to the PAC this year as well. So gotten to know him a little bit more just from all the meetings and stuff that's been going on on TOUR and us being sort of a part of it. So, yeah, very, I would say gentle personality. Very placid, down to earth, even keeled sort of guy. I don't think if he gets into contention this weekend, I don't think the moment's really going to get to him all that much. He's obviously playing well. He had a great chance at Oak Hill. He's been a really good player on TOUR now for the last sort of three years.