MEN'S OLYMPIC GOLF COMPETITION

August 1, 2024

Rory McIroy

Le Golf National

Ireland

Quick Quotes

Q. How was it?

RORY McILROY: It was okay. Solid start. A bit up-and-down which is to be expected. I didn't do a whole lot between The Open and here. Some good. Some not so good. A solid opening round. A little disappointing with the three-putt at the last. Overall, as I said, a solid start and something to build upon.

Q. What did you think of the crowd?

RORY McILROY: Unbelievable. It was surprising. With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in.

Q. What were you expecting?

RORY McILROY: Not this. I thought the weekend it might get a few more people. I thought the first couple days might be a little bit quieter but it was awesome.

Q. Do you feel like you got a proper Olympic experience?

RORY McILROY: Tokyo was a ghost town. Yeah, this was much better.

Q. Does feel different to any tournament you've played?

RORY McILROY: I don't know. I mean, I think the crowd support that we all got out there was amazing. Obviously there's a few more flags and there's a bit more, I don't know what the word is, like nationalism. But we were all really well supported out there. It was great to see.

Q. What did you hit on 9?

RORY McILROY: I hit 5-wood. 3-wood off the tee.

Q. Did the course play differently than you would have expected?

RORY McILROY: I think from that big storm earlier this morning, it definitely was softer. Greens were softer and more receptive. Greens were softer so the course played a little bit wider. Definitely probably a little bit easier today than it was in the practise days.

Q. So a little bit of a mindset change you have to make?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, maybe just with the greens being a bit more receptive, you can take on a few more pins and be a little bit more aggressive with your second shots. But still have to put the ball in play off the tee.

Q. Does the feel of the Olympics feel different to a PGA event or exactly the same?

RORY McILROY: A golf tournament is a golf -- I try to sort of treat them all pretty similar. But the environment and the atmosphere was certainly a little more energetic than I was expecting, which is cool.

Q. Any other athletes or other sports inspired you? Anyone catch your attention?

RORY McILROY: I got to my first event last night watching Rafa and Carlos play doubles. I never watched Carlos play live in person before, which I was really excited for that. Excited for Rafa as well. That was really cool to see, and the atmosphere there was electric when they started to make that little fight back in the second set. That was cool to be a part of.

Q. The Gold Medal --

RORY McILROY: I watched it on TV. The last hundred he swam was incredible. Yeah, unbelievable. And then apparently I haven't seen it, apparently his 15030 is better than his 800. Excited for Saturday to see if he can get a second Gold.

Q. Does this feel like an important Olympics for golf? You went from Zika to COVID and now a big crowd on a well-known course, can it elevate things?

RORY McILROY: I think so. As I said, I don't really know what I expected today but this definitely exceeded those expectations. Yeah, I mean, from an overall maybe health of the sport and game and sort whereof it sits, where this competition sits amongst the hierarchy of the tournaments that we have, yeah, it's probably an important week.

Q. Do you get a sense that this was a casual, Olympics crowd rather than a golf crowd?

RORY McILROY: Maybe. I'd say maybe 25 per cent were move of a casual crowd or sports crowd rather than a golf crowd. It's nice to play in front of that because it provides a bit more energy.