DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 16, 2023

Rory McIlroy

Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth Course

Quick Quotes

Q. 71, five birdies and four bogeys, give us your reflection on that one.

RORY McILROY: A little rusty. Got off to a nice start, and then hit a couple of loose shots on the back nine and felt like I was scrambling pretty much the whole way there.

So yeah, I mean, overall, still only four back. It was a tricky day. I think the wind was up in the morning. It settled down a little bit for our front nine and got up again for our back nine.

So yeah, I can certainly do better, I know that but it was nice to get one round out of the way and hopefully something to build on.

Q. A very adventurous par on 18. What was going on?

RORY McILROY: I was hoping that my tee shot was going to miss the hazard right but I didn't exactly think that it would do what it did. And the second shot from the mulch, it just sort of started left on me, and yeah got another stroke of luck by coming back over the bridge.

I was a bit in two minds about whether to go left and cut it or go right. I felt with the longer club by hitting it, there was a chance of clipping the bridge on the way through.

So I took a wedge and hit it in. Just tried to hit it as hard as I could and ended up making a good five.

Yeah, the up-and-down on 17 and the par on 18 was actually a pretty nice way to end the day.

Q. You made the decision to resign from the PGA TOUR policy board. Can you give us your thinking behind that decision?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I just think I've got a lot going on in my life between my golf game, my family and my growing investment portfolio, my involvement in TGL, and I just felt like something had to give. I just didn't feel like I could commit the time and the energy into doing that.

I don't mind being busy, but I just like being busy doing my own stuff. Something had to give and there's guys that are on that board that are spending a lot more time and a lot more energy on it than I am. It's in good hands and I felt like it was the right time to step off.