U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2023

June 17, 2023

Rory McIlroy

The Los Angeles Country Club

Flash Interview

Q. How did you feel about today's round, and how do you feel about your position going into tomorrow?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I feel pretty good. The golf course definitely got a little bit trickier today than the first couple of days. Felt like I played really smart, solid golf. Hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens. Sort of felt somewhat stress free out there, if you can ever call golf at a U.S. Open stress free.

Overall, yeah, pretty pleased with how today went, and feel like I'm in a good spot heading into tomorrow.

Q. You've won majors before, you've won this tournament before. You spoke recently about how you're watching back your 2014 triumph at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. What boost does that give you, that know-how, that savvy of winning the sport's biggest prize going into tomorrow?

RORY MCILROY: I don't know. It's been such a long time since I've done it. I'm going out there to try to execute a game plan, and I feel like over the last three days I've executed that game plan really, really well, and I just need to do that for one more day.

Q. Does it feel more like a U.S. Open now maybe since Thursday after the low scoring, and would you expect the same for tomorrow?

RORY MCILROY: I think it's felt like a U.S. Open all week. The scoring was surprisingly low over the first couple of days, but it doesn't look or feel like any of the other three major championships.

I think it's definitely -- the U.S. Open has definitely got its own identity, and I think that identity was pretty strong from the opening tee shot on Thursday.

Q. You're leading the field in greens in regulation this week; how much do you attribute that to your driver and going off the tee?

RORY MCILROY: I haven't hit driver a whole lot this week. Yeah, like the tee shots are hugely important, to then give yourself the opportunity to hit the greens and attack the pins. I haven't been playing out of the rough that often this week, which has been really nice, and I think I've played smart off the tee, and I've done what I needed to to get the ball in play.

As I said, I just need to do that for one more day.