THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Rory McIlroy

Mixed Zone

Q. Not the opening you were looking for. Can you give us your thoughts on what appeared to be a very frustrating day out there?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, difficult day. I felt like I did okay for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in and made a double.

But still, felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through 9, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.

Then hitting the ball out of bounds on 11, making a double there. Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left. I was actually surprised how difficult I felt like the back nine played. I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did.

The course was playing tough. The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven't seen so far this week.

I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven't played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven't hit in practice. Yeah, just one of those days where I just didn't adapt well enough to the conditions.

Q. I know you played well-ish, certainly well at the Scottish Open last week, but this is a totally different sort of task and also a links course like this is set up today. Is it difficult after a fairly reflective period since the U.S. Open to get your mind to take on the heavy concentration levels of that particular challenge?

RORY McILROY: No, I wouldn't say so. I just think that your misses get punished. Your misses get punished a lot more this week than even last week or even, geez, any weeks, whether you miss it in a fairway bunker or even the rough. The rough, the balls that I hit in the rough today, the lies were pretty nasty.

I think it's more you just get penalized more for your misses.

Q. At places like Portrush you've had bad stats where you were probably too far back to make up the ground, even though you've come up with a second. Are you close enough now to pull this back?

RORY McILROY: I mean, all I need to focus on is tomorrow and try to make the cut. That's all I can focus on.