BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

September 19, 2024

Rory McIlroy

Wentworth Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. That's a very solid, if slightly incident-packed round, isn't it?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, a little bit. 5-under, I would have taken 5-under at the start of the day, especially as the wind is getting up here. But the closing stretch is playing pretty tough. Played well. Bit of a continuation of what I was feeling last week. I think getting -- I guess playing RCD and coming here, universal like you get a little bit of a breather and universal you've got a little bit more room to play.

It's nice to feel a little bit more freedom off the tee than I did last week at RCD. Overall it was a good round and do co have been a little bit better but a solid start.

Q. 12, there would have been a lot of people watching that.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was just one of those things. I hit 9-iron on the ninth hole, and I looked at it and looked at if the barrel was coming loose, but it was actually the head detaching from the shaft.

Yeah, I obviously didn't realise that when I hit the shot on 12. Yeah, it was a bit of a weird feeling. I hit, and you know, obviously you're expecting the weight of the club to just pull through and there was nothing there.

Thankfully the ball went where I wanted it to. It could have been a lot worse but thankfully got it repaired and it should be okay to go tomorrow.

Q. And the back-handed putt on 8?

RORY McILROY: The back-handed putt on 8, yeah, I hit it down the left side there and I had 104 yards to the pin. If there wasn't a tree in my way, I would have tried to hit like a little three-quarter 54. But the flight of that wouldn't have gone over the tree.

So I tried to hit a full lob-wedge to get the ball over the tree and with that it's just going to spin a lot; and lucky that it stayed on the green and made a 4, and moved very swiftly to the ninth tee.

Q. How important is this week in the context of last week having given yourself a great chance in Ireland, and now you come here as a past champion, and it's obviously place with huge crowds and a tournament that means an awful lot?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it's an amazing golf tournament. It's one of the best that we play throughout the calendar year. It's important in the overall scheme of any year because of where I find myself in The Race to Dubai. I'm trying to win that for the second time, and what that would mean to me, being alongside Seve and keeping closer to Monte and all that stuff. It's a big tournament in that regard, and obviously a big tournament to try to be as resilient as possible after last week and move on.

The nice thing about disappointments is that if you have something in this next week, it's nice to keep busy and keep your mind focused on something else.

Q. 5-under 67, how impressed are you with that?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, pleased with it. Maybe could have been a little bit better but really solid start. It's a golf course where you've got a lot of birdieable holes but then this was a stretch, especially today on the back nine where you had some tough ones in a row, and trying to navigate those is important.

So yeah, overall, probably a fair reflection of how I played. Yeah, hopefully go out tomorrow and shoot something similar, a little lower, and have a real chance going into the weekend.

Q. Talk us through that shot on 12. On impact, your club fell off and you still managed to birdie the hole.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I don't think it's ever happened to me before. Obviously a very weird feeling through impact. I looked up and the club head caught my eye instead of the golf ball. So I completely lost where the golf ball was. Didn't know where it went.

But I was just looking somewhere around the green and saw the ball fall just right of the pin and go up there and go pretty close. Fortunately, it didn't impact the shot too much. But I got it repaired and had it back on 16. Thankfully didn't need it for any of the holes in between.

Q. And the left-handed putt?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, hopefully no more left-handed this week. Yeah, it was up against the sort of collar there where that water hazard is on the 8th hole, and didn't really have a stance hitting it right-handed.

Hit a left-handed putt. Did a decent job. At least I got the speed pretty much correct. I didn't get the line right, but knocked that one in, made par and very swiftly moved to the 9th tee, pretty happy.