THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2025

Rory McIlroy

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. How did the day go for you in really tough conditions?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I feel like I played better than I scored. All the bogeys I made were really soft. Three-putt on 5. Sort of made a mess of 12, three-putted 13, three-putted 17.

I feel like that's one of the hardest things. They slowed the greens down today for obvious reasons, and I feel like I didn't adjust very well to that. Then some of the chip shots around the greens, when you start to get downwind, I got a little tentative with some of those, as well.

Yeah, most of the dropped shots were from around-the-green mistakes rather than tee to green. I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, controlled my flight. It was nice to make a birdie on 18 at least and see one putt go in.

Not out of it by any means. The wind is supposed to still be blowing tomorrow, so yeah, it was nice to birdie that just to get one closer to J.J. on the last.

Q. How much were you able to tell from the crowds and whatnot that there was a little bit of chaos on the leaderboards?

RORY McILROY: I couldn't really tell that much. I knew J.J. was playing well and I was obviously keeping a close eye on what he was doing and trying to stay somewhat in touch with him. I saw there that a few guys struggled on the way in.

This golf course on the best of days can do that, but whenever the conditions are like this, there's some big numbers lurking out there.

Q. That said, is four shots more doable on this golf course than others?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think with these conditions it is. As I said, I shot 1-over today, and I feel like I could have shot -- I feel like every bogey was really soft. I could have shot something in the 60s. I have to at least be encouraged by how I hit it and how I controlled myself around there. I just need to chip and putt better tomorrow.

Q. Will that make you lean towards similar conditions tomorrow? Would you rather --

RORY McILROY: Yes, absolutely. I think when you're a little further back, you'd rather have some testy conditions, yeah.

Q. 17 and 18, with this wind, is it mostly cross wind early on in the back nine? Is that what makes it difficult, especially 10 through 15?

RORY McILROY: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. But again, the crosswinds are okay. Especially I thought J.J. did a really good job of controlling his ball flight today, as well. I think keeping your ball below the top of the trees -- it still gets hit, but certainly not as much as if you're hitting it really high.

It was just a tough day. It was a tough day to get it close. Sort of one of those days, I feel like it was a tough day to make birdies, but if you managed yourself well, you could just make a ton of pars.

Q. You said you were excited for the challenge of these conditions. I just wonder how expectation compared to reality.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, again, as I said, I felt like I played well tee to green, controlled my flight well and hit the shots I wanted to hit. As I said, I just made a few too many mistakes around the greens and on the greens. If I can tidy that up tomorrow, I feel like I'll have a really good chance.

Q. When you look at the run-up of all the events this year, is this the best one between its proximity to the Masters that really tells you that your game is ready or is there another event that tells you better that you're more ready at that point?

RORY McILROY: No, I'd say if you play well here and you're in control of your game, you can play well anywhere. Yeah, for 72 holes around this place, you certainly can't fake it. If you do well around here, I feel like you're ready for anything coming up for the rest of the year.